Our Mutual Friend

A rich and complex pattern of theme, symbol, comic exuberance, sharp social comment and telling detail - these are all aspects of "our mutual friend". The book begins like "Little Dorrit", as a satire on wealth and its corrupting power, symbolized by the inheritance of a dust-heap and represented by the changing fortunes of Boffin, the golden dustman, and by the brilliant portrayal of the upstart veneerings and their circle. In this book, there is a new preoccupation with the Dickensian genius resulting in a greater inwardness and a fascination with extreme situations. In the last novel that he completed, Dickens seemed to be about to make yet another advance in the practice of his art.