Dickensblog

Enchanted by Dickens

I reviewed Peter Conrad's new book Dickens the Enchanter: Inside the Explosive Imagination of the Great Storyteller for Plough. Here's an excerpt from the review:

[Conrad is] here to resurrect Dickens in all his bizarre glory, re-establishing him not just as a supreme talent but as the creator of an entire vibrant world, teeming with characters whose existence can feel as real as – if not more real than – our own. One of the strengths of Conrad’s book is how he conveys that this world is, for the devoted reader, both endlessly exciting and a comforting place to be, even with the darkness that, as Conrad specifies, so often accompanies his enchantment. This great author, Conrad shows us, doesn’t have to be stale to be soothing. 

You can read the full review here and order the book here!

(Note: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualified purchases.)

A double anniversary

Here's a fact I did not know: The Charles Dickens Museum opened on the 55th anniversary of Dickens's death, June 9, 1925. So today, as we remember the loss of our beloved author, we also celebrate the museum's 100th anniversary! Several members of the Dickens family were on hand today to give talks and readings. Ian Dickens and Lucinda Dickens Hawksley have some lovely photos from the event on their Instagram pages, and the museum itself has some great Instagram stories up as I'm writing this -- head over there fast before they expire! It's wonderful to see how many people showed up to pay homage to Dickens and how dedicated his descendants are to sharing his legacy.

(A quick note: I'm still trying to plan the migration of this blog to a different platform, which is one reason I've been posting very little lately. I'm sorry it's taking a while. Told you I was bad at this! But in the meantime, as I mentioned before, there's discussion to be had and fellow Dickensians to be met in the Dickensblog Facebook group, so do drop by there if you can.)

'The King of Kings': A review

Though The King of Kings is doing great at the box office, I've seen a number of critics and viewers saying that they have trouble with the unusual concept of Christ's story being framed by a story of Charles Dickens and his son Walter. Of course, the reason is that the film is based on Dickens's book The Life of Our Lord -- although many of us diehard Dickensians would simply argue that Dickens belongs anywhere and everywhere he can get! Still, before I saw the film myself, I wondered how well the two aspects of the story would blend.

'The King of Kings' releases tomorrow

The animated film based on Dickens's The Life of Our Lord hits movie theaters this weekend. It's currently rated 68 percent Fresh at Rotten Tomatoes. I probably won't have a chance to go until next weekend, but if you go before then, let us know your thoughts in the comments! 

Lucinda Hawksley lectures on 'Dickens and Travel'

Sign up at this link to hear her speaking at 5:30 Eastern this evening at Skidmore College!

Household words

When Typepad was down for a significant amount of time a few days ago, I started looking into what's going on with the platform. What I found was not reassuring. I believe it may be time to think about migrating Dickensblog to a different platform. As someone who knows a lot more about English literature than about how the Internet works, I find this prospect daunting, but not as daunting as the possibility of losing some 16 years' worth of posts. I'm seeking out advice (and would welcome tips from any of you with experience in this area!) and will keep you posted. And those of you on Facebook are welcome to join the Dickensblog group there, where you can always find me if this blog is down!

Inspired by 'Night Walks'

We've seen fashion inspired by Miss Havisham before, but here's a new one: fashion inspired by Dickens's famously atmospheric essay "Night Walks." The Guardian and MSN have articles and photos showing the new Alexander McQueen collection.

A conversation with the author of 'Fagin the Thief'

Allison Epstein, author of the new Oliver Twist spinoff Fagin the Thief, will be interviewed by longtime friend of this blog Rachel McMillan in a Zoom event that's free to the public. Go here to register for the event, which will take place this Wednesday, March 5, at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. 

(Note: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)

'Oliver!' cast album released

The cast album of the new Cameron Mackintosh production of Oliver! is now available digitally. (The page I just linked to says it's also available on CD, but I don't actually see any CDs for sale yet -- maybe that's coming soon.) Musical Theater Review has a review of the album here.

TCM alert

Great Expectations (1946) airs on the channel at 7:30 Eastern this morning, as part of 31 Days of Oscar.