Twisting Dickens: modding childhood for the steampunk marketplace in Cory Doctorow's 'Clockwork Fagin' (2011)

Article

Bickle, Sharon A.. 2013. "Twisting Dickens: modding childhood for the steampunk marketplace in Cory Doctorow's 'Clockwork Fagin' (2011)." Australasian Journal of Victorian Studies. 18 (3), pp. 58-71.
Article Title

Twisting Dickens: modding childhood for the steampunk marketplace in Cory Doctorow's 'Clockwork Fagin' (2011)

ERA Journal ID35232
Article CategoryArticle
Authors
AuthorBickle, Sharon A.
Journal TitleAustralasian Journal of Victorian Studies
Journal Citation18 (3), pp. 58-71
Number of Pages14
Year2013
PublisherAustralasian Victorian Studies Association
Place of PublicationBrisbane, Australia
ISSN1325-2585
1327-8746
Web Address (URL)http://www.nla.gov.au/openpublish/index.php/AJVS/article/viewFile/3203/3739
Abstract

This article provides a critical comparison between Cory Doctorow's adapted short story 'Clockwork Fagin' and Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist. It focuses particularly on Doctorow's use of the posthuman 'modded' child in order to question firstly whether the text performs a neo-Victorian critique of the Dickensian text and secondly whether its Young Adult 'rebelling to conform' narrative structure compromises any anti-materialist steampunk politics presented in the text—and whether this affects its claim to the steampunk genre.

KeywordsCharles Dickens; childhood; neo-Victorian; steampunk; post-human
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020470504. British and Irish literature
470530. Stylistics and textual analysis
520199. Applied and developmental psychology not elsewhere classified
Public Notes

File reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher/author.

Byline AffiliationsSchool of Arts and Communication
Institution of OriginUniversity of Southern Queensland
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