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Dickens’ fascination with London [map]

At the height of his career – during the time he was writing Great Expectations and Our Mutual Friend – Dickens wrote a series of sketches, mostly set in London, which he collected as The Uncommercial Traveller. The persona of the ‘Uncommercial’ allowed Dickens to unify his series of occasional articles by linking them through a shared narrator. Travelling the streets of London he describes and comments upon the city, its inhabitants, commerce and entertainment. Scenes of poverty and social injustice are interwoven with childhood experiences and adult memories. In the interactive map below, you can explore the areas of London visited by Dickens throughout his travels.

Featured image credit: Leadenhall Street in the City of London. Engraving by J Hopkins after a drawing by Thomas Hosmer Shepherd. Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

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  1. […] Oxford University Press has an interactive map that explores Charles Dickens’ fascination with London. Travelling the streets of London he describes and comments upon the city, its inhabitants, commerce and entertainment in The Uncommercial Traveler. […]

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