When you hear the phrase, 'English Classics' isn't he the man whose name you're most likely to find on the tip of your tongue first? A prolific genius who kept churning out massive tomes long before the age of computers, Charles Dickens' characters are legends and his stories and themes are immortal.
Our concept of the Victorian era is largely thanks to his first hand accounts. He probably helped craft Christmas celebrations as we know them, and his huge heart for social justice has been opening oblivious eyes for centuries.
The thing is, he's not the easiest writer to read in the 21st century. It's not just the commitment his books take because of their size. The density of his paragraphs sometimes take time to unpack, and don't necessarily flow in the modern sense of the word. Still, I've tested enough of them to know it's well worth the effort.
If we're willing to let him, Dickens draws us into his world of wonderful bromances, poor little orphan boys, blindly loyal daughters, awesomely coincidental encounters and plenty of London fog. This page will hopefully serve the purpose of spurring me on to read more myself, as well as encouraging other readers with this blend of thoughts, chats, reviews and more.
Overall, I agree with Amor Towles' character, Katey Kontent.
She says: 'Admittedly there's something a little annoying about all those plucky underprivileged kids and the aptly named agents of villainy. But I've come to realize that however blue my circumstances, if after finishing a chapter of a Dickens novel I feel a miss-my-stop-on-the-train sort of compulsion to read on, then everything is probably going to be just fine.'
Next up will be The Old Curiosity Shop
Other Posts of Interest
The Bad Boys of David Copperfield (a discussion)
Sam Weller - a forgotten hero from the mid nineteenth century
Pip Pirrip - Why we love this flawed hero
Did Dickens write the first 'Choose your own Adventure' novel?
Fascinating Classics with Ambiguous Endings
The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep (a fun novel featuring Dickens characters who are brought to life in the 21st century)
Demon Copperhead (Barbara Kingsolver's wonderful, award-winning rewriting of David Copperfield)
The Dickens Boy (Tom Keneally's factual novel about Dickens' youngest son, Plorn, who was sent to work in Australia)
I'm a Dickens fan. Of course I can only confess to having read great expectations, but I have watched most of his works as a BBCTV series. He is a master of character development.
ReplyDeleteHi Meredith, so true ❤️ And I think GE is one of his most reader-friendly books (along with A Christmas Carol). Tragic that he passed in his fifties, with still so much left to give.
DeleteI will comment upon OS before you! Ifound The Old Curiosity Shop quite entertaining overall. The character of Quilp, in particular, was marvellously vile — a man completely devoid of redeeming qualities, either in appearance or personality. He’s one of those villains who’s so repulsive, he becomes almost fascinating.
ReplyDeleteLittle Nell, on the other hand, is one of Dickens’s more drippy female characters. She seems blindly devoted to someone who hardly deserves it — very much in the same vein as Little Dorrit. In fact, the two characters could almost be clones of one another. The grandfather was appalling. His self-justification — that his harmful actions were acceptable because they were supposedly for Nell’s future benefit — was deeply flawed and morally weak.
It was also strange how Dickens kept referring to Nell as “the child,” even though she’s clearly a teenager and conducts herself more like an adult. I can’t recall a single moment in the novel where she behaved in a genuinely childish way.
Hi John,
DeleteI have a copy of TOCS all set to start soon, and plan to squeeze it into my 2025 reads. I just knew Little Nell would be one of those diminutive, devoted girls, because Dickens sure loved churning them out. Drippiest female character for me so far is Florence Dombey. I wonder if that will change at the very last moment.
I do look forward to Quilp, especially how you describe him. I hope he's as nasty as young Fledgeby from Our Mutual Friend. That might be the book's saving grace.