Happy Belated Birthday, Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812 making this year his bicentennial which many people are celebrating with new biographies, symposiums, and visits to the Charles Dickens theme park. I decided to honor perhaps the second greatest writer in English by actually reading some of his books this year rather than turning to the Cliff Notes as I did in high school. As a double English/History major in college I don't remember even reading the Cliff Notes, did I skip classes with Dickens altogether? Now truth be told I did read A Tale of Two Cities when I was supposed to and have spent the rest of my life looking for "far, far better things to do today, then I have ever done before." The other truth, of course, is it would probably take me 200 years to read anyone's novels these days. So off to the audiobooks.

As noted in a much earlier blog I returned to A Tale of Two Cities which was the only Dickens audio choice at the Ames Library. As I said then, the book was excellent beyond my boyish regard for the cynical yet heroic Sidney Carton. This novel was published in 1859. Dickens was to complete only two more novels after this masterpiece that sets a personal story inside the huge tale of the French Revolution. While the central story may be melodramatic, the sweeping scope of the work and its passionate concern for injustice make it a true classic.

The next book that Dickens wrote was Great Expectations. Whoever was on the circulation desk the day I asked, recommended this as "the" Dickens book to do. I only remembered being bored to tears with it in the Cliff Notes version, but decided to get it through interlibrary loan. Now you, like I, may be one of those folks who argue over the best film version of "A Christmas Carol"-it's the Alistair Sim 1951 version (colorized I might add), but I have to tell you the audiobook version you have to have has Michael Page as the narrator. He creates a unique vocal characterization for everyone who has any dialogue in the book and makes the book come completely alive.


Mr. Dickens gets high praise for his realistic descriptions of lower and middle class life, his comic sense, and his mastery of prose style. He gets hammered for his melodrama, implausible plots and his sometimes saccharine sentimentality. All of this is true in GE. Magwitch is the father of Estella who is adopted by Mrs. Havisham, while Estella's real mother is Jaggers housekeeper. Oh and don't forget that Magwitch's nemesis was unbeknownst to anyone the lover who jilted Miss Havisham. Implausible and melodramatic? You bet. I appreciated the sentiment in GE and didn't find it cloying as the oh so much cooler version of me must have done 50 years ago. The big long sentences with marvelous construction are there too, and they are extraordinary when read aloud. Don't forget in Dickens' time his books were just as often read aloud to groups as read silently to one.

Everything else aside, however, it's the characters who make GE so enjoyable. Even the most minor characters are clearly drawn and memorable.  For example, there's Mr. Wopsie who gives up a job in the Church to become a very bad actor on the London stage. Really no more than comic relief and a plot device, Dickens still manages to create a wonderful character that pokes fun at the amateur theatricals he himself was so fond of. Then there are the great indelible characters like Pip, Miss Havisham, and Estella. And Joe and Biddy, and Magwitch, and Jaggers, and Wemmick and his Aged P.

The final greatness of the novel is Dickens' use of Pip as both a character and the narrator. I think every child no matter how poor starts off with great expectations for their life which are then diminished by the world. Having Pip as the narrator looking honestly back at what truly became "great" in his life pulls us all into that same kind of reflection. Perhaps that's why this book is great at 65 and not so good at 15.

Listen to Dickens and don't feel ashamed you're not reading him. After all, his two tours to America were all about reading out loud to his audience!