Happy 200th Birthday, Charles Dickens!

zooterkin

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It's the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of one of the great writers in the English language, Charles Dickens. Born in Portsmouth (something he shared with Christopher Hitchens, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and zooterkin), he grew up in Chatham in Kent and London (when his father was sent to the Marshalsea debtor's prison).

So, anyway, what's your favourite Dickens book or adaptation?
 
I've only read (and seen adaptations of) Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, and A Christmas Carol.

I'd probably go with AToTC as favourite book, and the Lean film of GE tying with the 1951 ACC version as favourite adaptation.
 
I've read Great Expectations, Oliver Twist and David Copperfield.

Favourite book was Great Expectations.
Favourite character though was Mr. Micawber.
 
Happy 200th Charles!

Apart from The Old Curiosity Shoppe which Oscar Wilde killed stone dead for me - "One would have to have a heart of stone to read the death of Little Nell without dissolving into tears...of laughter." - I have read all the novels.


My favourites at the moment are:

Our Mutual Friend, Bleak House and Little Dorrit - in that order.

Because the novels teem, are dense with, incident, convolutions and characters it's hard to summarise why I like each one but Our Mutual Friend plumbs depths and offers a variety of scene and humanity that really appeal. It also has a heroine who, for most of the book, is uncharacteristically feisty. My only disappointment is the improbable denouement chez Boffin.



All three have had brilliant BBC adaptations over the decades - some by Andrew "Pride and Prejudice" Davies. What a gift Dickens's wonderful grotesques have been to British character actors.
 
I've always loved The Mystery Of Edwin Drood, although part of that might be that it was never finished.
 
I like some of Dickens's novels a lot, some--meh. Never could like Martin Chuzzlewit, had a really hard time even finishing Barnaby Rudge, but I do like David Copperfield, Bleak House, Hard Times, Oliver Twist, and Little Dorritt, along with the Christmas books. The rest vary from okay to only fair. His characters and their names are really memorable, though.
 
Favourite book and adaptation - none.

I can't stand his stuff, it is as profound and meaningful and as well plotted as Eastenders or Coronation Street however in one area he does surpass such shows, he is even more boring. He is no better an author than someone like Catherine Cookson and I've no idea why anyone today, bar social historians are interested in his works.

I declare it's a bad case of the Emperor's new clothes!
 
Great Google doodle today.

I've seen A Christmas Carol on TV. Several versions. Does that count? :)
 

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Darat said:
Favourite book and adaptation - none.

I can't stand his stuff, it is as profound and meaningful and as well plotted as Eastenders or Coronation Street however in one area he does surpass such shows, he is even more boring. He is no better an author than someone like Catherine Cookson and I've no idea why anyone today, bar social historians are interested in his works.

I declare it's a bad case of the Emperor's new clothes!
Click to expand...

It's all a matter of individual taste, of course. On the other hand, students who have read Dickens thoughtfully and appreciatively have, in my experience at least, shown an impressive ability to write complex sentences without comma errors, comma splices, and run-ons as opposed, let us say, to some who don't care for his work. ;)
 
Spektator said:
It's all a matter of individual taste, of course. On the other hand, students who have read Dickens thoughtfully and appreciatively have, in my experience at least, shown an impressive ability to write complex sentences without comma errors, comma splices, and run-ons as opposed, let us say, to some who don't care for his work. ;)
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I see what you did there.
 
Spektator said:
It's all a matter of individual taste, of course. On the other hand, students who have read Dickens thoughtfully and appreciatively have, in my experience at least, shown an impressive ability to write complex sentences without comma errors, comma splices, and run-ons as opposed, let us say, to some who don't care for his work. ;)
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Damn, that, my friend, was cold, as ice.

ETA: Oh, and I loved Great Expectations. Every time I see ATOTC mentioned, I think that I should really get around to reading it. Unfortunately, I never remember when I actually sit down to read.
 
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The Central Scrutinizer said:
Great Google doodle today.
Click to expand...

Who are the characters in that doodle? I recognize Tiny Tim and Ebenezer Scrooge on the second O, and (I think) Amy Dorrit is in the first O. I think that the second G has Pip and Estella and the lamppost could be Oliver Twist and the Artful Dodger. What about the others?
 
It's nice to see Dickens get some respect around here. He usually features prominently in the "Least Favorite Book/Writer" threads that pop up from time to time. (I avoid such threads so as not to tempt myself to say intemperate things.)

Of the ones I've read, I would rank them:

1. Little Dorrit
2. Our Mutual Friend
3. Bleak House
4. David Copperfield
5. Great Expectations -- Not really sure. It's been too long since I read it.
6. Martin Chuzzlewit
7. Hard Times
8. A Tale of Two Cities
9. Pickwick Papers -- Started it at least twice but can't get through it. It's all so inconsequential. I hereby give Dickensians who love it permission to say intemperate things about me -- just this once.

I've avoided the other early books so far. I once saw the 8-hour stage adaptation of Nicholas Nickelby on PBS. I found it enjoyable, then confusing, then more confusing, then maddening, then tedious, then I slept for a while, then I woke up and everyone was happy. The end.

I enjoyed the two-part film adaptation of Little Dorrit with Alec Guinness and Derek Jacobi (and, of course, many others), which I saw many years ago. It's worth seeing for Guiness alone.
 
I read Great Expectations at school. Or some of it. I didn't really enjoy it very much.

Not my thing.

I watched Oliver! when I was a child and thought it was alright. Then someone told me that the portrayal of Fagin was anti-semitic. I didn't remember it being so but supposed that there could have been something hinting in that direction. So, I flicked through Oliver Twist in the book shop and discovered, "The Jew..." this, "The Jew..." that and it appears that the character really is hugely stereotypically Jewish and Shylockian. I later read that the movie Oliver! toned this right down. Maybe that was on Wikipedia.

Apart from that, I have watched bits of various Christmas Carols but I am afraid my favourite one is still the Blackadder one.

Admittedly I haven't really given him much of a chance.
 
NotJesus said:
I enjoyed the two-part film adaptation of Little Dorrit with Alec Guinness and Derek Jacobi (and, of course, many others), which I saw many years ago. It's worth seeing for Guiness alone.
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I really enjoyed that film adaptation as well.

It was two separate films, with the same cast and sets, each telling a different thread through the Little Dorrit story.

I saw them on the same day in a theater with a few hours in between.

It was very cool, watching the second film and seeing most of the same events from a different perspective. Fascinating experiment, good films.

I enjoy Dickens.
 
angrysoba said:
I watched Oliver! when I was a child and thought it was alright. Then someone told me that the portrayal of Fagin was anti-semitic. I didn't remember it being so but supposed that there could have been something hinting in that direction. So, I flicked through Oliver Twist in the book shop and discovered, "The Jew..." this, "The Jew..." that and it appears that the character really is hugely stereotypically Jewish and Shylockian. I later read that the movie Oliver! toned this right down. Maybe that was on Wikipedia.
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I was shocked when I actually read Oliver Twist too. Here's an article on how different adaptations have handled the Fagin problem:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3669992/A-very-Jewish-twist.html

If you ever flick through Our Mutual Friend in a bookshop you will discover a very different, idealised, portrait of Jewishness. Dickens was 25 when he created Fagin but, by the time of Our Mutual Friend he had actually met a few Jews and was ashamed of his youthful exploitation of a stereotype. This was his atonement.
 
jenspen said:
I was shocked when I actually read Oliver Twist too. Here's an article on how different adaptations have handled the Fagin problem:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3669992/A-very-Jewish-twist.html

If you ever flick through Our Mutual Friend in a bookshop you will discover a very different, idealised, portrait of Jewishness. Dickens was 25 when he created Fagin but, by the time of Our Mutual Friend he had actually met a few Jews and was ashamed of his youthful exploitation of a stereotype. This was his atonement.
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Thanks for that. I was certainly surprised by it. It seems that he also received a letter from a Jewish acquaintance of his who was shocked at the portrayal of Fagin and it must have had an effect on Dickens because he apparently began to tone it down. I think the serialization of the novel meant that the earlier parts featured very anti-semitic tropes and the later parts less so. Perhaps I should actually read it myself before making such judgments however.

What I found unusual was that in an essay by George Orwell on the subject of English anti-Semitism, Orwell says that English literature contains a lot of it saying he could think of anti-semitic references in lots of the big names' books but he marks out Dickens and one other author as clearly defenders of Jews. Perhaps he could be thinking of his post-Oliver Twist works.
 
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