Charles Dickens, The Cricket on the Hearth

Daniel Stuart (Texas Tech University)

Ed. by Grace Moore, University of Otago
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.07: English Writing and Culture of the Victorian Period, 1837-1901.
Vol. editors: Gillian Fenwick (University of Toronto), Jessica Gossling (Goldsmiths College, University of London)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1845

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novella

Resources

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Published just prior to Christmas in 1845,

TheCricket on the Hearth

was Charles Dickens’s third festive story in as many years, following

A Christmas Carol

(1843) and

The Chimes

(1844). Arguably the most domestically focused of his five Christmas novellas of the 1840s, the story follows the interconnected lives of two working-class households and the uneasy relationship they share with their employer. The book marked the beginning of Dickens’s new professional relationship with the publishers Bradbury & Evans, following a break with Chapman & Hall, who would not publish another of the author’s works until 1858. The novella’s first edition featured woodcut prints by an assortment of illustrators, including well-known Victorian artists Daniel Maclise and Edwin Landseer. It is also…

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2490 words

Citation: Stuart, Daniel. "The Cricket on the Hearth". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 09 January 2024 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=24934, accessed 21 November 2024.]

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Charles Dickens, The Cricket on the Hearth

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