Heartfelt thanks to Colin Dickey, whose essay in The New Republic (excerpted from the book Scratch, edited by Manjula Martin) debunks the egregious Dickens-was-paid-by-the-word myth — which needs to be as debunked as often and as loudly as possible, considering how pervasive it is. Not only that, but Dickey shows one major reason why it's so egregious: "Once I’d formed this picture of Dickens in my mind, it became an easy way to discount his novels as superfluous."
Definitely worthy of the Dickensblog Order of Merit!
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