The Lady Who Changed Dickens’s Mind on the Jews, with Liz Ison

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In 1863 Eliza Davis, a London Jewish housewife and mother of ten, wrote to Charles Dickens accusing him of prejudice against Jewish people for his derogatory portrayal of Fagin in Oliver Twist. Correspondence between the two persuaded Dickens to rethink his relationship with Jews. How did Eliza Davis persuade Dickens to review his earlier texts, and to create the more sympathetic Jewish character, Mr Riah, in Our Mutual Friend? What do the letters reveal about Dickens, his attitude towards Jewish people, and the impact of his literary works on social perceptions? Liz Ison will share her research on this historic exchange.

Liz Ison is a keen Dickensian: an educator at the Charles Dickens Museum, she has also conducted research into Dickens’s understanding of Jews and their portrayal in his writings. She has a recent publication in The Dickensian on the Dickens–Eliza Davis correspondence and the literary responses Dickens made in his writing as a response to this dialogue. She is also an anthologist, having published several poetry anthologies and a collection of literary letters. She runs shared reading groups and poetry walks in London.

This event is in conjunction with the Library’s One Bay One Book program.