![]() |
What the Dickens! Photo by Herbert Watkins |
- A small boy on hearing of Dickens' death
If a Martian landed on Planet Earth today and wanted to learn about human nature and life, I think a Charles Dickens novel could satisfy their curiosity about us. Even though he died on June 9th 1870, the Dickensian tradition and style has exceeded his Victorian lifetime and entertained generation after generation. Literary speaking, Charles Dickens is right up there with daylight and running water in terms of the necessity of his work on a bookshelf. It's difficult to lead a fully Dickensian-less life when you think about it. The impact he had on the English language and social vocabulary surprises me to this day, creating words part of our everyday lives...
Bah Humbug! - A Christmas Carol
Boredom - Bleak House
To flummox - Pickwick Papers
Scrooge - A Christmas Carol
Pecksniff - Martin Chuzzlewit
Rampage - Great Expectations
Over the course of his career as a novelist, caricaturist, sentimentalist and populist, Dickens created over 989 named characters, sometimes based on real people he knew (e.g. Mrs Nickleby was his mother, and William Dorrit his father). What makes Dickens so immortal is the way he details and describes his characters, giving them real existences, not just on paper. Ebeneezer Scrooge and Miss Havisham, for example, have become part of our daily vernacular, and represent social stereotypes common in human nature. Dickens' close association with the festive yuletide in magazine short stories and the infamous A Christmas Carol, probably inspired the little boy's reaction at the start of this post: for many, Dickens was Christmas.
![]() |
Dickens: A national treasure |
Surprisingly though, according to The Guardian's UK Top 50 author's of all-time, Mr Dickens only ranks 13th, trumped by J.R.R. Tolkein (11th), Jane Austen (7th), J.K. Rowling (2nd) and Roald Dahl (1st). It flummoxes me that Jacqueline Wilson can finish a whole 8 places ahead of this literary genius, but then again, how many tributes have their been to her over the last few centuries? The plethora of Dickens adaptations on the screen; Dickens-inspired series e.g. BBC2's A Bleak Old Shop of Stuff; Prince Charles leading the celebrations on Dickens' 200th birthday this year; and millions of writers inspired by his knack for telling stories. All the above confirm Dickens' worthy place among England's most-esteemed and well-loved writers, so June 9th provides the opportunity to honour such a literary legend.
No comments:
Post a Comment