One of the books I am reading at the moment is a biography of Charles Dickens.
It is written by Peter Ackroyd who wrote a wonderful book on my old home town, London. I started to read Dickens' when I was a child, about nine or ten I think. What is interesting to me is that when I re-visited the books of his some ten years ago - I have a lovely sixteen volume, leather-bound edition of his in my office - I found it harder to read than it was all those years ago. This is attributable to the change in what we read these days, at least that is my rationale.
Another point that draws me to Dickens is that my in-laws lived in an area that is forever linked to Dickens. It is in the garden of England, Kent, around Rochester, Chalk village and Chatham. It is there you will find one of the houses that Dickens brought, Gad's Hill Place. When he was a child Dickens father had pointed out this house to young Charles as a symbol of what you can achieve if you work hard. He obviously never forgot.
For me, his tales paint a heartrendering account of what young children were exposed to in those days in the middle of the nineteenth century. You feel the suffering of the child. You experience what Dickens himself experienced when his father was thrown into debtor's prison and the young lad was forced to work in a blacking factory. The hardship, the loneliness and the bleakness stand out. What hope can there be? Well, in Charles Dickens case, it gave him the drive to succeed. It also placed deep in his psyche a doubt of his security in life no matter what fame and fortune he acquired.
He had a prodigious output, a restlessness and was always more beloved by the middle and lower classes than by his literary peers. His public readings, whether in working mens clubs or at official functions were incredibly popular.
He may not have the literary stature of good old Will (Shakespeare) - and I am a huge fan of his - but there is something in Dickens that I connect to.
It is written by Peter Ackroyd who wrote a wonderful book on my old home town, London. I started to read Dickens' when I was a child, about nine or ten I think. What is interesting to me is that when I re-visited the books of his some ten years ago - I have a lovely sixteen volume, leather-bound edition of his in my office - I found it harder to read than it was all those years ago. This is attributable to the change in what we read these days, at least that is my rationale.
Another point that draws me to Dickens is that my in-laws lived in an area that is forever linked to Dickens. It is in the garden of England, Kent, around Rochester, Chalk village and Chatham. It is there you will find one of the houses that Dickens brought, Gad's Hill Place. When he was a child Dickens father had pointed out this house to young Charles as a symbol of what you can achieve if you work hard. He obviously never forgot.
For me, his tales paint a heartrendering account of what young children were exposed to in those days in the middle of the nineteenth century. You feel the suffering of the child. You experience what Dickens himself experienced when his father was thrown into debtor's prison and the young lad was forced to work in a blacking factory. The hardship, the loneliness and the bleakness stand out. What hope can there be? Well, in Charles Dickens case, it gave him the drive to succeed. It also placed deep in his psyche a doubt of his security in life no matter what fame and fortune he acquired.
He had a prodigious output, a restlessness and was always more beloved by the middle and lower classes than by his literary peers. His public readings, whether in working mens clubs or at official functions were incredibly popular.
He may not have the literary stature of good old Will (Shakespeare) - and I am a huge fan of his - but there is something in Dickens that I connect to.
posted by Dennis at
8:09 AM
