On Reading Dickens
January 12, 2011
A 1904 artist's impression of Charles Dickens in the shoe polish factory
DRINA writes:
I just wanted to say I enjoyed your post on Oliver Twist. I read the book for the first time when I was substitute teaching sophomore literature a few years ago. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t read it before then, and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Since then, especially over the last year, I just can’t seem to get enough of Charles Dickens! My favorite so far is David Copperfield. The subplot concerning the old professor and his young wife was just as good as the main plot of Copperfield himself. I’m taking a brief hiatus to read some other things, but one of my goals is to read all of Dickens’ works.
Laura writes:
Dickens is taught very little in our schools and colleges in America. At least, that’s my impression. My theory is that this is because Dickens gives so much pleasure. I can’t explain it any other way. Shakespeare is still widely taught, but not Dickens even though he is easily the greatest novelist in the English language. I can’t explain this except to think there is an unconscious desire to deprive students of the uninhibited, joyful, ecstatic, consoling, lifelong pleasure that comes with reading Charles Dickens. Or perhaps we live in an un-funny age, when real satire of the human condition is unwelcome. Many teachers are by now unfamiliar with the pleasures that come with reading Dickens, and I understand that the abandonment of Dickens is at one with the general reversion to an oral and visual culture, but at some point there had to be teachers who were familiar with these pleasures who surrendered.
Since Dickens is taught so little, it is important for parents to do the job of introducing children to his work. I have a few quick things to say about this very important subject.
Most of Dickens novels were written in serial form for magazines. This, and Dickens’ own love of theater, explains the theatrical, even cinematic, quality of his novels, which are episodic and include numerous interwoven, simultaneously-running subplots. These subplots are complicated and include improbable twists and turns that have an improvisational character. That’s because this truly was improv theater for Dickens. Six months before the serialization of Oliver Twist was complete, there already were two adaptations of the novel running on the stages of London. Dickens still didn’t know how the plot would end at that point! Dickens did not sit down, conceive of his stories as a whole and then write them. Some of the intricacy and long-windedness that came with this serial format can be unnerving for the initiate and even for the longtime reader.
That’s why it is best to introduce children to his works through some of the excellent dramatic and audio productions. This makes the experience actually more similar to that of the first Dickens readers, who anxiously awaited the next installment, and did not sit down to the whole thing at once. Acquaint children or teenagers in this way with the characters and plots first. Then read the books. Bear in mind that there are some extremely bad productions. The 1968 musical Oliver, for instance, is nothing like Dickens. I did not see Roman Polanski’s Oliver Twist and have no interest in seeing it. Some of the BBC productions are horrendous and some of them are outstanding.
David Lean’s versions of Oliver Twist and Great Expectations are excellent. The 1985 BBC production of Oliver Twist, which is available for $12.99 on Amazon, is a masterpiece. My family watches it every year on New Year’s Day, or thereabouts. We have seen it many times and never tire of it. It is haunting, hysterically funny and beautiful. The acting is sensational and the entire thing is so faithful to the book, it could have been directed by Dickens himself. Oliver Twist is a dark and bleak tale in many ways. This production does not sugarcoat what Dickens intended to be a look into the underworld of crime and urban depravity. It is not for very young children.
In audio form, the readings produced by Naxos Audio and State Street Press are generally excellent. The Naxos readings of A Tale of Two Cities and Hard Times by Anton Lesser are very good, as is the State Street press narration of Great Expectations by Frank Muller. These make for great listening on long car trips with the family.
I will try to compile a more complete list. The great thing about Dickens, who was a master of caricature and satire, is that he can be enjoyed by all members of the family, above the very young stage. His works are a source of endless pleasure, despite his very glaring literary flaws. Dickens, as G.K. Chesterton said, is a source of life itself. His books include so much that is ridiculous. But then life does too.
— Comments —
Bob writes:
Have you seen the adaptation of Bleak House featuring Gillian Anderson and Charles Dance?
It’s a marvellous production in my opinion and the entire cast is impeccable. It is returning to TV in our area this week. There was a post about it on a blog I follow which you may be interested in reading.
Laura writes:
No, I haven’t seen it. But I would like to. I was very disappointed in the 1985 BBC Bleak House with Denholm Elliott and Diana Rigg.
