Life And Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit

The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit (serialized 1843-1844) is a novel by Charles Dickens, considered the last of his picaresque novels. Like nearly all of Dickens' novels, Martin Chuzzlewit was released to the public in monthly installments. Early sales of the monthly parts were disappointing, compared to previous works, so Dickens changed the plot to send the title character to America. This allowed the author to satirically portray America, which he had recently visited, as a near wilderness, whose pockets of civilization were filled with deceptive and self-promoting hucksters.

The main theme of the novel, according to a Preface by Dickens, is selfishness, portrayed in a satirical fashion using all the members of the Chuzzlewit family. The novel is also notable for one of Dickens' great villains, Seth Pecksniff. It is dedicated to Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts, a friend of Dickens.

— Excerpted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.