Great subject this week! Although, gosh, he really wasn't nice to his wife!! I have two sisters and cannot imagine my husband openly preferring them - while I have TEN of his children 😱
Excellent essay! He really was a human conundrum. He had a funny nickname, now I can’t remember it, have you come across it? Really, as a short introduction, this is first rate!
An excellent piece. I have been in (Fanboy) Love with Dickens since first reading David Copperfield. It absolutely stunned me as a piece of art. Never had I read such sentences which read so perfectly it's as though Michelangelo tapped them out of snowy marble; his ability to craft and meld words into such creative and original ideas held (and still holds) me spellbound. I believe Dickens to be almost peerless.
I recently read a biography by Michael Slater which follows Dickens's life through the unique perspective of looking at what he wrote (from the very earliest to the very last pieces, and the obvious hugely successful novels and other early literary successes in his life, but not everything - of course the biography would be ridiculous in length) and exactly when and where he was writing it - a huge insight into his early letters, angsty love letters, friendly correspondence, newspapers, the "Boz" years, serial novels, plays, public speaking, more inimitable novels, European and American escapades etc., etc. It was absolutely fascinating if you haven't already read it, I do recommend it.
I'm currently reading Dombey, and even very early in Dickens has me hooked.
I'm glad you enjoyed Doughty St! I took my fiancé there last summer and enjoyed every second of the tour. To see the desk on which he wrote Oliver Twist - WOW!
Great subject this week! Although, gosh, he really wasn't nice to his wife!! I have two sisters and cannot imagine my husband openly preferring them - while I have TEN of his children 😱
Yeah I really don’t know why he didn’t marry one of them instead, it would have made things so much simpler I think! Thank you for the comment! 🤍
Yes, that would have made much more sense!!
Great job!
Thanks!
Absolutely fascinating. It pains me to admit that i identify somewhat with the flawed, insensitive yet vulnerable picture you paint of him.
Thanks for sharing!
Really fascinating. Enjoyed this. Thank you.
Thank you for reading it!
So interesting!
Dickens was a fascinating person!
Excellent essay! He really was a human conundrum. He had a funny nickname, now I can’t remember it, have you come across it? Really, as a short introduction, this is first rate!
Yup, that’s it! Thank you! Poe used it in reference to him several times, I think it stuck with him a bit.
He used the penname "Boz" early on, if that helps?
An excellent piece. I have been in (Fanboy) Love with Dickens since first reading David Copperfield. It absolutely stunned me as a piece of art. Never had I read such sentences which read so perfectly it's as though Michelangelo tapped them out of snowy marble; his ability to craft and meld words into such creative and original ideas held (and still holds) me spellbound. I believe Dickens to be almost peerless.
I recently read a biography by Michael Slater which follows Dickens's life through the unique perspective of looking at what he wrote (from the very earliest to the very last pieces, and the obvious hugely successful novels and other early literary successes in his life, but not everything - of course the biography would be ridiculous in length) and exactly when and where he was writing it - a huge insight into his early letters, angsty love letters, friendly correspondence, newspapers, the "Boz" years, serial novels, plays, public speaking, more inimitable novels, European and American escapades etc., etc. It was absolutely fascinating if you haven't already read it, I do recommend it.
I'm currently reading Dombey, and even very early in Dickens has me hooked.
I'm glad you enjoyed Doughty St! I took my fiancé there last summer and enjoyed every second of the tour. To see the desk on which he wrote Oliver Twist - WOW!