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...