Note 7 to Chapter 7 of the author's Dickens and the Rhetoric of Laughter which Clarendon Press published in 1972. It has been included in the Victorian Web with the kind permission of the author and of the Clarendon Press, which retains copyright.
Others, like G. K. Chesterton, assert that it is impossible really to say anything at all about him: "All the critics of Dickens, when all is said and done, have only walked round and round Micawber wondering what they should say. I am myself at this moment walking round and round Micawber wondering what I shall say. And I have not found out yet" (p. 139). Among the best discussions are those by Bernard Schilling, pp. 98-144, by J. B. Priestley, and by William Oddie.
Last modified: 3 May 2001