Edgar Johnson (1) (1901–1995)

If I read the numbers I erased from the fly page correctly, I paid $25.00 for this dusty, tattered, two-volume biography of Dickens in a favorite used book shop (previous owner-one, Ellen Shaffer).
I generally stick to their $1.00 deals, but having determined that "David Copperfield" was the best book ever ever ever written, I can see why I might have splurged.
I hadn’t gotten around to reading it yet, when, in 2015, I attended a reading performance of “A Christmas Carol” by Dicken’s great great grandson, Gerald Dickens, at Rogers Gardens in Newport Beach (CA).
I'd brought the first of the two volumes along in hopes of an autograph [why I erased the price I paid :-) ], and was delighted to actually get it! As Gerald signed his name in an artistic flourish, he remarked that this biography of Dickens was his favorite. This prompted me to begin reading. But having little time for the actual fastening of my eyes to print, I’ve only just finished.
My goodness! I can’t imagine a more thoroughly researched, or conceived biography! The notes and bibliography alone proclaim how much time, thought, and research went into compiling and authoring this masterpiece! I hadn’t previously given much thought to all that a biographical author endures with procuring interviews, gathering and piecing together scraps of receipts, snippets from letters, diaries, play bills, manuscripts and what-have-you, from across the world and decades, to assemble something coherent--all the while infusing life and heart back into 80 year-old material; until I took a gander at all the notes at the end of each volume, crediting sources and noting when dates from one source disagree with dates from another and why one was chosen over others. And then there's the similar process of selecting and deselecting sources: one letter is mentioned in the source notes as having been disregarded in the biography, as most likely a fraud, judging by date discrepancies and excessive details supposedly being relayed by the letter’s author, a relative, to a recipient who would have known Dickens too well to have needed such details (such as the listing of all of Dickens children).
But, enough about the notes—the authorship of this biography is hardly short of Dickensian writing itself! No wonder it’s Gerald’s favorite. Each time we get to the writing of a particular novel, we are treated to an excellent critical essay on the work as well as details of the writing—often provided us through quotes of the many letters Dickens wrote to his long-time friend, John Forster, whom he’d met in 1836, when they were all of 24 (Forster being just 2 years Dickens’ junior) seeking advice and sharing thoughts about what he planned to write, or was in the process of writing, and how he was feeling about either.
I come away from this biography feeling that Charles Dickens was as much an actor and philanthropist, as a writer--so energetically expressive as to always seem bigger than life, and bearing a heart with compassion to fill an ocean.
Well done, Mr. Johnson!!! (Edgar Johnson, 1902-1995)… (mehr)