> Was Dickens’s fiction shaped by the nastiness he never consciously acknowledged? No, as a writer he would be very aware of where his inspiration came from an

> Was Dickens’s fiction shaped by the nastiness he never consciously acknowledged? No, as a writer he would be very aware of where his inspiration came from and would be good at creating imaginary characters for dramatic effect. Without the villain the hero could never overcome adversity and achieve redemption. Is this yet another example of judging a historical text by current standards. Will Dickens have to be rewritten to remove the bad bits. What'll be left. I can remember that scene in Oliver Twist where he asked for more soup. Completely unlikely to occur in real life. I mean they actually got soup before eating.