The Literary-Inspired Web Series, Dickens and LGBTQIA+ Representation: <i>Public History—A David Copperfield Web Series</i> (2019–20)

Abstract Web series adaptations of the classics have been a familiar part digital popular culture since watershed appearance The Lizzie Bennet Diaries (2012–13). Adaptation critics, including Douglas M. Lanier, Jennifer Camden, and Kate Faber Oestrich, tended to focus on relatively high-profile Austen Shakespeare vlog adaptations, especially those produced by Pemberley Digital. In this article, I update genre’s genealogy turning instead later waves low-budget creativity that taken transmedia form in new directions peak years literary-inspired web mid-2010s. pay particular attention Quip Modest’s Public History–A David Copperfield Series (2019–20), rare example Dickens adaptation format which remoulds multi-generational three-decker saga into an LGBTQIA+ positive coming-of-age narrative for Generation Z audience. My contextualised close reading simultaneously reframes our understanding Dickens’s canonicity helps us better grasp cultural logic literary community.