Claiming Truth: Dickens and American Notes

Abstract

Notes how Dickens, wary of being accused that his account of America might be judged false, insisted on the “truth” of American Notes both before publication and throughout its early publication history. Believes, however, that modern readers may be tempted by these claims to consider the contingent nature of Dickens’ “truth.” Speculates about what may have prompted Dickens to alter and shape his text and what may have driven him to modify his work: deference to generic form, influence of his earlier travel writings, or limitations in what he could see and report upon. Concludes that the energy and genius of its thirty-year-old author are the book’s primary shapers; it is impossible to account for his “truth".