Dickens and the Art of Epitaph

Abstract

This essay offers a twofold exploration of the art of epitaph in Charles Dickens's writing. First, it considers the memorial inscriptions that Dickens wrote for friends and family members in light of contemporary debates about epitaph's proper form and function, nuancing understanding of the author's epitaphic aesthetic. Second, it examines the creative potential of epitaph in Dickens's fiction, by tracing the migration of epitaphic text from actual to fictional inscriptions and between paper and stone. In doing so, it argues that for Dickens the art of epitaph is fundamentally carnivalesque, as a supposedly succinct form of death writing generates extended texts and paratexts, new stories, and fresh associations.