Why Dickens is so relevant today

[Michael]

Toxic debts, collapsing banks and endemic fraud... ring any bells?

With characteristic brio, George Bernard Shaw claimed Little Dorrit was a more seditious text than Marx's Das Kapital. Even if the novel does not call for the 'expropriation of the expropriators', Shaw is right in celebrating it as one of the 19th-century's most unforgiving critiques of capitalism. Reborn in the deft BBC series, it is a rich text for our supremely troubled financial times.


He [Dickens] was, above all, a writer of satire and social comment and was appalled in the mid-1850s by the damaging combination of officialdom, cosy embrace between the City and Parliament and the fraudulent practices of high finance undermining the state. Bank cover-ups, toxic debt and negligent regulation were as redolent a feature of the mid-Victorian epoch as now.

Article (http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/oct/12/charlesdickens)

"Toxic debts, collapsing banks and endemic fraud..." yes, that does have a rather familiar ring to it these days.

I've always been a huge fan of Dickens and it is good to see Dickens get some credit for the quality of his political satire rather than just his wonderfully literary ability to tell a colorful tale (involving supremely well named characters!).

[bug]

Giggle, Uriah Heap. That's what I'm going to name my firstborn. Dickens does such a good job of showing, in an elegant way, the gritty parts of how people interact. His favorite subject seems to be some varience of oppression and how people respond to it. Poor vs rich, jaded adult vs impressionable child, robber baron types vs impoverished working class. I finished Hard Times a month or two ago, and while it wasn't my favorite Dicken's work, the subplot of Stephen Blackpool engaged me. (Plus, it's another great example of fun with names- Stephen plays the role of blameless martyr in the book, which Bible buffs may recognize) Anyway, his part of the story tells of the moral struggles that come as result of poverty and despair, and how hard it is to keep your integrity when you feel you are attacted on all sides and hopeless. Dickens, with all his flowery language and romantic style, does wonderful with portaying unjust social issues, and how pain and adversity changes a person for better or for worse. He also does a sweet job of portraying upper classes' view of lower class- not only is it simultaneously amusing and disgusting, but also very relevant today. I hate the fact that everyone knows him for A Christmas Carol. That's like mentioning Alice in Chains and hearing someone say "Oh, that 'Man in the Box' band?" That sucks. Go listen to Swing on This and read Great Expectations. That book made me laugh out loud almost the whole way through.

[NickKIELCEPoland]

Dickens is one of the great geniuses of the 19th century, in my opinion.
What a great mind.

I heartily recommend Hard Times, which is quite short (about 2-300 pages) and more than any other book, brings to life a Northern English town during the industrial revolution.

The setting (Coketown) is actually based on Preston (Lancashire) where Dickens spent about half a year. I lived there for a total of 2 years, and I really love the town. Dickens writes the accent perfectly, for the local working class characters. There's someone called Joshua Bounderby, who is a rather amusing roguq, and there's a man called Stephen Blackpool, who is pure good. Then you have Mr. Gradgrind, the schoolmaster, who belives facts are the be-all and end-all.

An excellent read.

Dickens is a legend.

[nanacat]

Do you know that Dickens wasn't classified as "real" literature in American graduate schools until, I dunno, less than a generation ago? When I studied British and Irish lit in grad school in the mid-90's and was told that fact--by a rather shame-faced veteran professor--I was appalled. Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, these are classics to me. And talk about relevant, Michael, how about Bleak House as a cautionary tale of the inefficient and sometimes, impotent and corrupt legal systems we have today, and the real human tragedy that is involved in that?

[NickKIELCEPoland]

Charles Dickens will be 200 years old on the 7th of February.
I'm happy to say that BBC Radio 4 have been celebrtating his birthday with plays, and so on.

Charles Dickens - one of England's greatest geniuses of all time, quite eimply. Words of mine cannot say how highly I value this man.

[Michael]

Do you know that Dickens wasn't classified as "real" literature in American graduate schools until, I dunno, less than a generation ago? When I studied British and Irish lit in grad school in the mid-90's and was told that fact--by a rather shame-faced veteran professor--I was appalled. Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, these are classics to me. And talk about relevant, Michael, how about Bleak House as a cautionary tale of the inefficient and sometimes, impotent and corrupt legal systems we have today, and the real human tragedy that is involved in that?

Sorry, I didn't see this post previously! :o

I agree completely - ignoring Dickens in any listing of quality literature is insanely parochial, close-minded and elitist (how one can be parochial and elitist at the same time is tricky, but apparently American academia can do it!).

I also agree that Bleak House is particularly quite relevant for today, given the present situation.

Btw, Tolkein's LOTR wasn't considered "real" literature until a half-dozen years ago. Same parochial elitism at work I guess.

[NickKIELCEPoland]

Btw, Tolkein's LOTR wasn't considered "real" literature until a half-dozen years ago. Same parochial elitism at work I guess.
You like Lord of the Rings? Oh dear... oh dear oh dear...
(only joking) ;)