This study explores the ways in which Dickens’s published work and his thousands of letters intersect, to shape and promote particular myths of the reading experience, as well as redefining the status of the writer. It shows that the boundaries between private and public writing are subject to constant disruption and readjustment, as recipients of letters are asked to see themselves as privileged readers of coded text or to appropriate novels as personal letters to themselves. Imaginative hierarchies are both questioned and ultimately reinforced, as prefaces and letters function to create a mythical reader who is placed in imaginative communion with the writer of the text. But the written word itself becomes increasingly unstable, through its association in the later novels with evasion, fraud and even murder.

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction: Creating the Reader and Writing the Writer -- 1 Reciprocal Readers and the 1830s-40s -- 2 The Hero of His Life -- 3 First-Person-Narrators and Editorial 'Conducting': Limited Intimacy and the Shared Imaginary -- 4 Decoding the Text -- 5 Afterlives -- Bibliography -- Index

´Frank'ly Dickens´ is based on comparative stories taken from the lives of Charles Dickens and Frank Sinatra - two men who stand alone in popular culture in their respective representation of the century and the country that they lived in. What was so "Frank" about Charles Dickens? Practically everything,as you'll find out in this book,which leaves the reader wondering whether Frank Sinatra really was Charles Dickens,or if they had merely lived the same myth, as the author claims. Twenty years after PBS first aired the six-hour television series, ´The Power of Myth,´ with Joseph Campbell, the series remains one of PBS's most popular reruns, with the subject of myth still captivating viewing audiences. This story of a shared myth between two famous men whose lives were, and increasingly continue to be, an open book, serves to remind us that we don't always have to look to the ancient myths to gain insights into life. Charles Dickens and Frank Sinatra serve as perfect models of observation in demonstrating how myth operates in the universe in a span of two centuries. This blending of biography, history, and journalism with esoteric thought - all in the context of myth makes the subject of this book a totally original one; a new myth created by the author to help us tune in to some of the lessons of the Cosmos. "The idea of ´Frank'ly Dickens´ is brilliant and the execution is perfect: Patricia Vinci writes American! Her story is clear and precise, breezy and bright. Best of all, she offers something original for all of us to think about and believe in. I loved it! " - Cedric Charles Dickens "Keen observation on the part of Ms. Vinci - who weaves a fascinating tale, while presenting inexplicable parallels in the lives of these two men - invites us to look at reality in a new way. Frank Sinatra would be complimented by this comparison to Charles Dickens. This shared myth theory is probably the most original thing written about the singer since his death." - Frank Waters, a former editor at The New York Herald Tribune and The New York Times

This book discusses the religious dimension to Dickens's representation of London, focusing on how the picture he paints of the city interacts with other modes of imagery.

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