The principal focus of this paper is American Notes (1842), Charles Dickens's account of his American travels. My research contains two related areas of exploration: 1) this text as it represents a form of social and cultural critique of various institutions in both America and in England; and, 2) the manner in which Dickens's position as traveler metamorphosed from the level of observer into that of object of observation.
My approach in exploring these issues relies on both historical inquiry and cultural theory. Close scrutiny is awarded to historical data, ranging from accounts of American and English institutions at the time of Dickens's visit, to private letters written by the author tracing his changing opinion of America -- a candid opinion which is toned down in the pages of American Notes. I also address Michel Foucault's theories of power and the "gaze" to assist in explaining the transformation which Dickens undergoes during his journey -- from the position of viewer to that of becoming the object viewed.
On one level, this paper tracks an author -- immensely popular in Great Britain and equally popular in America -- through an ideological progression. At the commencement of the tour, Dickens was hopeful of locating solutions to some of England's most pressing social problems through the examples provided by what he believed to be an American Utopia. The quest for these solutions explains why so much concern is given inAmerican Notes to social institutions and issues, such as hospitals, insane asylums, factory conditions, the state of the poor, the courts of law and, especially, prisons. Rodney Stenning Edgecombe has noted that "subjects bring their own conditioning to foreign landscapes, and ... project their native categories and responses upon it" and this is precisely the position Dickens adopted toward American social institutions. When these institutions proved not to be models for English reform, but rather constructs as equally flawed as their English counterparts, the author's idealism turned toward despair. The result was the creation of American Notes, which Jerome Meckier describes as a decidedly "anti-American travel book."
On a second, related level, this paper explores Dickens's conflicting positions as social critic and celebrity. The progress of his American tour marked a transformation in which Dickens had gone from the position of observer (and critic) to object of observation (owing to his role as celebrity). In this strange twist, the traveler goes from being the viewer of curiosity to becoming a curiosity in and of himself. Charles Dickens went to America to see, to evaluate, and to provide suggestions for change in England. During the course of his tour, however, his observations of America are overcome by his awareness of other's observation of him. In this respect, Dickens's position of power becomes usurped and his sense of English propriety violated.
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