Dickensblog

Speaking of 'Martin Chuzzlewit' . . .

I just came across this lovely passage from G. K. Chesterton's introduction to it:

We go for a particular novel to Dickens as we go for a particular inn. We go to the sign of the Pickwick Papers. We go to the sign of the Rudge and Raven. We go to the sign of the Old Curiosities. We go to the sign of the Two Cities. We go to each or all of them according to what kind of hospitality and what kind of happiness we require.

Rather unfortunately, Chesterton goes on to argue that Martin Chuzzlewit is the exception to the rule, thanks to its "melancholy" feel. Still, the imagery is brilliant and, I think, profoundly true.

And Chesterton does go on to say, "He poured into this book genius that might make the mountains laugh, invention that juggled with the stars." So there's that!

The Dickens-Harry Potter connection

As the release of the last Harry Potter movie approaches, a Wall Street Journal article examines the ties between that series and the works of Dickens. There's a sample (with a spoiler or two) below . . .

Charles Dickens, soap writer

Dr. Holly Furneaux of the University of Leicester will deliver a special lecture titled "Serial Readers: Dickens and the Victorian Soap Opera" on October 5. The event will also include a costumed reading and a viewing of some of Dickens's manuscripts and possessions. Click here for more information.

The Dickensblog Unofficial Best-of List

This list was inspired by a post at Elizabethan. Lilie, the blogger over there, based her list on a bunch of Austen, Gaskell, and Brontë adaptations, while I, for obvious reasons, am doing an all-Dickens list.

Did I miss any categories? If so, add them (with your nominees) in the comments section! And note that these are only from the adaptations I'm familiar with, so feel free to suggest other nominees from whichever adaptations you want for my categories as well.

Click below to find the list, with screencaps and occasional remarks.

7 Quick Takes Friday

• The 1984 TV film of A Christmas Carol, starring George C. Scott, comes to Blu-ray in November.
• England's Northern Ballet Theatre will perform a ballet of A Christmas Carol at the International Festival of Music and Dance in Bangkok this month.
• L.A. theater company A Noise Within will present a new adaptation of Great Expectations this season. Info here and here.
• The Northumberland Theatre Company is touring England with a production of The Old Curiosity Shop in which six actors play several parts each. The company's goal is "to make theatre accessible to everyone."
• Overheard at a bookstore: "Did Charles Dickens write any shorter versions of his books?"
• Charles Dickens, father of product placement? Not really. But this writer has some fun with the idea.
• Or how about Charles Dickens, cookbook author? (As a matter of fact, Dickens's wife did publish a cookbook under an assumed name!)

Anyone have good eyes?

This piece is about trucks named after Dickens characters, but in most of the pictures I can't make out the names on said trucks. (Except for "Little Nell," and I was aided by the fact that that one is specifically mentioned in the piece.) Nice idea, though.

Vote for your favorite couples!

It's time to determine the best Dickensian couple! Out of all your nominations, both here and on the Facebook page, seven couples made the cut -- all the couples who were nominated by three or more people. The poll is in the sidebar on the right side of the page, and you'll be able to vote until Tuesday morning. You may vote for up to two couples.  

Here are our contestants! (Be aware that there are plenty of spoilers in the photos and quotes below.)

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Dick Swiveller and the Marchioness, The Old Curiosity Shop

"This poor little Marchioness has been wearing herself to death!" cried Dick.

"No I haven't," she returned, "not a bit of it. Don't you mind about me. I like sitting up, and I've often had a sleep, bless you, in one of them chairs. But if you could have seen how you tried to jump out o' winder, and if you could have heard how you used to keep singing and making speeches, you wouldn't have believed it -- I'm so glad you're better, Mr. Liverer."

"Liverer indeed!" said Dick thoughtfully. "It's well I am a liverer. I strongly suspect I should have died, Marchioness, but for you."

David Copperfield and Agnes Wickfield, David Copperfield


"I am so blest, Trotwood -- my heart is so overcharged -- but there is one thing I must say."

"Dearest, what?"

She laid her gentle hands upon my shoulders, and looked calmly in my face.

"Do you know, yet, what it is?"

"I am afraid to speculate on what it is. Tell me, my dear."

"I have loved you all my life!"

Arthur Clennam and Amy Dorrit, Little Dorrit

"I am yours anywhere, everywhere! I love you dearly! I would rather pass my life here with you, and go out daily, working for our bread, than I would have the greatest fortune that ever was told, and be the greatest lady that ever was honoured. O, if poor papa may only know how blest at last my heart is, in this room where he suffered for so many years!"

Sydney Carton and Lucie Manette, A Tale of Two Cities

"In the hour of my death, I shall hold sacred the one good remembrance -- and shall thank and bless you for it -- that my last avowal of myself was made to you, and that my name, and faults, and miseries were gently carried in your heart. May it otherwise be light and happy!"

He was so unlike what he had ever shown himself to be, and it was so sad to think how much he had thrown away, and how much he every day kept down and perverted, that Lucie Manette wept mournfully for him as he stood looking back to her.

Noddy and Henrietta Boffin, Our Mutual Friend


Opening her eyes again, and seeing her husband's face across the table, she leaned forward to give it a pat on the cheek, and sat down to supper, declaring it the best face in the world.

John Harmon/Rokesmith and Bella Wilfer, Our Mutual Friend


"I knew you would come to him, and I followed you," said Rokesmith. "My love, my life! You ARE mine?"

To which Bella responded, "Yes, I AM yours if you think me worth taking!" And after that, seemed to shrink to next to nothing in the clasp of his arms, partly because it was such a strong one on his part, and partly because there was such a yielding to it on hers.

Eugene Wrayburn and Lizzie Hexam, Our Mutual Friend


"You have thrown yourself away," said Eugene, shaking his head. "But you have followed the treasure of your heart. My justification is, that you had thrown that away first, dear girl!"

"No. I had given it to you."

"The same thing, my poor Lizzie!"

"Hush, hush! A very different thing."

You're DEAD to me, Arnold Bennett

Not that I knew much about you in the first place. But now you're dead to me for certain.

You might be a Dickensian if . . .

(Just a little list I came up with -- feel free to add items of your own!)

You might be a Dickensian . . .

. . . if people wonder why you break into a big grin every time you hear the word "inimitable."

. . . if you hear the name "Bella" and think of Bella Wilfer instead of Bella Swan.

. . . if you consider "That's so Victorian" a compliment.

. . . if you wonder why none of the little children you know go around saying saintly things in flowery language.

. . . if you wonder why none of the little children you know are supporting themselves and their entire family.

. . . if you've ever considered naming your son Smike, Pip, Oliver, Barnaby, Ebenezer, or Sydney, or naming your daughter Agnes, Nell, or Estella.

And they all lived (un)happily ever after

More on Hard Times: Fern Siegel at The Huffington Post calls the novel Dickens's "only book without a happy ending." Really? A Tale of Two Cities has a redeeming ending, but it's not exactly a barrel of laughs. And then there's The Old Curiosity Shop, which at best has a mixed ending . . . a lot like like Hard Times. And don't forget poor old Edwin Drood with no ending at all! Okay, I'm getting a bit silly, but you get the point.