Scientific evaluation of Charles Dickens

TL;DR

This study empirically evaluates whether readers can distinguish Charles Dickens' prose from Edward Bulwer-Lytton's, finding no significant difference in perceived quality based on test results.

Contribution

It provides a novel empirical assessment of Dickens' prose quality by directly comparing it to Bulwer-Lytton's through a controlled test.

Findings

Average score around 50%, indicating random guessing.

No significant difference in prose quality perception.

Suggests Dickens' prose is comparable to Bulwer-Lytton's.

Abstract

I report the results of the test, where the takers had to tell the prose of Charles Dickens from that of Edward Bulwer-Lytton, who is considered by many to be the worst writer in history of letters. The average score is about 50%, which is on the level of random guessing. This suggests that the quality of Dickens' prose is the same as of that of Bulwer-Lytton.