tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post4985642004483221572..comments2024-03-29T14:45:32.326+13:00Comments on The Imaginary Museum: The World of Charles DickensDr Jack Rosshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01805945600952222957noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-56145867575513134092022-01-11T20:50:32.478+13:002022-01-11T20:50:32.478+13:00(Dickens is going to compete with much else but I ...(Dickens is going to compete with much else but I also want to re-read The Brothers Karamazov -- I've re-read a few of Conrad's books, some, such as Heart of Darkness and The Secret Agent more than once. But the big one is going to be David Copperfield.<br /><br />It is so long that a lot of it wont be re-reading per se. And such as Martin Chuzzlewit I have not read. <br /><br />But the characters' names! The descriptions, the brilliant beginnings, my imagined London of those times, the dark twists and turns, the absurd or comical-dark characters. <br /><br />I have a critical book here called 'Dickens and Kafka'! By Mark Spilka. The blurb starts: 'Kafka by his own admission was greatly influenced by Dickens.' How good this is it is a way to get reading by reading such a critical book or I have Ackroyd's book...but it is formidably long. <br /><br />I recall the movie 'Great Expectations', we saw it when I was at high school, about 1963 to 4. I enjoyed it. The movies, or a novel about the book etc, are a way to motivate one to read or re-read things...<br /><br />Great way into it via a huge jigsaw puzzle. Did you ever read that poem by James Merrill more which describes his childhood, much alone, with a German governess, waiting always for a jig saw puzzle. I think it had one piece missing! That is the key to the poem.... I recall he uses the word 'Umlaut' brilliantly. Lynn Keller writes about it in a book about modernist US authors. <br /><br />Also, Richard von Sturmer is pretty big on puzzles and jig saws in the tradition of Oulippo and Perec etc... <br /><br />But reading Dickens was a start on my entrance into a new world of adult writing as a boy. I think the descriptions and words are what mattered to me most, and the atmosphere. Mostly I think I had no idea what was going on but I loved the books... <br /><br />Good choice for interregnum reading. Thanks for this Blog post.Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10272507198753290435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-81756072903093263522022-01-11T20:50:18.617+13:002022-01-11T20:50:18.617+13:00I read Dickens, my father was from London and like...I read Dickens, my father was from London and liked him. We had a collection of maternal grandmother in Everyman with leather. I loved those and read every intro by Chesterton. I thought, being only 12 or so (about 1960-62 I read them and then by 63 had read 'Les Miserables') -- but I thought I had read every novel and the Christmas stories. I knew I hadn't read 'Martin Chuzzlewit', I was also sure I had read 'Our Mutual Friend' and 'David Copperfield' (I still think I did but they are not in the series on my shelf, the same shelf my parents had). I started with the Pickwick Papers, then Oliver Twist. I loved the words and even the paper of the books. But around 1968, I re-read Bleak House (Dickens has to be re-read I later (more recently) got 'Hard Times' and I have read that twice. I was convinced I had read David Copperfield, but I am sure I only read them in that Everyman's faux leather edition. Nevertheless I have 'Our Mutual Friend' and I must get 'David Copperfield' (of course I want them in that edition but they are difficult to pin down).<br /><br />For me the descriptions of characters are fascinating in Dickens. I re-read 'The Old Curiosity Shop' as a critic had claimed the grandfather, entering Little Dorrit's room to get money -- that was Dicken's way of signalling he raped her. I read the book. Quilp, as in the first time, fascinated me: 'Quilp who loved no one.'!! What I realized was the amount of violence in Dickens (as in recent times I read 'Wuthering Heights', to find it a savage, strange thing also, and with much violence). But there are beautiful ways of writing. Had he not needed an audience he may not have written (more realistically, complexly?) but this may have limited his writing in some ways, needing to entertain and audience. I also caught up with Edwin Drood which promised to be an amazing thing. <br /><br />So I think I need to re-read many of those novels, and my plan was to start with 'Great Expectations' (one I seem to recall more of, although much of 'The Pickwick Papers' is unforgettable, that has to be re-read also), but we saw the movie of it and Lloyd Jones wrote a book based on it, always a good excuse. So from there the next one in the series --Oliver Twist and then on to the end if I live that long! <br /><br />Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10272507198753290435noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-78105009532605859022022-01-11T15:44:30.287+13:002022-01-11T15:44:30.287+13:00Those both sound like they're definitely worth...Those both sound like they're definitely worth following up. I believe there was a RSC production of a play based on the novel which allowed the audience to vote on which ending they'd like to see (presumably from a list supplied with the programme) each night of the run!Dr Jack Rosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01805945600952222957noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29676463.post-25500662869873531502022-01-11T13:17:32.686+13:002022-01-11T13:17:32.686+13:00Leon Garfield made a gallant attempt to finish Edw...Leon Garfield made a gallant attempt to finish Edwin Drood. It's worth reading, even if you disagree with his choice of ending.<br />The D Case, Or The Truth About The Mystery Of Edwin Drood by Carlo Fruttero and Franco Lucentini tries to give just about every possible solution to the mystery.Roger Allenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11012987757094423896noreply@blogger.com