This book describes the complex feelings of surprise, puzzlement, delight and betrayal prompted in the reader as he makes his way through what Humphrey House first called "The Dickens World." More importantly, it identifies the causes for those conflicting feelings. Other recent books have suggested they are the result of Dickens's practice of creating "multi-plot novels" that present "competing structural principles." Professor Horton suggests that those conflicting feelings can be seen to be generated at the stylistic level. - Jacket flap.