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Underground > Books, Criticism & Writing >

What the Dickens?

15:22 / 04.01.08

Dickens was always my blind spot. I considermyself farily well read, with a fairly ecltectic taste but I could bever get into Dickens, try as I might. I think I even wrote whole essays on Great Expectations, as part of my degree, based on critical reviews and things I picked up from mates.

Last summer I was browsing in a charity shop and found a book for me and one for my partner. The assistant wouldn't sell them to me because it was '3 for a pound' day and I hadn't got three. After much futile argument I gave in picked up a copy of Oliver Twist and handed over my money. Later that day I was stuck in the laundrette and pulled one of the books out of my bag. Twist it was. I picked it up and...loved it. Completely and utterly.

Further charity shop purcheses led to me reading Old Curiosity Shop and finding Dick Swiveller to be one of the best fictional creations I'd encountered in a long time. I've since bought the complete works and am devouring them apace. Great Expectations, Nicholas Nickleby, David Copperfield, Tale of Two Cities, Reprinted Pieces...

I feel daft raving about something that shoudl be obvious but there's a warmth and depth to the creation, a confidence in the story telling, a humour that is nothing less than glorious. Rounded characters that surprise whilst still acting in character, and the greatest villains of all time. Shame about the soppy heroines mind.

So, favourite passages, characters, or critical reviews please. Where should I head next in my headlong plunge into Dickens? I can assume, from his work elsewhere, that Ackroyds biography should be worth a read, would I be correct in doing so? Share your thoughts on the man with the beard.

16:15 / 04.01.08

John Forrester, a contemporary and close friend of Dickens wrote the first biography of Dickens and while it glosses over Dickens's affairs, it is fantastic in terms of illustrations and photographs as well as giving a real flavour of his life and how popular and well regarded Dickens was at the time of his death.

As for recommendations, Dickens has never really been to my tastes, I've tended to prefer late Victorian fiction, but if you want a good farce, The Pickwick Papers is a good place to look.

Also American Notes is interesting as you get to see Dickens as a rather pompous and self-important figure casting his judgement in the US, moving from wide-eyed enthusiasm to growing distaste of local habits on his Journey through the US.

11:29 / 05.01.08

I first encountered Dickens back at school, where we were forced to read Great Expectations for A Level - I didn't really enjoy it then, but then years later - during another completely different course - I read it again and loved it. For years I'd felt that there was so many 'great' pieces of literature from 'great' authors, and that I perhaps should limit my self to reading one of each, so thought about trying to find the best of... kind of thing. But in the end I realised that you just need to read what you enjoy, stop reading what you don't and go with your feelings. Since, I've read Bleak House, which is fantastic. I had a little trouble with the cor blimey I'm jus' a poor orphan, squire character (Sam?) but the rest of the book is an absolutely brilliant read. Just recently I finished Tale of Two Cities, again really enjoying it. I guess what I like is the seral aspect of the story telling - as I read mostly at night before sleep, chapters that are too long (like for example Neal Stephenson's stuff) makes me feel more tired and I find that stopping reading mid-chapter is a killer for keeping track of a story, where as Dickens' stuff is designed to be read in short bursts, and everything seems to be kept, for lack of a better description, neater in this readers head.

I'll no doubt read much more Dickens, at present I enjoy reading a mixture of things, keeping the same author a few books apart seems to help with my enjoyment.

16:08 / 05.01.08

Great Expectations is just brilliant. The subtle changes in narrative are beautiful and the descriptive writing is a joy. Dickens was a genius.

Have you read any of his short stories? The signalman is brilliant. I first read it when I was 12 years old and just loved it. I read it again last year and I still love it.

20:23 / 20.03.08

I've loved everything I've read by Dickens, which so far amounts to only four books: Tale of Two Cities, Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, and Nicholas Nickleby.

I first read Great Expectations when I was 17. It's an incredible book... but I had an odd and intense sexual response to Jaggers, the twisted lawyer who oversees Pip's inheritance. I was fascinated by the man and the fascination was not purely intellectual. I've never been able to explain that to myself in a satisfactory manner.

A pervy side note, I suppose.

Whisky Priestess

09:03 / 10.04.08

You think you've got troubles? I had a massive crush on Steerpike out of Gormenghast. Now that's odd.

Can anyone tell me if it's worth finishing Hard Times? I've been dipping into a shoddy Wordsworth of it on and off for what seems like forever, and seem little nearer the end. Actually, tell a lie - I think I finished it and it just made so little impression that I've already forgotten what happened.

So - I've read Great Expectations, Hard Times (probably), Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Tale of Two Cities and the Christmas Books including The Chimes (NOT recommended).

What should I read next?

All Acting Regiment

09:15 / 10.04.08

Hmm, Leavis liked Hard Times, citing it as 'the only truly serious work of art' that Dickens ever produced.

Whisky Priestess

11:39 / 10.04.08

Leavis, schmeavis. Just cos it's full of downtrodden mill-workers

Basically, I am reading for pleasure at the moment, rather than for academic purposes so I just want one I'm likely to enjoy.

I think so far that my taste tends towards his more frivolous, fun stuff - and while it might seem a bit perverse to include Tale of Two Cities in there, what with people's heads getting chopped off and so forth, it is the one I've liked best so far - perhaps because it's a "historical" novel and involves a fair bit of adventure, sacrifice, derring-do etc. I'd certainly say it's his most Dumas-esque.

I suppose what I'm asking is, are there any more at home like that one?

20:48 / 10.04.08

Hmmm. Pretty much a one off. Barnaby Rudge is a historical but very different. In terms of sheer fun reading his short fiction perhaps might suit better. Though really, Great Expectations is huge fun too.

Whisky Priestess

13:18 / 11.04.08

Here's a full list of his novels for information's sake: No Thoroughfare looks interesting, but I bet my buttons it's out of print ...

The Pickwick Papers (Monthly serial, April 1836 to November 1837)

The Adventures of Oliver Twist (Monthly serial in Bentley's Miscellany, February 1837 to April 1839)

The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (Monthly serial, April 1838 to October 1839)

The Old Curiosity Shop (Weekly serial in Master Humphrey's Clock, April 25, 1840, to February 6, 1841)

Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty (Weekly serial in Master Humphrey's Clock, February 13, 1841, to November 27, 1841)

The Christmas books:
A Christmas Carol (1843)
The Chimes (1844)
The Cricket on the Hearth (1845)
The Battle of Life (1846)
The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain (1848)

The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit (Monthly serial, January 1843 to July 1844)

Dombey and Son (Monthly serial, October 1846 to April 1848)

David Copperfield (Monthly serial, May 1849 to November 1850)

Bleak House (Monthly serial, March 1852 to September 1853)

Hard Times: For These Times (Weekly serial in Household Words, April 1, 1854, to August 12, 1854)

Little Dorrit (Monthly serial, December 1855 to June 1857)

A Tale of Two Cities (Weekly serial in All the Year Round, April 30, 1859, to November 26, 1859)

Great Expectations (Weekly serial in All the Year Round, December 1, 1860 to August 3, 1861)

Our Mutual Friend (Monthly serial, May 1864 to November 1865)

No Thoroughfare (1867) (with Wilkie Collins)

The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Monthly serial, April 1870 to September 1870. Only six of twelve planned numbers completed)

How interesting that the two I've liked best so far have been weekly rather than monthly serials. On those grounds, I should try The Old Curiosity Shop next. Job done.

All Acting Regiment

13:22 / 11.04.08

Leavis also said that everyone should have a bunch of Dickens' on their shelf, though. He was comparing it to Conrad and Lawrence. I think what he's saying holds up: Dickens is usually great fun and a great read, and by fun is not meant anything disparaging, but all the things which are good about it sort of nail it into a box. Dickens is almost a separate genre.

Unlikely as it may sound, Dickens inspired Gogol's Dead Souls, as well, which can only be a good thing (funnily enough, Dr Jekyll and Mister Hyde was inspired by Crime and Punishment).

One thing you do get with Dickens (and the best 19th century authors by extension) is that positivism - by which I don't mean a sense that everything's alright, but a sense that the story is important, the characters matter, people ought to be having a good time reading the book, a sense of humour and/or entertainment, etc, etc.