Charles Dickens

[Lucky Star]

Wasn't it Oscar Wilde who said you'd have to have a heart of stone not to laugh at the death of little Nell? Didn't Chesterton say that it wasn't so much the death of Little Nell that he objected to but her life?

Yes although apparently the serialisation so gripped Victorian society that when a ship docked in New York one time the passengers were shouting down to the people on the pier asking them what the latest was on Little Nell!

[burlingtonbertram]

That did sound bizarre until I remembered queueing at Tesco, at midnight, for the last Harry Potter book.

[John Pickup]

I have read some of Dickens' ghost stories recently. My favourite is The Potrait Painters Story followed closely by The Signalman. They are in a collection called Complete Ghost Stories published by Wordsworth Classics. A Christmas Carol is included. I bought it from The Works for £1.99.

[Francis]

The episodic nature of many of Dickens' books probably explains why he had to tie up all the
loose ends to please his audience. I personally enjoyed the first few hundred pages of David Copperfield
the best and Great Expectations is certainly a great story.

[number 6]

The Signalman is a good story. I can remember watching a TV film adaptation of the story a few years back. Denholm Elliot played the Signalman. I think it captured the atmosphere superbly!

[Lucky Star]

The episodic nature of many of Dickens' books probably explains why he had to tie up all the
loose ends to please his audience.

That episodic nature is probably because many of them were serialised in newspapers before appearing as actual books. I agree that Great Expectations is probably one of my favourites of his and a marvellous story.

[zaidi]

Sorry to break the continuity but by now I realized that as a 16 year old , I find Dicken's books very depressing and I simply cannot bear that.I want to see happy endings and positive outcomes coming from the worst situations. I wish Charles Dickens would have been more positive

[Domino]

Zainab, there are happy endings in 'David Copperfield', 'Oliver Twist', 'A Christmas Carol' and 'The Pickwick Papers' to name but four. True his main characters have to face all kinds of adversity, but he was trying to show the side of Victorian life that all too many people preferred to ignore. It's also a device that authors use to make the reader feel for the main characters.

Dave

[Anita Bensoussane]

I feel that there's a thread of joie de vivre (i.e. enjoyment of life) running through Charles Dickens' work. He writes about cruelty, meanness, suffering, injustice, pain and hardship but he also writes about generosity, trust, honesty, justice, nobility and comfort. From his books I get the impression that he had faith in the human race as a whole, and that he dared to hope that certain things in society which filled him (and others) with loathing and despair could be changed over time.

[Moonraker]

The Signalman is a good story. I can remember watching a TV film adaptation of the story a few years back. Denholm Elliot played the Signalman. I think it captured the atmosphere superbly!

We watch this as a family each Christmas. A wonderful adaptation.

[Domino]

It was first shown in 1976. As you say a good adaptation. [My personal favourite TV ghost story was M. R. James' "A Warning to the Curious" with Peter Vaughan and Clive Swift.]

Dave

[burlingtonbertram]

Sorry to break the continuity but by now I realized that as a 16 year old , I find Dicken's books very depressing and I simply cannot bear that.I want to see happy endings and positive outcomes coming from the worst situations. I wish Charles Dickens would have been more positive

When I was your age I didn't like anything that ended unhappily either. These days, my ideal book is an 18th or 19th century novel where the heroine is doomed to pine away and die, the male protagonist will go and get himself killed in a duel or die in the tropics whilst the family spend the rest of their years regretting their unkindness. Tastes can change with age.

As, I quoted elsewhere, "One must have a heart of stone to read the death of little Nell without laughing. ..." [Oscar Wilde].

[Katharine]

Isn't it funny, I'm the other way around. I wouldn't say that I particularly liked unhappy endings when I was younger, but I think I could cope with them better. Now as an adult, having experienced first hand the pain of losing people I loved, the stress of money worries, ill health, family breakups etc. etc., I don't want to read about them. I've had enough real pain to last me a life time!!!

[burlingtonbertram]

I've gone the other way; having been through many of those things, I don't really care when they happen in fictional works. It's nice to enjoy a frisson of misery without the personal involvement. A vicarious pleasure with it's own beauty. To quote Virginia Woolf:

"The beauty of the world, which is so soon to perish, has two edges, one of laughter, one of anguish, cutting the heart asunder."

My biggest criticism of Dickens is the obvious one: his sentimentality regarding young women and children.
-The personality and death of the orphan Johnny Higden in Our Mutual Friend is enough to turn anyone's stomach.
- Little Nell was an unrealistic character in what was otherwise a very good book (Old Curiosity Shop).
- Oliver Twist was a bit wet and nowhere near as appealing as the much better sketched Jack 'Artful Dodger' Dawkins.
- Little Dorrit is one of my favourite of his works, but the eponymous heroine is still rather sentimentally portrayed.
- Paul Dombey Jnr's death in Dombey & Son is frankly a blessed relief for the reader.
- Tiny Tim......etc. etc. etc.

Going to stop now because these sickly sweet characters are making me feel queasy.

[Farwa]

Split from another thread.

I like Great Expectations but it isn't one of my favourite Dickens. What aspects of it do you like best Farwa?

Sorry for the late reply, Burlingtonbertram, but I only just saw your post!
Well, for one thing, I love the contrast between Pip's strict sister and the gentle Joe.
I also love the bonding between Pip and Joe, and the passages in which they do things together are very enjoyable to read. Then, I loved the way (SPOILER) Pip and Estella slowly fell in love as they grew up. It's different from some other stories in which love happens all of a sudden. And of course, with Charles Dickens's beautiful writing, it was a wonderful book altogether!