Dickens’ Household Words begins publication

Literary/ Cultural Context Note

Litencyc Editors (Independent Scholar - Europe)
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Charles Dickens began publishing the magazine

Household Words

as a home for short fiction and cause-based social journalism. Its title came from its motto, a quotation from Shakespeare's

Henry V

which declared its contents as 'familiar in their mouths as household words'. Over the decade of its publication, several important Victorian novels were serialised in its pages, including Elizabeth Gaskell's

North and South

, several collaborations between Dickens and Wilkie Collins, and Dickens's own novel

Hard Times

. It was nominally aimed at the poor and working classes, being priced at two pence, but was also produced in more luxurious monthly issues and bi-annual volumes, making it equally attractive to the middle classes. It eventually came to an end in 1859, amid disputes between Dickens…

154 words

Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Dickens’ Household Words begins publication". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 August 2013 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=519, accessed 19 March 2024.]

519 Dickens’ Household Words begins publication 2 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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