This companion is an invaluable aid to modern readers in understanding Dickens's book, as it examines both specific details and the broader context of the story. To discover the meaning of a difficult detail or idea, the reader needs only find the appropriate chapter in DEGREESIThe Companion DEGREESR, look for the italicized phrase that identifies the relevant paragraph, and then read the discussion of the word or passage in question, which will be marked in bold. The book is the result of extensive original research and will appeal to both scholars, secondary school students and amateur...

If "Martin Chuzzlewit" (1843-1844) is, as Steven Marcus has claimed, the first novel of Dickens' maturity, it is also true, as Robert E. Lougy has observed, that it is a novel to which readers and critics do not quite know how to respond. By examining the overlapping contexts within which Dickens composed this work, "The Companion to " DEGREESUMartin Chuzzlewit" makes original contributions to our understanding of the novel and its complex reception. The notes revise and expand the conventional wisdom regarding the sources for the American chapters, demonstrating that Dickens drew on a...