Entertainment For Lively Minds
Dickens - Do we want some more?
No one can have missed the fact that Dickens is 200 in Feb. Celebrations have started early (maybe because most people only associate D with Christmas but more likely because London and the BBC want to get shot of him quickly so they can dedicate the rest of the year to forcing the Olympics down everyone's throat - my theory).
Dickens has been my favourite writer ever since I saw the David Lean film of Great Expectations when I was six which gave me nightmares. I found myself fascinated by this dark and scary world. Once I was able to read Dickens (in the long gone and abridged Bancroft Classics) I soon discovered there was much more to him than horror and so began a lifelong affair.
Over the years I've read all the novels, most of the shorter works and much of the journalism. I return to him several times a year - he is, as Chesterton said, inexhaustible. No matter how many times I read any of the books there is always something new to discover.
My reason for writing this is to find out what others think and to ask if you're doing anything for the bicentenary.
I work in a book store and you would think I would be in good company with my love for Dickens but actually I am the only one who regularly reads him. Some have read a few ('years ago'), some were put off by having Hard Times to study at school (this still happens which is a tragedy because although it's a great novel it is quite dry and not at all representative of his best work) and some think I am a rather sad case, stuck in the past and not at all engaged with the modern world. The latter is to me a most puzzling reaction, especially as I also read other writers including many who write about little more than what it is like to live in the 21st Century.
I can (and often do) argue the case for Dickens, particularly the accusation that he is irrelevant, but what do you think about him?
To celebrate his birthday I have decided to read him for a whole year - as much of his work as I can - in order. I've constructed an elaborate reading scheme to enable me to complete virtually everything in the 12 months (very Word). I'm not doing it to be clever or prove a point but simply because I know it's going to bring me a great deal of pleasure.
I may post how I'm getting on but for now over to you.
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I lost myself
in his world endlessly as a teenager but I kind of 'grew out' of it. It's not Chuck's fault, I just left fiction behind and now I am more interested in the man behind the stories so I have Claire Tomalin's biography waiting to be read and that's how I'll celebrate.
Also a visit to the Museum of London which is putting on an exhibition incorporating Dicken's London.
I am reading 'A Christmas Carol' again though as the book has never been bettered by any film version. Even the Muppets.
I have mixed feelings
Mainly negative, I must confess, but it's not really Dickens' fault.
So far as the books go I'm with Orwell, who summed him up as 'rotten architecture, wonderful gargolyles', but that's probably becuase I made the mistake of trying to read Bleak House at an impressionable age. I haven't been able to summon the enthusiasm to try another Dickens since. I did rather like Hard Times though. If you can recommend one which you think is likely to entertain an agnostic, Jude, I may well give it a go.
I'm also put off by the fact that I loathed the frequent BBC dramatisations of Dickens from my childhood, where those same 'wonderful gargoyles' gave the country's finest over-actors the perfect excuse to chew the scenery every Sunday afternoon. This may also be the reason why I can't stand costume dramas to this day.
Great Expectations
is probably the best entry point, even if you know the story. Dickens had intended it to be one of his brick-sized novels but was forced to bring it out quickly. This means it has fewer digressions from the main plot and is a much tighter novel than some of the more baggy masterpieces. It has everything you'd expect from Dickens (including a miserable Christmas - most Dickens Christmases are wretched affairs) but is much more accessible. If you decide to give it a go let us know how you get on.
New Dickens bio
Have you read the new Charles Dickens' biography by Claire Tomalin? Just came out and has gotten great reviews. I'm thinking about getting the book myself.
By the way, I love the idea of taking a year to revisit an author's work.
A bit like jimmyshoes01
I read him avidly as a teenager but my literary enjoyment these days is a constant quest for new voices or new ways of thinking about stuff, i.e. primarily non-fiction.
That said he is not irrelevant and the undiscovered enjoyment of his books for new readers also represents an education in writing a "classic" novel, driven by plot and character. He's accessible, if occasionally long-winded, but he understands people and what motivates them. He's also funny while his humanity is palpable.
He's also good at fear and tension. The stand-offs between Fagin and Bill Sykes scared the hell out of me as did the clacking knitting needles of Madame Defarge. It's powerful and intoxicating writing that easily reaches across generations.
His books are stuffed with universal ideas, mores, human frailty and spirit. He writes so well about people caught in uncertain and desperate times. If that's not relevant today I don't know what is.
To my shame...
I have never knowingly read any Dickens. Bit of an omission for someone who reads voraciously. Can't explain myself, sir.
Must put this right as soon as I've finished reading my current book (on track for 85 books read in 2011 :) - but none by auld Chuck... :( )
The first step...
I have just bought the complete Dickens for the Kindle. For less than the cost of a pint, I get the whole lot. Including original Victorian illustrations apparently. Can't argue with that.
OP, I may join you in your quest for 2012.... :)
I admire your fervour, Judemeister...
...I've been tempted to acquire first Peter Ackroyd's and more recently Clare Tomalin's biographies, but have somehow not quite acquired enough enthusiasm despite being fascinated with the fellow.
I take Gatz's point about costume drama versions of yore, but I DID think the recent BBC adaptations of Bleak House and Little Dorrit were masterful - really taking the essence of the works and adapting them for a different medium in a way which met 21st C audience expectations of that medium. Very clever, and revealing the richness of the original sources. Hence, I'm looking forward to Edwin Drrod on the BBC in January...
I have The Annotated Christmas Carol, which I read half of last Christmas - and shall endeavour to read the other half this one!
I'm actually meeting
Claire Tomalin tomorrow for dinner (seriously) so if anyone's got any questions...
Also can I mention a new biography which has slipped out with less fanfare than the Tomalin but is just brilliant. Becoming Dickens by Robert Douglas-Fairhurst concentrates on how Dickens became a writer and how very nearly he didn't. A fascinating study about how Dickens whole career was driven by the fear of imprisonment (both literally and metaphorically) and why his work deals obsessively with jails. That doesn't do it justice by half but it's well worth reading whether you're a fan or just someone interested in the workings of a mind.
Oh, and in case you're wondering how come I'm dining with Claire T - I'm not anything to do with any publishing house, just an enthusiastic bloke on a till in a bookshop who is cheeky enough to get himself invited to someone else's feast.
Good for you, Jude...
...there's a place for a bit of enthusiastic blagging sometimes!
no questions (though I'm sure I'd have many if I'd read her book, and would delight in the table-talk either way), but a doff of the cap - from reading the reviews and hearing her, I think, on one of those R4 morning chat programmes on the way to work it sounds like she's put a huge amount of work in and has found a genuinely revealing new angle with which to approach the fellow.
I used to have great admiration for Peter Ackroyd's erudition and work ethic, but having read some of his novels and some informed criticism of his Poe biog, it's been tempered a bit. He's brilliant - but not unflawed, and a tad unweildly in general.
Can you ask her
if there is each biography is about the same percentage of researching to writing and if so roughly what what the time split for Dickens in years/ months. I would love to write a biography one day.
Could you ask her
if she thinks any writers of the post war era will still have a hold on people's imaginations in 200 years time?
Excuses for not reading Dickens...
...are about as convincing as excuses for not giving up smoking. You haven't given up because you didn't want to enough. You haven't read Dickens because you don't want to.
Twenty years ago a friend came round for lunch. He'd recently moved to the south coast, which meant he had a daily commute to London. "I don't mind," he said. "I've started reading Dickens."
For some reason that really rang a bell with me. I started myself the day after.
And by the way, as Claire Tomalin's new biography makes clear, the effort involved in reading them is nothing compared to the effort he put into writing them.
An armchair fan
I’m a long term fan and have read at least half of the novels. Great Expectations and David Copperfield have been my favourites. I seem to have got out of the habit of committing to large novels and I doubt if I’ve read any Dickens for about six years or so. I was once a member of the Dickensian society, as I recall the only member they ever had from Dagenham!
I can recomend the Peter Ackroyd Biography too.
I have the entire collection displayed in my lounge and I seem to recall installing them on my Kindle for about 2 quid.
I will celebrate the milestone with a Novel after Christmas, and a visit to the London Museum exhibition also beckons.
Great post.
I dipped a toe aged 10, via the scholastic abridged versions. Guiltily, I always felt I should take the full plunge at some point, but an early 20s expedition (to the pages of Pickwick Papers I think I remember) led me to conclude that I couldn't tolerate any of the faults I perceived, many of which others have commented upon here; the long-windedness, the plot diversions, the obsesssively detailed descriptive passages, the darkness and the squalor (hey, I wanted to read about life on the road with Sal and Dean, not how ghastly the beadle could be). Yet at the same time, I consumed the BBC's regular Christmas Dickens productions gleefully, aware that I was submitting myself to another's edit, but glad of the easy access to great characterisation, involving plots, great quotable lines ("Annual income one pound..." etc) and a moral compass with which I could identify.
So, inspired by your writings above, I hereby resolve to buy myself a copy of Great Expectations and plunge in again.
I think you are
bang on the money Jude.
Im in Barcelona at the moment, my 8 year old son is here for a year with his mum. He's at a private English school and today I was at his Christmas play which was 'A Christmas Carol' albeit leaning heavily on the Muppets version with songs. But the play as Dickens himself would recognise nonetheless.
As I sat there this morning peering towards the stage through the throng of cameras and ipads held up by the proud mums and grandparents, I was thinking at the time, God, there cannot be a writer alive today, nay, in my lifetime that will have the longevity and the impact of Dickens - the only one that springs to my mind is Syephen King but he clearly pales in comparison. This was a play written 150 years ago that was as relevant to an audience of WAGS in barca in 2011 as it was to his own audiences rich and poor alike in the England.
Really pretty astonishing.
That is really amazing.
And while we're on the subject of the Muppets - I love their take on Christmas Carol, one of the best. Particularly I like Gonzo's final words - 'If you liked that then you should read the book.' Clever.
Chuzzlewit
I might try Martin Chuzzlewitt again in his honour. It's the only one I started but didn't get very far with. My favourites are Great Expectations, Our Mutual Friend and Little Dorritt. Even the books that are not so well thought of have something to enjoy. I liked Orwell's quote that Gatz uses above - I'd not heard that before. I can see what Orwell means I think, but I like the architecture as well.
Chuzzlewit is Dickens comic masterpiece
in my opinion. Unfortunately it stalls for a while about midway because D suddenly decides to send his hero to America. This was an attempt at 19th Century satire - it didn't really work then and is pretty dull reading today. This section of the book lost D a lot of contemporary readers - for the first time ever - which frightened him into abandoning his free-flow improvisational way of working. From then on he planned his novels more carefully which ushered in his stronger mature works. Anyway, stick with Chuzzlewit (Dickens novels all tend to dip a bit in the middle anyway before getting up steam for the final push) as it has a brilliant murder, and several great grisly (yet comic) scenes before the end.
What do you make, Jude...
...of his OTHER Christmas works? I have several, but they all seem mediocre and half-baked (and, yes, long winded in places) compared to The Masterpiece... Am I wrong?
Incredible but true,
up until the start of the 20th Century Christmas Carol was the third most popular of his Christmas books - The Chimes and Cricket on the Hearth sold more and were highly thought of.
I think you're right, Colin, the other Christmas works are not very good and probably for completists only. Some of his lesser known stuff however is very good. If you haven't read his short story The Signalman you should - it's a ghost story in the M R James tradition (it pre-dates James) and it's great for Christmas. Like all Dickens stuff you can find it free online.
I haven't read it but...
...I've seen the 70s TV adaptation several times: a classic!
Oh my Gosh!
The Signalman. I'd completely forgotten it was by Dickens.
I remember seeing Denholm Elliott in the title role on the TV many years.
"Hallo below there"
*hairs on back of neck rise*
And that was the first adaptation
to bear the name Andrew Davies. I'm hurrying off to the Radio Times - sometimes BBC4 repeat it around Christmas.
Wow...
...what took him or the BBC so long to realise he HAD to adapt more Dickens for the small screen, I wonder?
I watched the 1946 film of Great Expectations
last week and thought it was brilliant. I thought to myself that I'd love to read a load of his stuff but decided it would be impossible and would take too much time. To be really crass about it - are they 'page turners'? I got through about eight Philip Roth books this year and feel good that I've just about got to grips with him. What's your reading plan exactly? I am a fast reader.
Try the first five chapters
of Great Expectations. I doubt you'll stop there. The 1946 film is a brilliant way to get started - it's fairly faithful to the novel and the film cast were all spot on. Try and read it over Christmas if you can - you'll never forget it. Roth is a Dickens fan and he's no fool. Good luck and enjoy.
Bleak House
aside I am not a fan. Bleak House has moments of coruscating brilliance and limpid insight and firecracker inventiveness. It's faults though are the usual faults of Dickens, caricature rather than character, plotting over narrative, the misjudged equivalence of the commonplace and the transcendental, cheap trick polemicism rather than moral rigor. And way too long. And repetitive. Did I say repetitive? And way too long?
He is no Melville. Or Dostoevsky. Or Balzac. All of the same era approximately. All subject to a similar historicity. All of whom understood Life's comedy without trying to write a comic.
Fair enough.
To a certain extent I do agree with you - there are many examples in his work where Dickens is guilty as charged of all you say (particularly in Bleak House I find - Esther is unbearable). However, there are also passages and characters throughout his work which prove the opposite. Unfortunately these brilliant bits are not all in the same novel and all of his works have flaws. For me though those flaws are spots on the sun and I rank him as the world's greatest novelist (other novelists are available).
Interestingly, two of his greatest admirers were Dostoevsky and Melville and both claimed to have learned something from him. Perhaps they took the ball and ran with it but you have to wonder whether, without Dickens, there would have been a ball at all.
Nope
and yup. Some characters are cyphers, garish postcards to move the story on. It's inevitable in books so densely plotted. Some of his main characters can lapse into caricature at times, typically when the moral barmoeter needs to take a reading. However, he always manages to keep a truth within them and within their circumstances so that when he takes his foot off the plot pedal and disengages the relentless observer's eye and gives them an internal monolgue it's in those moments of reflection that his characters become more than the sum of their episodic parts.
Spot on.
Couldn't agree more. Dickens main problem was he had no internal editor and trusted no one to do it for him. Typical genius. Still, it has to be acknowledged - who would be qualified to edit him, even today? For myself I like him for the fact that his masterpieces are messy.
If at first...
I bought "Bleak House" when I was about 17 and I started on it a number of times, but never got much beyond the first few pages... all that "foggy London" stuff.
In 2001, the year our daughter was born, I decided, for some reason - I now forget why - that I would read Dickens and I started with "The Pickwick Papers" and then read all of the novels in (almost) chronological order, much of the time lying on our bed with our daughter asleep on my chest.
I loved them all, especially "David Copperfield", "Dombey and Son" and "Little Dorrit". Maybe I needed the run-up by starting at the beginning, maybe I just had the time.
I am currently re-reading "Martin Chuzzlewit", which I am enjoying, but I am pretty sure that I will skip the American episodes, which I remember disliking last time round.
To those who have tried Dickens and given up, try again!
To those who have not tried, try!
Hurrah at last a chance to do the classic joke
Do you like Dickens?
I don't know I've never been to one
Sorry it just makes me laugh every time
And the joke
My wife doesn't like my Dickens at all but she is a complete Trollope. Makes me laugh.
Just Finished
listening to the audio book version of Claire Tomalin's biography. Really enjoyed it. It's particularly bought to life by via an excellent reading by Alex Jennings.
I enjoyed it so much that I'm immediately throwing myself into his reading of David Copperfield. It's omly 35 hours long!
How are people getting on with the Dicken's birthday celebretions? Any progress on discovering his works as discussed above?
Edit Damm! Just realised that Alex Jennings is not on the recording of David Copperfield after all! It's Martin Jarvis. I'll find out on the way home if he's any good or not.
Martin Jarvis
could read the back of a box of Complan and make it riveting so I think you'll be in good hands.
I'm really looking forward to it.
I read it about ten years ago (possibly 20!) but I'm in the mood for the audio experience. There are a few of his novels that I haven't read (Dombey, Dorrit, Drood, Rudge, Twist)but the biography has put me off of some of those. I'll emerge myself in Copperfield again before moving on!
I got a bit stuffed
with the rich offerings on tv over Christmas but I'm still intending to give a year up to reading all the published works. I've just finished Sketches by Boz which is the pineapple and cheese on sticks of the Dickens banquet but it does have some good bits. I'm about to start Pickwick Papers which is a bit more fun. The great thing about Dickens is he does get better as he goes on.
Not yet
I haven't watched any of the TV adapatations as I have a loathing of all period costume dramas, but Bleak House is downloaded onto my tablet just waiting for me to finish my current reading.
The most recent BBC version of Bleak House
i.e. the one with Gillian Anderson, is first class. I defy you to watch it and say you didn't enjoy it. (Even Johnny Vegas, who I usually can't be bothered with, is good(ish).)
Jude
I would be intrigued to see your very elaborate reading scheme. Is there any chance that you might share it with us?
Absolutely.
I'm just off out to the monthly Bookgroup I conduct (I choose the books and people need a note from the doctor if they can't attend - great fun) but I will post the list up when I get a minute. I'm trying to keep a bit of a reading diary going also with thoughts and impressions as that keeps me focused on the job. I might share bits of that at a later date if it's any good. Treats.
I am looking forward to it.
I was put off Dickens (and most other "proper literature") by studying it at A level and degree level. I innocently thought that when you did a degree in literature you would all sit around bullshitting about books, especially ones that you liked. A bit like being here. I found out that actually we had to regurgitate the opinions of others (we weren't allowed to have our own) about books chosen by F. R. Leavis.
So nearly thirty years later perhaps it is time to try again.
I really enjoy Dickens
However it's a long time since I've been to one.
I am going to re-read Great Expectations
but I had an unread copy of Little Dorrit in the house, so I am currently having a bash at that. Very good it is too.
I'm in...
...the admire-rather-than-like camp. I love Oliver Twist and Great Expectations: they're funny as hell and not that overwritten. I love the first bit of Bleak House - all that fog around Chancery - but generally he just doesn't push my buttons. As in music, I love concision and unshowy technique, and you don't get either with old' Charlie-boy. And I bear an intense grudge over the matter of the spontaneous combustion.
But there's no doubting his genius or his influence. A bit like Hendrix: I'm glad he existed, but I don't necessarily need to hear the records again.
So far so good
I have just read the first four chapters of Great Expecations with enjoyment. Pip has just fled the Christmas dinner table following the discovery of the theft of the pork pie ... now read on ...
With apologies to Fazackerly for taking so long to post...
...here's the list of Dickens reading I am hoping to complete this year. I have a set of the Oxford Illustrated Dickens which is 21 volumes (numbered below). This puts all his work in roughly chronological order (date of first publication listed after each title) so I've used this as my own order. The dates in brackets are the dates this year when I hope to be reading the particular work. These are for guidance only - I know that I need to keep roughly within these time lines in order to complete the job. I'm not really against the clock - this is purely an act of pleasure but some sort of structure seemed called for and the idea of it being also a project with a deadline has a certain appeal. So far I'm probably a bit ahead of myself - I started Pickwick earlier than I expected but it's also taking longer to read than I thought.
I've done all the novels before so I have an idea how long they should take. Using this as a guide I've predicted how much time each of the other works should need.
So far I'm really enjoying myself but if it becomes a chore I'll stop.
Anyway, here's the list :
1. Early Sketches:
Sketches by Boz 1836 (1-21 Jan)
Sketches of Young Gentlemen 1838 (22-24 Jan)
Sketches of Young Couples 1840 (25-28 Jan)
The Mudfog Papers 1838 (29-31 Jan)
2. The Pickwick Papers 1837 (1-21 Feb)
3. Oliver Twist 1839 (22 Feb-6 Mar)
4. Nicholas Nickleby 1839 (7-27 Mar)
5. Early Periodical Stories:
Master Humphrey’s Clock 1840 (28-31 Mar)
Plus Children's History Book:
A Child’s History of England 1853 (1-4 Apr)
6. The Old Curiosity Shop 1840 (5-19 Apr)
7. Barnaby Rudge 1841 (20 Apr-10 May)
8. Travel Writing:
American Notes 1842 (11-15 May)
Pictures From Italy 1846 (16-20 May)
9. Christmas Books:
A Christmas Carol 1843 (21 May)
The Chimes 1844 (22 May)
The Cricket on the Hearth 1845 (23 May)
The Battle of Life 1846 (24 May)
The Haunted Man 1848 (25 May)
10. Martin Chuzzlewit 1844 (26 May-15Jun)
11. Dombey and Son 1848 (16 Jun-6 Jul)
12. David Copperfield 1850 (7-27 Jul)
13. Christmas Stories: A Christmas Tree 1850 (28 Jul)
What Christmas is as We Grow Older 1851 (28 Jul)
The Poor Relation’s Story 1852 (29 Jul)
A Child’s Story 1852 (30 Jul)
The Schoolboy’s Story 1853 (31 Jul)
Nobody’s Story 1853 (1 Aug)
The Seven Poor Travellers 1854 (2 Aug)
The Holly-Tree Inn 1855 (3 Aug)
The Wreck of the Golden Mary 1856 (4 Aug)
The Perils of Certain English Prisoners 1857 (5 Aug)
Going Into Society 1858 (6 Aug)
The Haunted House 1859 (7 Aug)
A Message From the Sea 1860 (7 Aug)
Tom Tiddler’s Ground 1861 (8 Aug)
Somebody’s Luggage 1862 (8 Aug)
Mrs. Lirriper’s Lodgings 1863 (9 Aug)
Mrs Lirriper’s Legacy 1864 (9 Aug)
Doctor Marigold 1865 (10 Aug)
Mugby Junction 1866 (11 Aug)
No Thoroughfare 1867 (12 Aug)
The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices 1857 (13 Aug)
14. Bleak House 1853 (14 Aug-2 Sep)
15. Hard Times 1854 (3-16 Sep)
16. Little Dorrit 1857 (16 Sep-7 Oct)
17. Later Collected Sketches/Stories:
The Uncommercial Traveller 1861 (8-14 Oct)
Reprinted Pieces 1858 (15-21 Oct)
Plus Additional Single Sketches/Stories:
The Lamplighter 1841 (22 Oct)
To Be Read At Dusk 1852 (23 Oct)
Sunday Under Three Heads 1836 (24 Oct)
Hunted Down 1859 (25 Oct)
A Holiday Romance 1868 (26 Oct)
George Silverman’s Explanation 1868 (27 Oct)
18. A Tale of Two Cities 1859 (28Oct- 10 No)
19. Great Expectations 1861 (11-24 Nov)
20. Our Mutual Friend 1865 (25 Nov-15 De)
21. The Mystery of Edwin Drood 1870 (16-31 Dec)
I could have formatted this better, sorry - hope it makes sense.
If anyone wants to join me with any of these I'd appreciate the company. Either way I'll pop back here periodically to let you know how it's going.
It's the Great Man's birthday on Tuesday and I will be raising a glass of something suitable. I hope some of you will too.
Good luck
I've only managed The mudfog papers, A christmas Carol, Cricket on the hearth and The Chimes. I've tried several times to read his other novels but, frankly, I just get bored. Last attempt was Hard Times ("it's really thin - I'll manage this one") - still stuck somewhere around page 40.
I don't mind film/TV adaptations - I do find the endless Mr Fuzzlwumps and Mrs Migginchesters a bit wearisome. But, give me Tolstoy any day.
Very impressive
I had idle thoughts of giving this a go myself but now I have seen the full extent of the list I think I will have to wait another year (and then there will be another excuse). But I will have a go at at least one of the novels again. I think one of the problems we have is that we are force fed these classic novels at an age when we don't have the experience and empathy to be moved by them, or the knowledge to really understand them.
I can understand why you have ordered it this way but it does seem odd that you will be reading all those Christmas stories in the middle of summer?
The novels are probably the best
of his work - hope you enjoy whichever you choose next. As for Christmas books in the summer, it does seem odd but I've done it before and to be honest it's the best time to read them! At Christmas I'm so full of expectation which I know will never live up to the reality that I'm not really paying much attention to the story. Somehow, with the sun shining I manage to engage with the full sentiment. A bit strange but try it - it is a very different experience.
It's midnight in Amsterdam
and I've got a glass of something so Happy Birthday Charles Dickens. He changed the world for the better and his great works will last as long as mankind lasts. We had to wait for Dylan and The Beatles before we'd see such a huge influence on our lives again. Nice work, Chas.
This 1901 clip of a film has just been discovered
Quite an exit, but fascinating none the less
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17298021