Dickensblog

R.I.P., Timothy West

The beloved British actor played John Dickens in the 2002 miniseries Dickens, Sir Leicester Dedlock in the 2005 Bleak House, and Josiah Bounderby in the 1977 Hard Times. He passed away on Tuesday, November 12, at the age of 90. 

Thoughts on BBC Radio 4's 'Hard Times'

Here's a direct link to the first episode of the BBC's new two-part radio drama of Hard Times. I listened to it this week and enjoyed it very much. Of course, cuts have been made to the story to fit it into two hourlong episodes. Also, it feels as if some of the sharper edges have been sanded off Dickens's characters and situations -- Mrs. Gradgrind doesn't say "Go and be somethingological directly," Mr. Bounderby doesn't go on and on about being born in a ditch, Louisa's spells of sharpness and sullenness are pretty much gone. Sleary doesn't even lisp! Yet for all that, adapter Graham White takes the story seriously and tells it simply and movingly, foregrounding the domestic scenes, to which the strong cast brings a sense of both intimacy and urgency. Even with some of the beloved Dickensian trimmings pared away, this adaptation shows the strength of Dickens's storytelling and the timeless appeal of his characters.

New Dickensian dramas on BBC Radio 4

On Sunday, September 29, BBC Radio 4 will begin airing a whole season of new Dickens audio dramas:

• A two-part Hard Times, starring David Morrissey, Rachel Harper, Ike Bennett, Shaun Dooley, Janey Orchard, Jan Ravens, Will Close, Arthur Hughes, and Claire Cage;
• A three-part Little Dorrit, starring Jason Watkins, Samuel Barnett, Kitty Archer, Paul Bradley, David Tarkenter, and Claire Price; and
• A three-part Our Mutual Friend, starring Bukky Bakray, Sule Rimi, Issam Al Ghussan, Jeremy Ang Jones, Bettrys Jones, and Delilah Tahiri.

The channel will also be airing special Dickens-themed episodes of its show "Opening Lines," examining each of the three books adapted here. 

Listeners outside the UK should be able to access all shows via the BBC Sounds website and app. Go here to learn more!

New editions of interest

Oxford University Press is releasing Dickens's works in a new scholarly edition. Sketches by Boz is already out; Nicholas Nickleby and The Uncommercial Traveller are coming later this year. They're billed as "the first complete authoritative edition of his works" and promise "comprehensive annotation." (Which perhaps explains the prices!)

Meanwhile, for those of us who just enjoy pretty covers, Chiltern Classics recently added Oliver Twist and Hard Times to their Dickens inventory.

'Estella Scrooge' available online

The Streaming Musicals website has a new Christmas Carol musical. I haven't taken a look myself yet, but there are some impressive theatrical names involved, including John Caird (director of Les Miserables and Nicholas Nickleby); Paul Gordon (composer/lyricist of Jane Eyre and Daddy Long Legs), and Betsy Wolfe, whom I once saw give an inspired performance as Rosa Bud in The Mystery of Edwin Drood on Broadway. And when the synopsis says that Estella Scrooge meets up with Pip Nickleby at Harthouse in Pickwick, Ohio, you know someone knew their Dickens! Go here to find out how to buy or rent the show, and here for more information on the show itself.

'A World Full of Dickens Stories': A review

By Tai French, guest blogger

A World Full of Dickens Stories: 8 Best-Loved Classic Tales Retold for Children by Angela McAllister (Frances Lincoln Children's Books, 2020)

The works of Charles Dickens, though marvelous, can be a tad daunting at first, especially for the young. With a dizzying array of characters, unfamiliar social mores and settings, and a wealth of subplots, a full-length Dickens novel can quickly overwhelm a novice or reluctant reader. Imagine how helpful a trusted guide could be, one who helps the reader keep track of the primary characters and follow the golden thread of the story through its twists and turns! A World Full of Dickens Stories is just such a faithful guide.

News roundup

Just wanted to share a few news items before beginning the book reviewing:

• The Dickens Museum is, unsurprisingly, closed indefinitely, but remains active on social media. Actor Dominic Gerrard, who has performed a one-man Christmas Carol there, has done a reading of the first chapter of A Tale of Two Cities to raise money for the Museum.
• The joint Dickens Fellowship/Dickens Society Symposium in London in July is still scheduled to go ahead, but organizers are monitoring things and will make a final decision in May.
• In the New Yorker, Amy Davidson Sorkin argues, "Esther Summerson is one of the great heroines of literature, in part because she understands the vital importance of social distancing and isolation, even when it is hard."
• Phyllis Rose is re-releasing her 1983 book Parallel Lives, which focuses on five Victorian couples, including Charles and Catherine Dickens. In an interview with the Guardian, Rose argues that "is disappointing, and incredibly small-minded" to "cancel" great writers like Dickens over their bad behavior. The new edition of her book can be ordered here.   
• The TV series "Great British Menu" has a children's literature theme this year, in honor of the 150th anniversary of Dickens's death. (Seemed like a bit of a stretch to me too, but apparently it has something to do with Oliver Twist being the first child protagonist. Anyway, I'd never carp about a show honoring Dickens for any reason!)
• Dr. Pete Orford is beginning a Hard Times readalong on April 1.

Dickens and van Gogh

Did you know that Dickens was Vincent van Gogh's favorite author? Tate Britain is getting the word out with its exhibition "Van Gogh and Britain." In its review of the exhibition, The Guardian explains, 

Van Gogh loved Dickens and Eliot for the way they took the everyday details of modest lives and elevated them into something luminous. Here was social realism, in all its unloveliness, transformed into a kind of moral grandeur. A few years later, and on his way to becoming the artist who would invest old shoes, ragged sunflowers and potato-eating peasants with powerful feeling, Van Gogh wrote to his brother: “My whole life is aimed at making the things from everyday life that Dickens describes and these artists draw.”

In fact, the paper reports, van Gogh's beloved Starry Night is said to be based on one of the most powerful scenes in Hard Times.

The Economist adds, "In a number of the paintings in 'L’Arlésienne', a series made between 1888 and 1890 . . . van Gogh carefully inscribed 'A Christmas Carol' on the spine of a book. The choice of title and author was deliberate: he had read the novel every year since childhood. When van Gogh moved back in with his parents in 1879 they complained that he did nothing but devour Charles Dickens from morning to night."

Sounds like our kind of guy!  

From the book pile

• A Christmas Corral, written and illustrated by Lucas T. Antoniak (CreateSpace/Amazon Digital Services, 2016).
  
  This picture book, based on A Christmas Carol, casts Scrooge as a surly sheep who's the bane of the barnyard. (His first name now is, of course, Ebaaanezer.) Antoniak takes quite a few liberties with the story, as you would expect, but his humorous narrative and delightful illustrations capture the spirit of the classic. My favorite part: the drawing of Tiny Tim, who sports an enormous wool Afro. Lots of fun for younger readers. 

Get 'Hard Times' in your inbox

Sorry I'm a bit late with this, but the site Journal-Lists is offering a free e-mail subscription to Hard Times in weekly installments, on the dates that it was originally published in 1854. Click here to sign up!