2 - The cultural economy of Modernism
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 May 2006
Summary
Charles Dickens, rising to his feet, stood at the table and surveyed the vast hall in which the leading citizens of Birmingham had gathered in early 1853 to pay him homage at a banquet. It was his duty to thank them now, and he proceeded to offer his tribute.
To the great compact phalanx of the people, by whose industry, perseverance, and intelligence, and their result in money-wealth such places as Birmingham, and many others like it, have arisen - to that great centre of support, that comprehensive experience, and that beating heart, - Literature has turned happily from individual patrons, sometimes munificent, often sordid, always few, and has found there at once its highest purpose, its natural range of action and its best reward.
“The people, ” Dickens concluded triumphantly, “have set Literature free. ” And in return for that gift of liberty, he opined, “Literature cannot be too faithful to the people.”
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- Information
- The Cambridge Companion to Modernism , pp. 33 - 69Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1999
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