Introduction

Abstract

“Change is the law of life.”—President John F. Kennedy (1963) For Dickens Studies Annual, 2017 and 2018 have been years of both change and continuity. Our periodical has a new publisher, and, starting with this volume, a new softcover format in two issues replaces the single-issue hardcover journal. The subject of the essays remains the same—the fiction composed by Dickens and his contemporaries, but the audience for this creative work has changed. The customs, beliefs, desires, and fears of today's readers differ in many respects from those of their nineteenth-century forebears. Nevertheless, we share with past generations an awareness of the harmfulness of greed and hypocrisy and a concern about the problems of poverty and penology, and we continue to admire compassion and generosity. Dickens and his fellow writers, therefore, still can speak to us.We thank all of the authors of submissions sent to us and also the many scholars who have generously contributed their knowledge and time to serve as outside readers and send us detailed recommendations that are extremely helpful.We are especially grateful to Lanya Lamouria, whose survey “Recent Dickens Studies: 2016” skillfully considers works involving many subjects and diverse approaches.We appreciate, too, the valuable practical assistance provided by the following administrators at CUNY's Graduate Center: Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Joy Connolly; Ph.D. Program in English Executive Officer Eric Lott; and Nancy Silverman, Assistant Program Officer, Ph.D. Program in English.We again extend thanks to John O. Jordan, Director of the Dickens Project at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Renee A. Fox, Co-Director; Courtney Mahaney, Assistant Director of The Dickens Project; and Jon Michael Varese, the Project's Director of Outreach, for their cooperation. Ms. Mahaney, in addition to helping us publicize the transition of DSA to Penn State University Press, has continued to place on the Dickens Project's website the tables of contents for volumes 1–27 of DSA, as well as abstracts for subsequent volumes. (These items can be found on the Project's website: <http://dickens.ucsc.edu>. Look under “Resources” to find Dickens Studies Annual.)Two doctoral students at the Graduate Center have been our reliable editorial assistants for this issue: we thank Christine Choi for her help and Wei Wu for his.During our move to Penn State University Press, we have often needed and received generous advice and guidance, and we express our thanks to Diana L. Pesek, Journals Manager; Julie Lambert, Production Coordinator; Heather Smith, Journals Marketing Manager; and Astrid Meyer, Journals Managing Editor.Following the publication of volume 48, Michael Timko, who had been an editor of DSA for volumes 8 through 48, decided to relinquish his position in order to focus on his own freelance writing on a broad range of literary and cultural topics. We, his friends and colleagues, have benefited greatly from his scholarly expertise, sound judgment, and good humor.—The Editors