Charles Dickens at 200

[CaptainCanada]

200 years ago today was born in the city of Portsmouth one Charles Dickens, who would go on to become the most celebrated novelist of the Victorian period, and arguably the most culturally significant English-language writer since William Shakespeare.

His novels include half-a-dozen perennial classics of the English canon, which Hollywood and the BBC continue to reliably churn out adaptations of, and innumerable works have been inspired or adapted from his stories. And, of course, he was the original man who saved Christmas.

I've read five of his novels at present, with my favourite being Oliver Twist.

 

[23skidoo]

Question is how many people - outside of school - ever bother reading him these days. I have to admit I've never been able to get into his works, despite Bleak House having been strongly recommended and Christmas Carol being less than 100 pages. That's not a knock - I have to be in a certain frame of mind without any other distractions to get into what I'd call "vintage" literature. I've spent the last 3 weeks reading only the first 50 pages of Moby Dick. I'll get to Bleak House and the others eventually, if I ever get a perfect storm of not having to work and deal with other issues.

But I know folks who refuse to read Dickens on general principles simply because they were forced to read it at school. Ditto Shakespeare. I wonder how many "fans" have been lost because of the way teachers have mishandled the classics? (Not all teachers, of course, and if you have a high school or university English teacher who has managed to teach you Dickens, Austen, Joyce, etc without ruining your interest in the books, consider yourself lucky.)

What folks don't realize today is that back in the day Dickens was the Star Trek of his day. People waited on baited breath for the next installment of David Copperfield or whatever to appear in the magazines (back when general magazines actually printed stories). I love pointing out to folks who look down upon the pulp SF and detective novels and magazines that Dickens was, technically, a pulp writer. And I'm sure fans of novel series or serialized storytelling probably have Dickens in part to thank for popularizing the genre.

Alex

 

[CaptainCanada]

His novels are still regular features at bookstores around the globe. Admittedly, though, many have become so well-known through other media that people don't feel the need to read them.

 

[Stevil2001]

I love pointing out to folks who look down upon the pulp SF and detective novels and magazines that Dickens was, technically, a pulp writer.

Well, no. The 19th-century equivalent to pulp fiction was dime novels in the US, penny dreadfuls in the UK, and also stuff printed on really cheap newsprint, kind of like tabloids. Dickens's writing was popular with a wide audience of many classes, but most of the periodicals he published in were resoundingly middle class, not pulpish at all.

 

[doubleohfive]

FRASIER: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."
NORM: "Whoa, whoa, whoa.... which was it?"

 

[Kirby]

FRASIER: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."
NORM: "Whoa, whoa, whoa.... which was it?"

Cliff: This Dickens guy sure like to cover his butt.

 

[Count Zero]

Dickens is one of my favourite writers. We never read anything by him in school although we did go to a theatre performance of A Christmas Carol once. I love his somewhat laconical way of describing pretty horrible things and the black/ gallows humour he brings to the table. I haven't read all of his works yet but so far, my favourite is A Tale of Two Cities.

 

[StevenR]

But I know folks who refuse to read Dickens on general principles simply because they were forced to read it at school. Ditto Shakespeare. I wonder how many "fans" have been lost because of the way teachers have mishandled the classics? (Not all teachers, of course, and if you have a high school or university English teacher who has managed to teach you Dickens, Austen, Joyce, etc without ruining your interest in the books, consider yourself lucky.)

I'd agree that some of that is true. The teachers do suck all the fun out of the works they assign. I don't know if Shakespeare is disliked because of how it is presented in school or if it is simply because the language is so dense and unusual to our ears. But I do remember 9th Grade English and how stupid Great Expectations was.

Then again I also think Melville and Moby Dick could have benefitted greatly from an editor with an iron fist. "Herman, nobody gives a shit about the many uses for whale fat or the ship rigging. Get to the revenging and the madness and the killing."

 

[J.T.B.]

I think sometimes young people just aren't ready to read stuff that seems archaic and unrelated to "real life," no matter what the teacher does. I thought A Tale of Two Cities was great when we read it in 8th grade and I thought the teacher really made it interesting, but most of my classmates complained about it.

I didn't get further into Dickens till I was in my late 20s, but then I really found I liked it and read most of the novels. Our Mutual Friend, The Old Curiosity Shop and Barnaby Rudge I have not read. Bleak House is my favorite. I found a lot of the themes he deals with to be very relevant today.

Then again I also think Melville and Moby Dick could have benefitted greatly from an editor with an iron fist. "Herman, nobody gives a shit about the many uses for whale fat or the ship rigging. Get to the revenging and the madness and the killing."

Yeah, it's widely acclaimed as one of the greatest novels in American literature, but if only it had been edited better!



Justin

 

[Sci]

But I do remember 9th Grade English and how stupid Great Expectations was.

Interesting -- I read Great Expectations in freshman English, too, and I loved it. But, there again, by the time I was 14, I was already aware of class distinctions and how poverty impacted my upbringing, and was already struggling with unrequited love and the sense that someone you like is unattainable, so I suppose I was biased.

 

[Dark Gilligan]

A Christmas Carole is a good place to start. It's short and, even though everybody knows the story, still packs a punch in its original form. There hasn't been a filmed version yet where the screenwriter didn't add scenes or dialogue that were never in the original work. It's best to experience the story as Dickens saw it, through eyes that actually lived in the 19th century.