The Image of Time in David Copperfield

This article explores the multimedia representation of time and memory in Charles Dickens's David Copperfield. In particular, it examines how Dickens and his illustrator, Hablot K. Browne, collaborated to create an interplay of image and text that adds a level of temporal depth to the fictional author's account of his own life. By examining the recurrence and strategic placement of clocks in the serial etchings, one is able to identify additional levels of meaning that were obscured when the novel was reprinted in full following the serial run. Central to this study is a revaluation of how serial form involved various paratexts in producing parallel and sometimes competing fictions with the verbal narrative of the novel. Given the narrator's dedication to tracing the formation of the material that constitutes his own personal narrative, Copperfield is ideally situated to reveal the underlying material and cultural discourses involved in textual production.