The Other Dickens

Catherine Hogarth Dickens spent most of her adult life married to Charles Dickens, and she has become posthumously defined solely by her role as wife. Dickens's negative opinions of his wife and marriage during his later years have further shaped perceptions. Now Nayder (English, Bates Coll.; Unequal Partners: Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, and Victorian Authorship) redresses the notion that Catherine was a weak-willed wife and a neglectful mother, offering readers a complete, individualized portrait of her that spans the course of her life, although much of the book focuses on her married years. Making frequent use of the letters and other papers of both spouses (though not those from Catherine to Charles as he did not preserve them), Nayder illustrates how past biographers and critics have frequently misinterpreted the marriage and sustained a pro-Charles bias. The Catherine that emerges is a stronger, more organized, and more active mother than the figure portrayed before.