Author:
Vittorio Hösle University of Notre Dame 318 O’shaughnessy Notre Dame IN 46656 USA

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Abstract  

The essay tries to show that Dickens’ Nicholas Nickleby is influenced by Goethe’s Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre and reacts to it. While there is no explicit proof in Dickens’ letters that he read Goethe’s novel, Dickens’ admiration for Carlyle, the translator of the novel, and his interest in contemporary German literature render such a knowledge not improbable, even before one looks at his novels. But the parallels between particularly the second book of Goethe’s “Meister” and Nicholas’ liberation of and care for Smike are so detailed that an influence is extremely likely, the more so as an interest in a mentally retarded human being is not a common topic in English literature before Dickens. Dickens, however, also criticizes Goethe, for his Nicholas remains faithful to Smike till his death.

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Neohelicon
Language English
Size B5
Year of
Foundation
1973
Volumes
per Year
1
Issues
per Year
2
Founder Akadémiai Kiadó
Founder's
Address
H-1117 Budapest, Hungary 1516 Budapest, PO Box 245.
Publisher Akadémiai Kiadó
Springer Nature Switzerland AG
Publisher's
Address
H-1117 Budapest, Hungary 1516 Budapest, PO Box 245.
CH-6330 Cham, Switzerland Gewerbestrasse 11.
Responsible
Publisher
Chief Executive Officer, Akadémiai Kiadó
ISSN 0324-4652 (Print)
ISSN 1588-2810 (Online)

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