'Dickens and the Sentimental Tradition' is a timely study of the 'sentimental' in Dickens's novels, which re-evaluates his presentation of emotion as part of a complex literary tradition that enables him to critique nineteenth-century society
Introduction -- Sentimentalism and its discontents in the eighteenth-century novel: Fielding, Richardson and Sterne: "There was more of pleasantry in the conceit, of seeing how an ass would eat a macaroon than of benevolence in giving him one" -- Sentimentalism and its discontents in eighteenth-century drama: Goldsmith and Sheridan: "Humanity, sir, is a jewel. I love humanity" -- Dickens and nineteenth-century drama: "We would indict our very dreams" -- The early novels: "Everything in our lives, whether of good or evil, affects us most by contrasts" -- The later novels: "What the waves were always saying" -- Conclusion the afterlife of sentimentalism: "Who will write the history of tears?"
