Global Dickens: A Response to John Jordan

Abstract

In this response to John Jordan s essay ‘Global Dickens’, Juliet John explores the importance of ‘undisciplined knowledge’ to global literary studies and the challenges it poses to established models of academic scholarly rigour. She argues that the bicentenary of an author like Dickens makes clear that print culture is just one aspect of global literary studies, new and established media working together to expand the category and influence of the literary. Understanding of ‘global Dickens’, she maintains, marks a return to scholarship as dialogue, dialogue that includes languages other than English, media other than books, and cultural institutions other than Universities.