Oh, I am so delighted that this Dickens thread appeared. He is absolutely one of my favorite writers, I return to his work again and again, to laugh, to cry, to be astounded by his modernity. And not least to be entertained.
I recently completed "Our Mutual Friend", and kept wondering how on earth could he tie it up so nicely if he was writing an espisode a week. I have always believed that he did not have a complete version at hand when he started the serialization. Does anyone know?
BTW, when I was in London last, I visited his home/musuem which I fortuitously stumbled on
http://www.dickensmuseum.com/about/