Chapter I: 1850-1853

Pages 21-50.

DAVID COPPERFIELD AND BLEAK HOUSE. AET. 38-41.

PAGE

Interest of _Copperfield_ 21
Real people in novels 22
Scott, Smollett, and Fielding 22
Complaint and atonement 23
Earlier and later methods 24
Boythorn and Skimpole 26
Yielding to temptation 27
Changes made in Skimpole 28
Relatives put into books 29
Scott and his father 29
Dickens and his father 30
No harm done 32
Micawber and Skimpole 32
Dickens and David 33
Dangers of autobiography 34
Design of David's character 35
Why books continue 36
The storm and shipwreck 37
Goethe on the insane 38
The two heroines 39
Risks not worth running 40
Devonshire Terrace 41
_Bleak House_ 43
Defects of the novel 44
Set-offs and successes 45
Value of critical judgments 46
The contact of extremes 47
Dean Ramsay on Jo 48
Town graves 49
One last friend 49
Truth of Gridley's case 50