Dickensblog

The idea of resurrection

"Perhaps  some of Dickens's most significant observations concerning the cross were made as a result of his fondness for the idea of resurrection. Dickens seems to have possessed an obvious affection for Jesus's words in the story of the raising of Lazarus in John 11:1-57, particularly 11:25: 'I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live' (KJV)."

Gary L. Colledge, God and Charles Dickens, Chapter 4, "Charles Dickens: Resurrectionist"

Happy Easter!

'Dodger': A review

By Christy McDougall, guest blogger

A few years ago, the world learned, to its great dismay, that Terry Pratchett has Alzheimer’s. Well, it doesn’t show in one of his latest books, Dodger. Dodger is a rollicking romp through Dickensian London, with the occasional interference of some famous historical personage and occasional discursions into philosophical matters.

Dickens and the press

Charles Dickens and the Mid Victorian Press, a collection of papers from last year's Dickens Journals Online Conference, will be published later this spring by the University of Buckingham Press.

Happy 201st birthday, Charles Dickens!

"In a sense, Dickens was a greater mystery to his contemporaries than he is to us: they had absolutely no clue as to where it all came from -- the darkness, the passionate empathy with the disadvantaged, the massive driving energy, the overwhelming willpower. Only two years after Dickens's interment at Westminster Abbey, John Forster, exactly as Dickens had intended, in a masterly piece of posthumous stage-management, let the cat out of the bag: the source of so much in his work -- and his life -- suddenly became clear. But nothing can account for a man like Dickens. Not that there ever has been any man like Dickens: quite aside from the stupendous scope of his writing, his personality and his life are of almost overwhelming richness. It is one of the greatest of English Lives, both humbling and heart-warming, despite titanic flaws. It would be wonderful to think that there might be a second Dickens, but there have so far been no sightings."

-- Simon Callow, Charles Dickens and the Great Theatre of the World, p. 350

Happy birthday, dear Mr. Dickens.

(You don't look a day over 200.)

(Photo from Dickens birthday celebration in Clark Park, Philadelphia, Pa., February 3, 2013. Photo courtesy of Herb Moskovitz, The Buzfuz.)

Dickens on the Strand

By Selenia Paz, guest blogger

Dickens on the Strand is a world-famous annual one-weekend festival dedicated to Dickens and his time. It is located in Galveston in the state of Texas, and takes place during the first weekend of December, rain or shine.

This was my first experience visiting the festival, although I had already heard about the parades, the food, the costumes, and the visits from Dickens’s relatives. After missing last year’s festival (and the opportunity to view the famous Dickens’s Dream painting in person) I decided this would be the year I would finally visit the festival, especially with the bicentennial taking place this year.

Inspired by Dickens

In the Edmonton Journal, Rick McConnell tells the fascinating story of how A Christmas Carol sparked his deep love for Dickens, which in turn inspired him to write his own Christmas book, Shadowing Dickens. His novel has just been published by HarperCollins as an e-book, available here.

7 Quick Takes Friday

• Great Expectations will be shown tomorrow night at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival.
• Dickens scholar and biographer Michael Slater has a new book, The Great Charles Dickens Scandal, available for pre-order at Amazon. The book "investigates what Dickens did or may have done, then traces the way the [Ternan] scandal was elaborated over succeeding generations."
• Ballet Theatre UK is presenting a ballet version of A Christmas Carol. Bordercountiesadvertizer.co.uk is giving away six pairs of tickets; go here for your chance to win!
• Terry Pratchett isn't the only novelist borrowing Dickens characters. Peter Cooper has just published his first novel, Inspector Bucket and the Beast.
• Dickens has made it to Shortlist.com yet again. This time, Estella's on the list of "25 Literary Girls Who'll Break Your Heart."
• London's Your Local Guardian is giving away five free pairs of tickets to Simon Callow's one-man show The Mystery of Charles Dickens. Go here to find out how to win!
• Miriam Margolyes is bringing her one-woman show, Dickens' Women, to New York City next month, with two performances at the Morgan Library & Museum.

Walking with Dickens

The Independent has an interesting review of The Victorian City: Everyday Life in Dickens's London by Judith Flanders.

7 Quick Takes Friday

• My review of Gary Colledge's excellent book God and Charles Dickens has been published at Englewood Review of Books.
• The statue of Dickens in Portsmouth will be delayed until next year because of funding problems.
• To help out with the fundraising, two of Dickens's great-great-grandsons, Gerald and Ian Dickens, are walking the 75 miles from London to Portsmouth. They're following the route taken by Nicholas Nickleby and Smike.
• At The Millions, six Victorian scholars give their picks for best Dickens novel. I will long treasure this description of Our Mutual Friend, by Daniel Pollack-Pelzner of Linfield College: "The opening sequence plays like a Scorsese tracking shot on steroids. A body fished out of the Thames becomes gossip at a nouveau riche banquet, from which two lawyers slip out to a dockside police station, where they meet a mysterious man who runs off to take lodgings with a clerk, whose daughter becomes the ward of a dustman, who hires a peg-legged balladeer to read him The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. And I haven’t even mentioned the taxidermist." He also calls the novel a "Facebook fantasy."
• At BoingBoing.net, they're doing a series on Enthralling Books. Jay Kinney selected Nicholas Nickleby as the book that enthralled him.
• The Gravesend Reporter has some nice pictures and descriptions of Gad's Hill Place.
• Artist Spike Zephaniah Stephenson -- what a Dickensian name! -- has an exhibition called "The Inimitable Dickens" at the Portsmouth Central Library. Hope I'll get to see it while I'm over there!

Joyce Carol Oates tackles the Inimitable

Oates reviews the Claire Tomalin biography in the new issue of the New York Review of Books.