A master of extreme situations, Charles Dickens populated his novels with unforgettable characters and elaborate settings. ''Critical Companion to Charles Dickens'' is an essential reference to everything one needs to know about Dickens and his work. This revised, reorganized, and fully updated revision of ''Charles Dickens A to Z'' contains extensive updates, including expanded commentary on the novels and on the major characters, as well as updates to reflect the latest in Dickens scholarship. This comprehensive, single-volume reference contains entries on this writer's works, including the characters in each work, crucial historical and thematic information, and critical discussion. It also includes entries on related people, places, themes, topics, and influences. Additional features include 50 illustrations, a chronology, a bibliography of primary and secondary sources, and much more. Coverage includes: a detailed discussion of Dickens' life; synopses and critical examinations of Dickens's published works, major and minor, with extensive analyses of his major novels, including ''David Copperfield'', ''Bleak House'', ''Oliver Twist'', ''A Christmas Carol'', and more; entries on the characters in his fiction, with major characters receiving extensive commentary; profiles of friends, family, and contemporaries, as well as the places important to Dickens' life and fiction; and discussions of themes and important, broader topics.