‘Italy is not his ground’: Dickens on the Outside in Pictures from Italy

Abstract

Dickens is so frequently associated with London that any foray into other territory necessitates a double-take. In 1846 his Pictures from Italy was slammed by The Times precisely because it was felt he was writing outside his area of expertise. Deeming Italy to be ‘not his ground,’ the reviewer consequently attacked Dickens’ book for having ‘no purpose.’ Dickens himself deliberately steers clear of hard facts in the text, in favor of romantic imaginings and literary allusions. Accordingly the book has been unfairly overlooked as an oddity in Dickens’ canon – too whimsical to be journalism. This article considers Dickens’ reasons for adopting such a fanciful approach: he desired not merely to avoid the political controversy that American Notes inspired, but deliberately tried to create a work distinct from previous travelogues of Italy, in that it envelops the landscape of Italy within the abstract realm of Dickens’ imagination. Dickens consistently challenges what it means to be a tourist abroad, contrasting the ideal seen by visitors with the reality experienced by its people. The result is not a failure, but a work that blends reality and fiction rather than simply reporting on what anyone might see in Italy. In so doing, he encapsulates Italy’s past as much as its present.