Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

G.K. Chesterton called Nicholas Nickleby Dickens’ first real novel. The previous three publications had been Sketches by Boz (no hero), the PickwickPapers (older hero), and Oliver Twist (child hero). This was his first novel with a proper and dignified romantic hero; which means, of course, a somewhat chivalrous young donkey. Chesterton's description captures the personality of our young hero perfectly.

Nicholas is a young man who suddenly loses his father and must do his best to provide for his mother and sister. But in order to do so he must overcome the evil machinations of his uncle and his entourage of seedy companions. There were times when I almost despaired of a happy ending, but chapter 64 finally arrived and all was right with the world. I can’t be sure if the tears that pricked my eyes were from happiness or from relief that I finally finished this 731-page tome.

While I liked the book very much, I did not love any of the principal characters. The bad ones were far too bad and the good ones were far too good. Honest, simple John Browdie, a minor character, was my favorite (reminding me of Joe from Great Expectations). He is an uneducated man with an innate sense of right and wrong, but unlike Joe, he has an enormous sense of humor and self-confidence.

I’m working my way through the Dickens’ canon, and though this was not a favorite, I still relished the hilariously drawn lesser characters and the lovely writing. Take this description of Arthur Gride's house: Meagre old chairs and tables, of spare and bony make, and hard and cold as misers’ hearts, were ranged, in grim array, against the gloomy walls; [tall cupboards], grown lank and lantern-jawed in guarding the treasures they enclosed, and tottering, as though from constant fear and dread of thieves, shrunk up in dark corners, whence they cast no shadows on the ground, and seemed to hide and cower from observation. A tall grim clock upon the stairs, with long lean hands and famished face, ticked in cautious whispers… (p. 590)

I like Chesterton’s suggestion to read the novels in order of publication to watch the progression of Dickens' talent. If you read Nicholas Nickleby (or, better yet, listen to Mil Nicholson read it free at Librivox), follow it up with Chesterton’s witty commentary from Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens. (free for Kindle)   

Blessings,

Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens by G.K. Chesterton

Even though the title is a mouthful, this book isn't as hard to understand as many of Chesterton's other works. Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens is simply a compilation of introductions that G.K. Chesterton wrote for each of Dickens' novels. He reviews the books in chronological order and shows how Dickens developed as a writer. He praises Dickens' genius while at the same time commenting on some of the weaknesses of his works.

There are occasional Chesteronian phrases like: It is not the death of Little Nell, but the life of Little Nell, that I object to. and You cannot love a thing without wanting to fight for it. You cannot fight without something to fight for. To love a thing without wishing to fight for it is not love at all; it is lust. (p. 23) But for the most part, Dickens, and not G.K., is on center stage.

Some samples of his commentary:

Pickwick Papers will always be remembered as the best example of everything that made Dickens great; of the solemn conviviality of great friendships, of the erratic adventures of old English roads, of the hospitality of old English inns, of the great fundamental kindliness and honor of old English manners. First of all, however, it will always be remembered for its laughter. (p. 24)

Oliver Twist is by far the most depressing of all his books; it is in some ways the most irritating; yet its ugliness gives the last touch of honesty to all Dickens' spontaneous and splendid output. Without this one discordant note, all his merriment might have seemed like levity. (p. 39)

What I loved the most was this observation: All of Dickens' books are Christmas books. All of them have the element of drama, of waiting anxiously for something to happen, "a crisis of happiness" (advent). Secondly, they all take place in the "winter" of hardships where characters manage to celebrate in spite of the cold. And thirdly, is the element of the grotesque. Poets and painters have striven to express happiness by means of beautiful figures. Dickens understood that happiness is best expressed by ugly figures: the corpulence of Tony Weller and the red nose of Mr. Stiggins.

He goes on to describe The Christmas Carol as the best of the Christmas books because it has those three elements in spades: the sudden conversion of Scrooge, the winter scenes, and the undignified rejoicing of Scrooge's final happiness. The turkey that Scrooge bought was so fat, says Dickens, that it could never have stood upright. That top-heavy and monstrous bird is a good symbol of the top heavy happiness of the stories. (p. 112)

If you are not already a Dickens fan, you might find the book dry. But it made me want to read the whole canon. Also, each chapter contains spoilers so it's probably best to read the novels first and then see what Chesterton thought about them.

Blessings,

Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens

'Tis a sad gift, that much applauded thing, a constant heart. - Ella Wheeler Wilcox

This was by far my biggest literary emotional ride in 2017. I agonized with Florence's unrequited love, chortled at Dickens' sly jabs at human nature, dreaded the villains, and rejoiced with the book's true-hearted characters.

The title is ironic since the book focuses on the lives of several women. Young Florence, the main character, is rejected by her father for not being a son. Beautiful Edith has been groomed by her mother to marry for wealth. Even Alice Marwood,  a beggar's daughter, has been wrongfully used by her mother for selfish gain. The powerful secondary male characters are the prideful Mr. Dombey, the odious Carker, the gallant Walter, the devoted Toots, and the well-meaning Captain Cuttle.

Chesterton wrote that Dickens could make inanimate objects come to life in his novels and never have I seen that more than I did in Dombey and Son. The statue of the midshipman plays a prominent part in the narrative. And the descriptions of Carker's teeth are fundamental to the reader's understanding of Carker's various moods.


Capt. Cuttle and the Midshipman

I tried to watch the movie version of this book and it was too depressing. Dickens is MUCH easier to enjoy through his novels because he injects joy and hope in places that the movies have difficulty replicating. Yes, Florence's plight is horrific, but her moments of despondency are interwoven with scenes of the loving Toodle family, the humorous Captain Cuttle, and the bumbling, but loveable Mr. Toots.

Dickens makes delightful jabs at Victorian scholastic methods: It was part of Mrs. Pipchin's system not to encourage a child's mind to develop and expand itself like a young flower, but to open it by force like an oyster; he refers to this type of education as the perpetual bruising of intellectual shins. Then there are all the private jokes between the author and the reader (impossible to convey on film) like frequent mentions of Mrs. Pipchin's husband and the Peruvian mines and Captain Cuttle's precious sugar tongs. I was also amused by an early example of the phrase, "If he doesn't like it, he can lump it."

Dombey and Son has its share of unhappy situations, but the ending is satisfying. I appreciated the fact that various characters experienced redemption, but the changes in them were true to the limits of their personalities. 

My listening pleasure was doubled by the fantastic (free) narration done by Mil Nicholson at Librivox. It was worth every minute of the 40 hours.

Blessings,

Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

WARNING: Listening to Mil Nicholson narrating Our Mutual Friend can be extremely habit forming. Do not begin unless you are prepared to pay the price to see it through. (It's 36 hours long.)

Not since I read Wives and Daughters in 2008 have I been so hooked on an audiobook!

Early in the novel a young heir to a fortune is found drowned. Dickens shows what happens to those who get his money and to those who don't get it (but want it.) Two of the people affected by the results of the will are John and Bella. I enjoyed seeing how they grew through their hardships and formed an enduring relationship.

How can I begin to explain how magnificent this book is? Is it because of Dicken's amazing writing - with his gift for description, his insights into human nature and his wry British humor? Or is it just that the story has so many substories that it takes your breath away to see how they all come together. (I knew NOTHING about the story before going in, which was a big plus.) Or is it because Mil Nicholson has the ability to make all 500 hundred characters' (slight exaggeration) voices sound different and recognizable? Or is it because the characters are so complex and varied?

Our Mutual Friend has it all: drunkards, swindlers, murderers. star-crossed lovers, cripples, and death bed scenes. Yet because of Dicken's skill with the English language and his little humorous asides, it manages to be charming.

It's only January and I feel like I've already found my favorite book of the year. Highly recommended. (The Librivox links above are free. It's free for Kindle too.)
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David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens can be excessively dreary. I avoided him for years based on the depressing movie versions of his books. But then I read A Christmas Carol and delighted in the sly humor on every page. Hard Times was another Dickens' title that I found to be hard-hitting yet amusing at the same time. I learned that his books are less heavy than the movies because they are balanced by witty asides that are impossible to convey on film.

Still, I found the beginning of David Copperfield to be slow-going and even painful. (One of my siblings was often mistreated for her handicaps so I have a very low tolerance for meanness. And the first chapters of DC pay homage to some of the meanest people I've ever encountered in literature.) If it hadn't been for Sherry at Semicolon who told me this was one of her favorite Dicken's titles, I'm not sure I would have persevered.

Thirteen was a lucky number in this case since that's the chapter when things began to turn around for our suffering hero. Dastardly characters continue to come on the scene, but they are counterbalanced by virtuous and loving people. By the middle of the book there was an impending sense of doom that kept me reading, but I still wasn't sure I loved it. Later, however, I suddenly realized that Dickens had cast me under his spell. My misgivings about the heavy dose of villainy were dissipated by the irresistible charm of Dr. Strong's faithful love, Micawber's loquacious letters, Traddles amazing hair, and Mr. Dick's simple kind-heartedness. (Not to mention the "iron true" Mr. Peggoty, noble Ham, and Copperfield's guardian angels in the form of Miss Trotwood and Agnes Wickfield.) Without any effort I had learned to love these characters with all my heart.

And, of course, the writing is splendid. Describing Miss Murdstone's luggage, we understand her perfectly: She brought with her two uncompromising hard black boxes, with her initials on the lids in hard brass nails. When she paid the coachman she took her money out of hard steel purse, and she kept the purse in a very jail of a bag which hung upon her arm by a heavy chain, and shut up like a bite. I had never, at that time, seen such a metallic lady altogether as Miss Murdstone was. (p. 58)

This book, with its host of unforgettable characters, highlights the many kinds of love: shallow, filial, and romantic, but especially the deep, self-sacrificing kind. Like other chunksters I've read (Count of Monte Cristo and Middlemarch), this took almost a month to get through, but it was worth the effort.

Blessings, Hope

Quote On Books by Charles Dickens

"My father had left a small collection of books in a little room upstairs, to which I had access (for it adjoined my own) and which nobody else in the house ever troubled. From that blessed little room, Roderick Random, Peregrine Pickle, Humphrey Clinker, Tom Jones, the Vicar of Wakefield, Don Quixote, Gil Blas, and Robinson Crusoe, came out, a glorious host, to keep me company. They kept alive my fancy, and my hope of something beyond that place and time..."

(From p. 58 of David Copperfield by Charles Dickens)

Christmas Audio Books

Yesterday I watched a movie version of A Christmas Carol and bemoaned the fact that the movies cannot convey the charm and humor of the book. In fact, I didn't really know what I was missing until I listened to an audio version of A Christmas Carol last year. From the very first paragraph I knew I was in for a treat of understated witticisms and vivid descriptions. I fell in love with Mrs. Cratchitt in an instant when I heard her described as wearing "a twice-turned gown, brave with ribbons." How can you convey that sentence in a film?!

I also heartily recommend, "Conscience Pudding" by E. Nesbit which is one of several Christmas short stories put out by Librivox. As always, you get a mixed bag when you have volunteer readers, but "Conscience Pudding" was excellent. (It's the eighth story as you scroll down the page.)

Honestly, half of the enjoyment of these stories comes from the British voices reading them. If you're too busy to read this season, put a few of these on your iPod and listen while baking or wrapping gifts. Enjoy!

Hard Times by Charles Dickens

I had the best of intentions when I went to the library to check out Bleak House. But as I saw it sitting there, clearly the thickest book on the shelf, my heart quaked a little. Almost unintentionally I reached over to the right and picked up its much slimmer neighbor, Hard Times . I had been looking for anything written about/during the Industrial Revolution so I figured Hard Times would fit the bill just as well. I was hooked from the beginning with the humorous school room scene and Mr. Gradgrind’s no-nonsense approach to learning. He was described as a “kind of cannon loaded to the muzzle with facts, and prepared to blow them clean out of the regions of childhood at one discharge.”(p. 13)

I have expressed my dissatisfaction with Dickens on other occasions, but I am learning to like him. This book had some fine writing, a good variety of characters, plenty of British understated witticisms, and an intriguing story. But, frankly, I found it too depressing. Since Dickens wrote many of his novels as serials with weekly chapters in the newspaper he had to leave his readers hanging in suspense until the next chapter. I personally don’t enjoy having my emotions toyed with in that way. My favorite character from the beginning of the book had so much suffering heaped upon in him in chapter after chapter that I thought it was a mercy when he finally died. Emotionally I just couldn’t take any more.

The back of the book says it’s a diatribe against the havoc wreaked during the Industrial Revolution. That may be true, but it’s much more than that. The main conflict in the story is not worker against capitalist factory owner. The main contention is between head knowledge and heart knowledge. The contrast is drawn early in the story between the “facts only” Gradgrind school and the “uneducated, but full-of-heart” circus people.

Two of the major victims of the head vs. heart dilemma are Gradgrind’s own children. Tom’s feelings have been denied all his life and almost as soon as he leaves home he gives himself over to sensual appetites. His sister, Louisa, marries a man she doesn’t love because her father tells her it’s the sensible thing to do. His “proposal” to Louisa is heartbreaking in its coolness. So is her acceptance. Later she discovers that she does have a heart and that all her father’s educational principles had failed to prepare her for real life. Chapter 8 is the final showdown between the circus’ folks’ view of the world and Gradgrind’s. The shocking revelation is that without heart there can be no grace: It was a fundamental principle of the Gradgrind philosophy that everything was to be paid for. Nobody was ever on any account to give anybody anything, or render anybody help without purchase. Gratitude was to be abolished, and the virtues springing from it were not to be. Every inch of the existence of mankind, from birth to death, was to be a bargain [agreement] across the counter. (p.283) Gradgrind discovers too late that his man-made, sensible world is a living hell that offers him no mercy when he most needs it.

A very intriguing book!