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.

Audible.com's new Dickens Collection

Good news for fans of audiobooks: The Dickens Museum and Audible.com are working together to release new audio versions of all of Dickens's novels along with A Christmas Carol this year. A Tale of Two Cities (read by Simon Callow) has already been released, and Our Mutual Friend (read by Meera Syal) and Bleak House (read by Miriam Margolyes) are coming soon. Here's a short trailer for the project!

 

Thanks to everyone who sent a tip about this!

Christmas gifts for Dickens fans

Here are a few new items that might make good gifts for a Dickens fan you know (or for you!):

• Simon Callow is about to release a reading of A Christmas Carol on CD, accompanied by Christmas carols by The Brighouse & Rastrick Band. The recording is being advertised as a celebration of the book's 175th anniversary, which doesn't quite make sense, as that isn't until next year. Nonetheless, I expect this will be good!
• Pantone has teamed up with Puffin Books to offer a line of classics with gorgeously colored covers. Here's their new edition of A Christmas Carol & Other Stories.
• The 1979 adaptation of Our Mutual Friend with Jane Seymour, long a rarity on this side of the Atlantic, is finally available here on DVD, though only a few stores are offering it. You can get it from Acorn, Signals, or Wal-mart (that last is slightly more expensive but does offer free shipping without having to spend extra).
• Update: The Trinity Forum has a new selection of readings from A Christmas Carol, with an introduction by my good friend Karen Swallow Prior.

Coming up soon, I'll have capsule reviews of a number of Dickens-related books, so stay tuned!

Speaking of audiobooks . . .

In my last post, I mentioned that I'd been listening to an audiobook version of Our Mutual Friend. But I neglected to mention that it was read by David Timson, who did a terrific job. You can get hold of this one at Audible if you'd like to try it.  

I'd like to hear from some of you about any Dickens audiobooks that you particularly like. What are your recommendations?

Dickens diluted

Blogger Marianne Goss, in a post titled "Alternative approaches to Dickens," writes that, when Dickens's wordiness wore her down, she went looking for other ways to enjoy his work:

I wouldn’t abandon Dickens’s novels, I’d watch them in performance. With his vivid descriptions of people and places and his masterful dialogue, Dickens is ideal for dramatization. 

We all know there a lot of great Dickens adaptations out there, and certainly Dickens adapted is better than no Dickens at all. But I would tell Goss, if I had the opportunity, that one misses so much of Dickens's magic without his words. I'm not saying the words can't be difficult. Sometimes I have to wrestle with them. Sometimes, to be completely honest, they wear me down too. Recently, listening to an excellent audiobook of Our Mutual Friend recommended by my friend Kaitlyn, I had to take a break for a while when I got to the passage about Mr. Boffin's big reveal. It's not one of my favorite passages in Dickens, to put it mildly. And unfortunately, when you're dealing with an audiobook, it's not so easy skipping your least favorite passages.

But eventually I picked it back up and pressed play again, because even when he's not at his best, Dickens's words are worth it. I always come out happier and better for having read (or heard) them. So enjoy the adaptations by all means, but don't stay stuck there. Read them in installments if you have to -- another idea of Goss's, and one that I hope she follows through with -- but read them. In the end, you'll be glad you did.

Dickens and the Great Ormond Street Hospital

An article in the Independent gives details of Dickens's long involvement with the hospital and the various ways that he raised support for it, including "a disguised advertisement" in Our Mutual Friend.

Dickens's women and their work

This interview with Anne-Marie Slaughter in the Washington Post, about how "we utterly devalue the importance of caregiving roles in our society," has been getting a bit of buzz recently. And it got me thinking in Dickensian terms (as things often tend to do!). In the interview, Slaughter makes the following point:

A new 'Our Mutual Friend' musical

A new musical based on Our Mutual Friend, with lyrics and music by Larry Gelb, will have a staged reading at Actors Temple Theatre in New York City on October 19.  Playbill has details!

(H/T The Buzfuz)

Two anniversaries

As I mentioned earlier, today marks the 150th anniversary of the Staplehurst Rail Crash and the 145th anniversary of Dickens's death. In honor of this dual anniversary, I shall let Dickens speak for himself on both subjects (from his postscript to Our Mutual Friend): 

"On Friday the ninth of June in the present year Mr. and Mrs. Boffin (in their manuscript dress of receiving Mr. and Mrs. Lammle at breakfast) were on the South Eastern Railway with me, in a terribly destructive accident. When I had done what I could to help others, I climbed back into my carriage -- nearly turned over a viaduct, and caught aslant upon the turn -- to extricate the worthy couple. They were much soiled, but otherwise unhurt. The same happy result attended Miss Bella Wilfer on her wedding-day, and Mr. Riderhood inspecting Bradley Headstone's red neckerchief as he lay asleep. I remember with devout thankfulness that I can never be much nearer parting company with my readers for ever, than I was then, until there shall be written against my life the two words with which I have this day closed this book -- THE END." 

Dickens's desk comes home

The Dickens Museum has received a grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund to buy the desk and chair where Dickens wrote his final three books, for permanent display at the museum. The Guardian, BBC News, and Fine Books & Collections have the story.