David Copperfield
a novel by Charles Dickens. It was published in monthly installments, the first chapters appearing in May, 1849. The story was completed and was published in book form the following year. David Copperfield is generally considered Dickens' masterpiece. It is without real plot. It is a simple story of the life of David from the day of his birth until, well on in years, his character is formed, and he is settled apparently in life. It contains considerable autobiography, more or less disguised. Digressions and many minor incidents, and even plots occur. This is in accordance with Dickens' usual method, and must not be regarded as indicative of inability on the author's part to invent and carry out a plot. Barnaby Rudge and many of his short stories prove him quite capable of this. The manner of publication must be held accountable for this fault, if fault it be. Nearly all of Dickens' novels were written in installments, not from the author's choice, but because public and publishers demanded it. Each installment must contain incidents of positive interest and still leave the writer ample freedom for the next installment, which was seldom written until after the publication of the previous one. Under such conditions, a plot, in the technical sense of the word, is impossible. To many readers, however, a story like David Copperfield, while less exciting, is more pleasing because more real than one constructed on more artistic lines. The average individual does not become entangled in complicated "plots." As he passes through his own varied experiences he is touched here and there by the lives and experiences of others, the incidents of whose careers become more or less involved with his own. This is the case with David Copperfield.
Dickens himself has said: "Like many fond parents I have in my heart of hearts a favorite child-and his name is David Copperfield." This has been explained on the ground that it is a story of his own life. It is evident to the sympathetic reader that, whether David is or is not Charles Dickens, Charles Dickens was certainly "David" while he wrote the story; that he lived, worked, and suffered in the scenes through which David passes; that to him Micawber was a real, if unavailing, friend; Ham Peggotty a hero, Steerforth an admired and disappointing companion, Little Emily a dearly loved sister, and Agnes a guiding spirit.
The style of David Copperfield presents, in a more marked degree than any other of his works, Dickens' peculiar characteristics. It is more easy and spontaneous; the pathos is more realistic; the humor, if less exuberant, is of a finer and more enduring quality. Nowhere does the general tone and character of expression so readily change to suit thought and feeling. The freedom given by the autobiographical form may account for this. There are many instances of most vivid description in the story. Mr. Peggotty's home in the boat, the Rookery, Betsy Trotwood's cottage, are clear pictures in the minds of thousands. It would be difficult to find in literature a nobler description of a storm than that in which Ham Peggotty gives up his life. Little Emily, with her false lover and her faithful uncle; Rosa Dartle, with her sad experiences and her awful inner life; Dr Strong; his young wife Annie; their troubles with Jack Maldon and Uriah Heep, are stories within a story, complete and beautiful.
No one can ever believe this narrative, in the reading, more than I have believed it in the writing.-Dickens' Preface to David Copperfield.
Agnes Wickfield in David Copperfield is the most charming female character in the whole range of fiction.-Chambers.
In David Copperfield it is not difficult to trace the maturing power of experience, which points to the highest aims, and rejects those adventitious sources of attraction which are so tempting in the early career of genius.-Knight.