By comparing John Forster’s The Life of Charles Dickens (1872–1874) with subsequent amateur forms of biographical activity in the period 1872–1927, this essay aims to challenge lingering conceptualizations of the material properties of Victorian biography as smooth and standardized. I argue that the parity of practice revealed between Forster’s biography and the various composite forms of biographical narrative that came in its wake, such as Grangerizations and photography collections, throws into question the supposed unity of Forster’s original text. It shows the ways in which his Dickens was always an unstable and metamorphosing figure, tracing an alternative genealogy for the subsequent forms of memorialization that push these biographical qualities further. It demonstrates continuities of preoccupation and practice in biographical activity 1872–1927, producing a narrative of Victorian and Modernist biography that emphasizes connection rather than rupture. Examining these composite forms of biographical narrative also reveals the proto-cinematic way in which they juxtapose and sequence similar but marginally different Dickenses, in order to create the sense of a figure temporally, physically and mentally in motion. From Forster’s text onwards, Dickens is thus produced materially as well as verbally as a ‘restless’ subject, continually poised between stasis and movement. The recurring biographical use of montage, collage and compilation in order to put the subject in motion suggests a previously unconsidered dimension to the ancestry of cinema. It also works to extend our understanding of the media available to Victorian biography.

中文翻译：

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不安分的狄更斯：维多利亚时代的动态生活，1872-1927

通过将约翰·福斯特 (John Forster) 的《查尔斯·狄更斯 (The Life of Charles Dickens) (1872–1874)》与 1872–1927 年期间随后的业余传记活动形式进行比较，本文旨在挑战对维多利亚时代传记的材料属性的挥之不去的概念化，即平滑和标准化。我认为，福斯特的传记与随之而来的传记叙事的各种复合形式（例如格兰杰化和摄影集）之间所揭示的实践的对等性，对福斯特原著的假定统一性提出了质疑。它展示了他的狄更斯始终是一个不稳定和变形的人物的方式，为随后的纪念形式追溯了另一种谱系，进一步推动了这些传记品质。它展示了 1872 年至 1927 年传记活动中专注和实践的连续性，产生了维多利亚时代和现代主义传记的叙事，强调联系而不是破裂。检查这些传记叙事的复合形式还揭示了原始电影的方式，它们将相似但略有不同的狄更斯并列和排序，以创造一个在时间、身体和精神上都在运动的人物的感觉。因此，从福斯特的文本开始，狄更斯在物质上和语言上都是一个“不安分”的主题，不断地在静止和运动之间保持平衡。反复使用蒙太奇、拼贴和汇编来使主题动起来，这表明了电影起源的一个以前未被考虑过的维度。