Dickensblog

From the book pile: 'Death and Mr. Pickwick'

Stephen Jarvis's Death and Mr. Pickwick is not quite like any other novel I've ever read. I'll explain why in a moment. 

First, I need to tell you something about the characters and plot. The novel gives a fictionalized account of the life of Robert Seymour, the first illustrator of The Pickwick Papers. Written in a rambling and episodic style, like Pickwick itself, Jarvis's book thoroughly examines not just Seymour's life, but also the myriad of influences on his life and work -- the world he grew up in, the artists whose work he saw and the writers whose work inspired his own art, his employers and relatives and friends. In particularly minute detail, he recounts everything in Seymour's life and work (for instance, a habit of drawing plump men, an interest in fishing, a meeting with a particularly gullible person) that might have any relation to anything in Pickwick.

There's a reason for this. Jarvis is trying to make the case that Pickwick really belongs to Seymour and not to Dickens. He gives us long passages with Seymour imagining the story and carefully plotting each detail of his pictures for it -- the fact that an author will be needed to provide words to go with the illustrations is almost an afterthought. And once that author is found -- 24-year-old Charles Dickens, fresh off the success of Sketches by Boz -- he will spoil everything for Seymour. 

Happy Easter!

"We have grown older . . . and quiet, and steady: liking nothing better than to spend our Easter, and all our other holidays, in some quiet nook, with people of whom we shall never tire. . . ."

Sketches by Boz, Chapter XII, "Greenwich Fair"

I hope you all spent the day in the way you like best!

Little black book

Penguin Classics is launching a new line of "Little Black Classics" to celebrate Penguin's 80th anniversary. One of them is Dickens's The Great Winglebury Duel, comprising two pieces from Sketches by Boz, and now available for pre-order!

Night walks with Dickens

USA Today reviews the new short film The Houseless Shadow, based on Dickens's essay "Night Walks," and the new "Dickens' Dark London" app.

Below is a preview of The Houseless Shadow.

 

The operatic imagination

Critic Michael Dirda has an excellent article in the Barnes and Noble Review celebrating Dickens's accomplishments as a journalist. I love this:

"One can open the book at random, read a few pieces, enjoy the Cruikshank illustrations, and marvel at a description, a bit of overheard conversation, or even a list. A list?  Dickens's operatic imagination could never resist any opportunity for a catalogue aria . . ."

Happy Dickens year!

It's 2012, and the Dickens bicentennial is officially upon us!

That means that the Dickens Bicentennial Charity Fundraiser has begun. I've set up my personal fundraising page here. My own goal is to read 72 chapters of Dickens this year to raise money for the Somaly Mam Foundation. As I've read all the novels, I'll be doing my reading in Sketches by Boz, Selected Journalism 1850-1870, Selected Short Fiction, and possibly in other books of essays and short stories.

You can sponsor me, or you can choose your own charity from the official list and do your own readathon! (Remember, you don't have to start today; you can start any time during the year.) When you get your page set up, please put the link in the comment section below so we can keep track of everyone's efforts.

And don't forget, for every Dickensblog guest post that you write this year, I'll give $10 to any charity you pick from that list. (I had originally said $5, but I've since changed it to $10.) Ideas for guest posts may also be submitted in the comment section. For those of you with artistic gifts, we'll also do some graphics challenges to raise money. So get those creative juices flowing!

Happy New Year and happy reading!

Oh, and by the way: This is the 1000th post at Dickensblog.

Tomalin's top five

Biographer Claire Tomalin names what she thinks are Dickens's five best books: Sketches by Boz, David Copperfield, Bleak House, Great Expectations, and Our Mutual Friend.

Master of the Universe

The Dickens Universe has been taking place all week at the University of California, Santa Cruz. I so want to go to one of these someday. An argument over whether Dickens really loved Nancy or hated her? AWESOME! I'd even be willing to dress like Sairey Gamp.

A Boz blog!

This is really cool: Journalism student Mike Kielty has set up a blog devoted wholly to Sketches by Boz. He visits places mentioned in the essays, photographs them, and writes about how they've changed since Dickens's time. The blog is here, and an article with some background information is here. (Be aware that there's a rather racy ad on the left side of the page, those of you who like to be warned about these things in advance.)

Kielty says he doesn't plan to continue his blog longer than a few months, but here's hoping he enjoys his time in the Dickensblogging community, however long it lasts!

Happy birthday, Mr. Dickens!

"Fill your glass again, with a merry face and contented heart." ("A Christmas Dinner," Sketches by Boz)

". . . It was the season of hospitality, merriment, and open-heartedness . . ." (The Pickwick Papers, Chapter 28)

We'd like to offer our wishes for a very happy 197th birthday to Mr. Charles Dickens! A day for merriment indeed.

I think this is a good day to recall the very first time I remember hearing Dickens's name. It wasn't the time I read Great Expectations in ninth grade. It was when I was reading L. M. Montgomery's Anne of the Island -- the third book in the Anne of Green Gables series, the one where Anne goes to college -- when I was ten or eleven. Near the beginning of Chapter 20 was this paragraph:

Anne looked up from Pickwick Papers. Now that spring examinations were over she was treating herself to Dickens.

Anne and her roommate Philippa go on to chat a bit about Pickwick and how it's a book that makes you hungry because everyone in it is always feasting. But it was that phrase "treating herself to Dickens" that caught my eye and stuck in my memory. I must have had some vague idea that Dickens was one of those famous classic authors, because I remember how I liked the thought of a classic author that you treated yourself to, one who provided an enjoyable escape from the stresses of school and of life in general. That wasn't the way people usually talked about classic authors. It made this one sound pretty special.

So I like to think I owe L. M. Montgomery a debt of gratitude for predisposing me to think well of the great Victorian author I would meet a few years later. Thanks to her, as well as to Charles Dickens himself for nearly twenty years of reading pleasure. Here's to many more!