Dickensblog

R.I.P. John McEnery

The British actor played John Harmon in the 1976 TV adaptation of Our Mutual Friend (click here to read a short reminiscence by co-star Jane Seymour); Mr. Mantalini, William the Waiter, and Mr. Snevellicci in the celebrated stage and television versions of Nicholas Nickleby in the early 1980s; and Captain Hopkins in the 1987 feature film of Little Dorrit. McEnery passed away April 12 at the age of 75.

Hard times for the 'Little Dorrit' church

The Church of St. George the Martyr in Bermondsey -- the model for the church in which Amy Dorrit was baptized, spent a night when locked out of the Marshalsea, and was married -- is in such poor shape that it has been declared "at risk" by the group Historic England.

'Little Dorrit' radio drama available online

The 2009 radio dramatization of Little Dorrit, with Jasmine Hyde, Julian Wadham, and Ian McKellen, is currently available on BBC iPlayer Radio, and will remain available for the next month or so. As you'll see from this old review, I was pretty lukewarm about it, but give it a listen anyway -- maybe you'll enjoy it more than I did! Thanks to Kristy for the tip!

2017 Dickens Universe recap

The University of California Santa Cruz's Newscenter has a writeup of this summer's Dickens Universe, which threw attendees a curve by focusing on George Eliot's Middlemarch (though "in relation to Dickens"). Next year, Newscenter reports, the conference will go back to studying a Dickens novel -- this time, Little Dorrit.

Mapping Dickens

The Dickens Society is launching the Charles Dickens collection at the Placing Literature site. The Society's Facebook page explains:

TCM alert

The six-hour 1988 adaptation of Little Dorrit (or as I like to call it, "Dickens on Acid") airs tomorrow morning at 5 a.m. Eastern. 

And the Dickensblog Order of Merit goes to . . .

Katharine and Ryan Taylor, who named their new daughter Ada Clare! (Katharine is a Facebook/LiveJournal friend of mine.) Both Ada and Clare are family names, and Katharine says, "It didn't hit me until after we'd already settled on the name that Ada Clare (even spelled the same way) is the name of Jarndyce's beautiful and virtuous ward in Bleak House. But that's a fine literary association to have." 

Congratulations and blessings to them! And thank heaven Tattycoram wasn't a family name. ;-) 

A request

Simonetta Falchi, an Italian researcher in English literature, is taking a survey on Little Dorrit fanfiction and has asked me to pass the word along to Dickensblog's readers. You can go here to take it! Let me know if you have any trouble with it.

Making a library

Msantimacassar on LiveJournal requested a quote from Little Dorrit.

"They were very near the end of their walk, and they now came out of the gateway to finish it. Nothing would serve Maggy but that they must stop at a grocer's window, short of their destination, for her to show her learning. She could read after a sort; and picked out the fat figures in the tickets of prices, for the most part correctly. She also stumbled, with a large balance of success against her failures, through various philanthropic recommendations to Try our Mixture, Try our Family Black, Try our Orange-flavoured Pekoe, challenging competition at the head of Flowery Teas; and various cautions to the public against spurious establishments and adulterated articles. When he saw how pleasure brought a rosy tint into Little Dorrit's face when Maggy made a hit, he felt that he could have stood there making a library of the grocer's window until the rain and wind were tired."

Book 1, Chapter 9

Fellowship matters

Congratulations to the Dickens Society of Baltimore for becoming an official branch of the Dickens Fellowship! (H/T The Buzfuz) This makes it the branch of the Fellowship closest to me. I may have to look into joining up with them!

Speaking of the Fellowship, I'm getting ready to go to their annual conference, starting next week in Chicago, where I will get to meet up with Dickensblog reader and frequent guest blogger Rachel McMillan! (Charles Dickens: bringing people together since 1836.) As I did the last time I was away, I plan to set up some quotes from various Dickens novels to run on the blog while I'm gone. I already have some requests left over from last time that I can use (Nicholas Nickleby, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, A Christmas Carol, Little Dorrit, and Hard Times) but if you have any more novels that you'd like me to quote from, please let me know in the comments section on this post. Thanks!

And I'm sure Rachel and I will both have lots to share when we get back!