So, I think we all love Dickens here, right? That's pretty much a given.
But that doesn't mean we never have a bone to pick with him.
(Bleak House spoilers below. . . .)
I was thinking of this the other night while watching Bleak House. Got to the scene where Krook goes up in smoke, and man, oh, MAN, did I get squicked out. I still want to shiver just thinking about it. It's so incredibly gross and icky and -- un-Dickensian, it seems to me. I know he often wrote about icky things, but I can't help feeling that he crossed a line here. (And the book is even worse than the movie!) "Of all the deaths that can be died," I wish Dickens had picked almost any other.
This made me think of a discussion question: Are there any scenes in Dickens that you just can't stand, and wish he'd left out?
(I expect there may be some disagreements here, as one man's meat is another man's poison, and vice versa. That's okay, disagreements are fine. Just keep it polite, and we can all disagree to our hearts' content!)
Mr Pecksniff's proposal always freaks me out. =P I don't remember if it was in the book, though.
Posted by: Marian | January 15, 2011 at 08:45 PM
I've just recently started following your blog (it's lovely, I adore Dickens) ... and I must admit, it amused me a little bit to click in here and discover you had a bone to pick with Dickens over someone going up in smoke (I kid you not, when that happened the first time on Masterpiece Theatre I was so shocked I burst out laughing)... see, my only complaint about "Bleak House" is the death of Lady Dedlock. That is SO tragic in so many ways deeply unfair. AGH.
Can't think of any scenes in particular that creep me out though, or that I wish he'd left out. Just had to complain a little about Lady Dedlock. ;)
Posted by: Charity | January 16, 2011 at 10:02 PM
I see your point. (And welcome, by the way!)
My runner-up "I wish he hadn't done that" scene, by the way, would be . . .
SPOILER
when Amy tells Arthur never to call her anything but Little Dorrit. I always want to go, "Ack! Charles! No! No husband would ever call his wife Little Anything!"
Posted by: Gina | January 16, 2011 at 10:24 PM
I'd always felt that Ebenezer might have gotten a little more closure with Belle? I guess it would be impossible for him to have a Happy Ending, but still, I felt a little sad at that part.
Posted by: Selenia | January 17, 2011 at 12:15 AM
Most of my complaints are with Bleak House, because I love it so:
1.) Why did we not see Smallweed get squashed (he deserved it!)?
2.) I wish we knew definitively whether Sir Leicester/society knew about Esther.
3.) Why did he end it with that (incomplete) sentence? I still wonder what he was getting at! (I admit I might very well be thick, though . . .)
Posted by: Holly | January 17, 2011 at 08:43 AM
Oh, I love the spontaneous combustion scene! It is too ridiculous, and Dickens did ridiculous so very well.
"That is SO tragic in so many ways deeply unfair."
I completely agree about Lady Dedlock. Esther should at least have been able to get to her before she was dead.
I'm not sure if there are scenes I would rather he left out. I can think of a few from Tolkien, another of the most magnificent writers in the world, but that is off the topic.
Posted by: Christy | January 19, 2011 at 05:32 PM
I always wished that somehow Scrooge and Belle could have ended up together. Somehow.
Posted by: Alexandra | February 16, 2011 at 04:20 PM