Dickensblog

The art of Lucy Dickens

Billionaire.com profiles Charles Dickens's great-great-granddaughter Lucy Dickens, an artist inspired by scenes in and around the Ritz London. Go here to read the piece, to see some of her paintings, and to get details about her upcoming exhibition at the Osborne Studio Gallery!

Trouble for Dickens World?

Kent Online reports that the theme park hasn't been doing well financially and faces an uncertain future.

'The Telegraph' on the 'Dickensian' finale

The Telegraph has some praise for last night's season 1 finale of Dickensian, and for the show in general -- but not quite so much praise for BBC One, which "passed [it] around the schedule like an unwanted orphan." The article is spoilery, although if you're familiar with the plots of Bleak House, Great Expectations, and Oliver Twist, it shouldn't be TOO spoilery.

'Pickwick,' the operetta

Retrospect Opera is planning to make a recording of the operetta Pickwick, starring baritone Simon Butteriss. Written by Francis Burnand and Edward Solomon, the operetta was first performed in 1889. Go here to read all about the project, including how you can donate to it!

(H/T The Buzfuz)

A second season for 'Dickensian'?

The Sunday Times reports that the BBC should decide on a renewal for Dickensian in the next month, and that Tony Jordan already has lots of ideas in mind, including Marley's appearance as a ghost. (The full article is subscriber-only.) Meanwhile, Jonathan Wright at The Guardian praises Dickensian as "the riskiest show on primetime TV."

New 'David Copperfield' audiobook now available

Here's the link to it at Audible.com. And here's a video of Richard Armitage talking about what tripped him up during the recording! (H/T Gregg Long)

'Fitoor': A review

Fitoor, the new Bollywood update of Great Expectations, opened today in limited release. I did not expect it to be playing near here -- even so close to the big city, we don't always get the limited-release movies. But this time, we did! So I caught a screening this afternoon.

This was my first Bollywood movie, so I wasn't sure exactly what to expect. If Fitoor is any indication, they're heavy on gorgeous scenery and costumes, songs and montages, slow-mo, closeups, and long, soulful gazes. The movie is truly beautiful to look at. And the actors, led by Aditya Roy Kapur, Katrina Kaif, and Tabu, all gave good performances. (I've seen some criticism of Kaif's performance online; again, I don't know much about the Bollywood ideal, but I thought she was fine.)

Also, I appreciated the scenes in which the film offered a small, playful tribute to Dickens by having its lead characters quote A Tale of Two Cities to each other!

As for the story, it follows the general trajectory of Dickens's story, but there are some significant changes. Pip, known here as Noor, is now an artist -- something I think they carried over from the Ethan Hawke-Gwyneth Paltrow film, though I never saw that one. Many of the characters have had their rough edges smoothed off: Noor is less snotty; Estella's character, known here as Firdaus, is less icy; Noor's sister is kinder; Begum, the Miss Havisham character, is still rich and eccentric, but she doesn't actually start decaying until Firdaus has grown up and left home. On the other hand, Herbert, or Arif, is much snarkier. 

New excerpt from 'Tell the Wind and Fire'

Tell the Wind and Fire, Sarah Rees Brennan's Young Adult novel based on A Tale of Two Cities, isn't due out until April, but today we have an excerpt for you! 

First, a bit of background: Lucie and her boyfriend, Ethan, live in a future New York City divided into Light and Dark sections. Carwyn, Ethan's secret doppelganger, has saved Ethan's life and is now in the Light city with them. But as a doppelganger, he is considered an inferior being and treated badly; no restaurant will even serve him a meal. Like all the rest, Lucie fears and dislikes Carwyn, but out of gratitude and pity -- and at great risk to herself -- she removes the collar that marks him as a doppelganger, and takes him to get some food. This is where our excerpt picks up:

 

Inspired by 'David Copperfield'

Here's a heartwarming little piece by a young Copperfield fan in Dubai, who writes, "This story has inspired me to stay confident in all my troubles and face them bravely."

Why Dickens?

I got into a debate over Dickens on a message board (as you do) some time ago. One of my fellow posters who is not a fan challenged me to explain what I love about Dickens. I promised to do a full blog post on the subject, and then I got busy doing other things and never got around to it.

But today we Dickensians celebrate our beloved author's 204th birthday. So, it occurred to me, what better way to celebrate than to answer the question: Why do I love Dickens?