Charles Dickens Bicentennial 1812 - 2012

Charles Dickens was born on 7 February 1812, that is 200 years ago.

Various reading groups on LT are reading books by Dickens to commemorate and honour that anniversary.

Many people consider Charles Dickens the greatest novelist of the Victorian Age.

What Dickens are you reading this year?

I own many books by Dickens, but I have only ever read three of them, Great Expectations, in 1988 at University, Oliver Twist, in 1993 and A Tale of Two Cities in 2001.

Three weeks ago, I started reading Barnaby Rudge. I am enjoying it enormously. Characterization and descriptions are so typical and vivid that I often have visual images popping up in my mind while reading.

Edwin, so glad you are getting into the spirit of Dickens.

I usually reread one each summer, however, this year I will be reading Our Mutual Friend for the first time, so I am really looking forward to it. Maybe I should squeeze in one more in honour of the anniversary year.

Masterpiece Theater has been showing Dickens lately. They just finished Great Expectations. Next up is The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

I got a kindle for Christmas and downloaded the entire works of Dickens for free! I have read quite a few already but I think having them on my kindle will really encourage me to work my way through them. I am currently reading David Copperfield for the first time (though I have to admit to having seen TV adaptations of it already).

I am slowly making my way through some of the novels by Dickens by reading one a year. I've already read this year's--it was Oliver Twist. This was my 5th year. I don't plan on reading all his books, but I think I'm in for another three or four at least.

Romankunst als levensschool. Tolstoi, Balzac en Dickens
Finished reading: 25 August 2012



At a glance, Tolstoi, Balzac and Dickens are equally large, impressive authors, who each deal with social circumstances in the Nineteenth Century. However, in this essay, the Dutch author Henriëtte Roland Holst clearly demonstrates that first impressions deceive. Dickens' prose is analyzed as lacking in the theme of love, while mainly focusing on a caricature of social circumstances, leaving out many facets which would present a more realistic image. The work of Balzac, especially in his La Comédie Humaine series which aimed at providing a kaleidoscopic overview of humanity, actually mainly focuses on the French bourgeoisie. Thus, surprisingly, it is the aristocratic Tolstoi who is the most capable of the three great writers to picture man from all walks of life.

An interesting, though somewhat dated, essay with a singular focus.