Love love love Pickwick Papers. Love Sam Seller’s character! Mr. Pickwick in jail, getting caught in a lady’s bedroom, Mr. Sondhrass’ escapades, Christmas in the countryside...just reminds me of winter vacation, snow, quintessential London and it’s countryside...maybe because I read/watched it during that season. Thanks for the roundup and the reminder of what a great writer Dickens is!
I have only read A Tale of Two Cities. I need to check out your top picks. I'm curious about Our Mutual Friend. I'll add it and maybe Pickwick to my reading list.
Hope you find both meaningful, Roque. I just finished watching the 6-hour BBC miniseries of Our Mutual Friend. One of the most profound things I've ever watched.
Wonderful article. Especially as it highlights how Dickens is not just a name associated with dusty books, but a source of immense relevance and importance for life itself. A worldview "we" here at Timeless wholeheartedly condone. :D Also helpful to me, as I'm planning an intensive catch-up-with-Dickens reading session at some point this year. (As I said before: the British are my weak spot in literature) I think I'll start with Hard Times. (since I have a copy already) That way, if it really is the weaker one - and I'll take your word for it - I can still enjoy it. If it isn't top-notch Dickens, it must still be worth the time, right? After all, most minor authors would be content with writing a novel at the level of a minor work of a great master. Dumas fils, to my knowledge, was content with La Dame aux Camelias when his father had several great works under his belt. (Of course their relationship was also complicated)
My one experience with Dickens - A Christmas Carol - remains unforgettable to this day, even after accounting for all the now-cliched Scrooge references in the greater Anglo culture. (Though I approve of Scrooge McDuck) Even our desire to "take care of the surplus population" still manifests itself in the world today, albeit with much greater "discretion" than Scrooge cares to utilize.
Very interesting, Felix. Ah, Dumas. Read Musketeers three or four times when I was young. And the Count is a great novel and a great film.
Good point about Hard Times, and you might not end up agreeing with me that it's his weakest novel. Glad you feel I captured Dickens's immense relevance for life in our times.
I love A Christmas Carol...its writing draws you in from the first sentence and is so much more than the cloying sentimentality of the screen versions...thanks for your list, I am now going straight to the Pickwick Papers without passing go
Yes to your assessment of Bleak House. It's a long book, and explores injustice on several societal levels, in a way only Dickens could. Characters often feel as though they are enduring life beyond their capacity, and then endure it some more.
I wrote a thesis on "Dombey and Son" back in the day, highly underrated and was (unjustly) hated by most students during my term as I recall. Not an easy read.
Very interesting, esp. read in the context of its time, which makes it less fun to read and more research for sure.
Small anecdote: Dickens was considered a rather basic writer in his time and was criticised much like Stephen King is today to the extent that there are articles that call him the Dickens of the 21st century...
I can see that. He didn't hang out with George Eliot and her crowd, either. The intellectuals and the aristocrats both kinda looked down on Dickens. He didn't much care.
Wonderful, thoughtful examination of the great author. His voice and ideas echo down through the generations, without a doubt. One can't think of a writer such as, say, Steinbeck, without thinking of Dickens before him. Dickens had a big influence on Dostoevsky, who was born 16 years after Dickens. I remember well reading Dickens at my college-prep high school in Ojai (Southern Ca) in the late 90s. I hate to admit this but: I have read very little of the man since then. I've tried a few times and, for some reason, I just can't get through his work. I read a LOT of 19th century authors, and many lengthy tomes, so that's not the issue. I can't put my finger on it. But I should read him again, that's my point.
Have you read either Orwell's or Christopher Hitchens's astute, witty, largely fair but definitely acerbic takes on Dickens?
Thank you, Michael. I knew a woman named Mona from Ojai back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. She ran an art school there and wrote some art books. Mona Brooks. Her book Drawing with Children was a bestseller, I think, or close to it.
Thanks for the recommendations and links to Orwell and Hitchens.
For two decades I found Dickens depressing, so it's only the past few years I've gotten into him.
You might want to try some of the BBC miniseries. They've done almost every novel as a miniseries. Our Mutual Friend is one of the most profound film performances I've ever seen, and I think you'd appreciate it. A six-hour miniseries.
Love love love Pickwick Papers. Love Sam Seller’s character! Mr. Pickwick in jail, getting caught in a lady’s bedroom, Mr. Sondhrass’ escapades, Christmas in the countryside...just reminds me of winter vacation, snow, quintessential London and it’s countryside...maybe because I read/watched it during that season. Thanks for the roundup and the reminder of what a great writer Dickens is!
Wonderful that we share an appreciation of Dickens, especially The Pickwick Papers, Anu.
Ahem. I've read "Tale of Two Cities" which is far down on your list I see, shall make a point to become more familiar with you top choices :)
Hope you find some of them of high value, Troy.
I have only read A Tale of Two Cities. I need to check out your top picks. I'm curious about Our Mutual Friend. I'll add it and maybe Pickwick to my reading list.
Hope you find both meaningful, Roque. I just finished watching the 6-hour BBC miniseries of Our Mutual Friend. One of the most profound things I've ever watched.
Wonderful article. Especially as it highlights how Dickens is not just a name associated with dusty books, but a source of immense relevance and importance for life itself. A worldview "we" here at Timeless wholeheartedly condone. :D Also helpful to me, as I'm planning an intensive catch-up-with-Dickens reading session at some point this year. (As I said before: the British are my weak spot in literature) I think I'll start with Hard Times. (since I have a copy already) That way, if it really is the weaker one - and I'll take your word for it - I can still enjoy it. If it isn't top-notch Dickens, it must still be worth the time, right? After all, most minor authors would be content with writing a novel at the level of a minor work of a great master. Dumas fils, to my knowledge, was content with La Dame aux Camelias when his father had several great works under his belt. (Of course their relationship was also complicated)
My one experience with Dickens - A Christmas Carol - remains unforgettable to this day, even after accounting for all the now-cliched Scrooge references in the greater Anglo culture. (Though I approve of Scrooge McDuck) Even our desire to "take care of the surplus population" still manifests itself in the world today, albeit with much greater "discretion" than Scrooge cares to utilize.
Very interesting, Felix. Ah, Dumas. Read Musketeers three or four times when I was young. And the Count is a great novel and a great film.
Good point about Hard Times, and you might not end up agreeing with me that it's his weakest novel. Glad you feel I captured Dickens's immense relevance for life in our times.
I love A Christmas Carol...its writing draws you in from the first sentence and is so much more than the cloying sentimentality of the screen versions...thanks for your list, I am now going straight to the Pickwick Papers without passing go
Very cool, Simon.
Yes to your assessment of Bleak House. It's a long book, and explores injustice on several societal levels, in a way only Dickens could. Characters often feel as though they are enduring life beyond their capacity, and then endure it some more.
Excellent observation, Russell.
Just starting The Pickwick Papers.
Awesome, Robert.
You might be adding some gravitas to my reading list!
Oh, he's plenty of fun too, Anna. Sometimes he's a barrel of monkeys.
Do you have more than one Substack? Am I subscribing to both of them or just one?
I wrote a thesis on "Dombey and Son" back in the day, highly underrated and was (unjustly) hated by most students during my term as I recall. Not an easy read.
Interesting. It's not a fun read, but meaningful, I thought.
Very interesting, esp. read in the context of its time, which makes it less fun to read and more research for sure.
Small anecdote: Dickens was considered a rather basic writer in his time and was criticised much like Stephen King is today to the extent that there are articles that call him the Dickens of the 21st century...
I can see that. He didn't hang out with George Eliot and her crowd, either. The intellectuals and the aristocrats both kinda looked down on Dickens. He didn't much care.
Love these posts. Adding Pickwick Papers to my TBR list for this year. thanks!
Very cool, Bill. Lemme know what you think.
Wonderful, thoughtful examination of the great author. His voice and ideas echo down through the generations, without a doubt. One can't think of a writer such as, say, Steinbeck, without thinking of Dickens before him. Dickens had a big influence on Dostoevsky, who was born 16 years after Dickens. I remember well reading Dickens at my college-prep high school in Ojai (Southern Ca) in the late 90s. I hate to admit this but: I have read very little of the man since then. I've tried a few times and, for some reason, I just can't get through his work. I read a LOT of 19th century authors, and many lengthy tomes, so that's not the issue. I can't put my finger on it. But I should read him again, that's my point.
Have you read either Orwell's or Christopher Hitchens's astute, witty, largely fair but definitely acerbic takes on Dickens?
https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2012/02/hitchens-201202
https://orwell.ru/library/reviews/dickens/english/e_chd
Anyway. Fun read, Mike.
Michael Mohr
"Sincere American Writing"
https://michaelmohr.substack.com/
Thank you, Michael. I knew a woman named Mona from Ojai back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. She ran an art school there and wrote some art books. Mona Brooks. Her book Drawing with Children was a bestseller, I think, or close to it.
Thanks for the recommendations and links to Orwell and Hitchens.
For two decades I found Dickens depressing, so it's only the past few years I've gotten into him.
You might want to try some of the BBC miniseries. They've done almost every novel as a miniseries. Our Mutual Friend is one of the most profound film performances I've ever seen, and I think you'd appreciate it. A six-hour miniseries.
Mona Brookes, maybe, with an "e"
Have you ever visited the Dickens House in London? If so, would you recommend it?
Never been to London.