Was Dickens influenced by Austen?

Janeite Arnie Perlstein argues that he was.

Comments

[Andrew]

I'm not sure Dickens really read much of Austen or the Bronte's.

The style of speech of the brilliant character Alfred Jingle seems to have been based on the patter of actor/comedian Charles Matthews whose monologues Dickens knew extremly well.

[Arnie Perlstein]

Thanks for posting a link to my blog, Dickensblog!

When I have a free year sometime, I will delve more deeply into Dickens, I know there is enough mystery and subtext in his writing to occupy a literary sleuth for a long time!

By the way, do we know each other? ;)

Cheers, ARNIE
@JaneAustenCode on Twitter

[Arnie Perlstein]

http://sharpelvessociety.blogspot.com/2013/01/dickenss-brooks-of-sheffield-jane.html

The above is a link to a second blog post I have just written, which I think is even better evidence to support my claim that Dickens was a sharp elf indeed, who understood one of Jane Austen's shadow story techniques, and emulated it in David Copperfield!

Cheers, ARNIE
@JaneAustenCode on Twitter

[Arnie Perlstein]

And here, in direct response to Andrew's comment, above, about Dickens's homage to the great mimic Charles Mathews with Jingle in Pickwick, I post a link to my new blog post where I argue that Dickens was actually paying homage both to Mathews AND to Jane Austen's Miss Bates, who is, herself, I claim, also based on Charles Mathews's characterizations:

http://sharpelvessociety.blogspot.com/2013/01/charles-dickens-jane-austen-and-great.html

[Gina]

Thanks so much for dropping by and sharing your thoughts, Arnie! :-) And you too, Andrew!

[Arnie Perlstein]

All my thanks are to you, Gina, for posting the link to my blog post about Austen and Dickens. This has turned out to be a most fruitful exchange for me, I now see Dickens as being just like Charlotte Bronte and Mark Twain in PRETENDING not to be interested in Jane Austen's writing, while actuually being VERY interested.

[Arnie Perlstein]

Here's another post about "Brooks of Sheffield", I bet you Dickensians will love it, it turns out to be a giant bit of word play hiding in plain sight on every other page of the novel!:

http://sharpelvessociety.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-austenian-wordplay-alchemy-of.html

Cheers, ARNIE
@JaneAustenCode on Twitter