tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post6485758857473469259..comments2024-02-26T00:59:26.907-08:00Comments on Ana the Imp: The Year of DickensAnastasia F-Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-86296648785299868172011-12-27T16:25:17.147-08:002011-12-27T16:25:17.147-08:00Rehan, I loved the Ackroyd book. I have Tomalin&#...Rehan, I loved the Ackroyd book. I have Tomalin's new biography, though I've not yet read it.Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-39595277980823215732011-12-24T00:21:45.372-08:002011-12-24T00:21:45.372-08:00Regardless of opinions to the contrary which I con...Regardless of opinions to the contrary which I concede people are entitled to hold, Dickens' was one of the greatest voices of English Literature. He is up there with Shakespeare though both are writers of a very different kidney and I comparisons of this kind can be overdone. My favourite Dickens works being <i>A Christmas Carol</i>, <i>Little Dorrit</i> (what can compare with his account of the House of Clenham , and <i>Oliver Twist</i>. <br /><br />Claire Tomalin's new biography (she is a slpendid writer and one for whom I have great regard) though superb offers little in the way of new criticism on Dickens and there are already numkerous good biographies of him. The Ackroyd one is brilliant and huge!Rehan Qayoomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02391797858691917631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-59479263862095739052011-12-23T15:21:51.255-08:002011-12-23T15:21:51.255-08:00You too, Nobby. Have a good one. :-)You too, Nobby. Have a good one. :-)Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-38753308510277821992011-12-22T22:19:59.621-08:002011-12-22T22:19:59.621-08:00ps Happy Christmas & New Year!ps Happy Christmas & New Year!Nobbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10088033081316289008noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-86139807197189203592011-12-22T22:19:10.139-08:002011-12-22T22:19:10.139-08:00I missed it Ana :-(I missed it Ana :-(Nobbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10088033081316289008noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-27617125236995693882011-12-22T16:20:58.841-08:002011-12-22T16:20:58.841-08:00Hey, Dan, what happened to you on Tribe?Hey, Dan, what happened to you on Tribe?Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-88136917404531784442011-12-22T16:06:17.315-08:002011-12-22T16:06:17.315-08:00Anthony, yes he was. He translates very well on t...Anthony, yes he was. He translates very well on to the screen.Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-24747736994454926732011-12-22T16:05:19.836-08:002011-12-22T16:05:19.836-08:00Neil, thank you; I wish you well too, a happy Chri...Neil, thank you; I wish you well too, a happy Christmas and a good New Year. :-)Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-26957462048613238542011-12-22T16:03:56.896-08:002011-12-22T16:03:56.896-08:00David, my first was Dombey and Son for reasons tha...David, my first was <i>Dombey and Son</i> for reasons that are not quite clear to me now. I remember weeping buckets over the death of Paul Dombey. :-)Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-48754584029900083122011-12-22T16:00:53.625-08:002011-12-22T16:00:53.625-08:00Nobby, did you see the BBC adaptation of I referre...Nobby, did you see the BBC adaptation of I referred to, the one with Gillian Anderson. It was really rather good. Nathaniel Parker played Skimpole. <br /><br />Yes, I feel sure Hunt would be horrified.Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-82919713146468570282011-12-22T15:57:09.621-08:002011-12-22T15:57:09.621-08:00"Merry Christmas, and God Bless us, every one..."Merry Christmas, and God Bless us, every one."<br /><br />as Tiny Tim said in the Dickens Tale 'A Christmas Carol.'<br /><br />Its Forever in our Hearts!!!<br /><br />Dan The Yankdaniel.wheeler31088@gmail.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12166076731475045775noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-40325084667941700012011-12-22T10:28:29.450-08:002011-12-22T10:28:29.450-08:00Hi Ana,
Excellent article and even though I'm ...Hi Ana,<br />Excellent article and even though I'm not a big reader of Dickens, I have an interesting subject to write about his life during next year. This will also line up with it being 'The Year of Dickens'. I wish you well in 2012, NeilAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08831219021529377067noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-12884499729327198482011-12-22T08:30:07.852-08:002011-12-22T08:30:07.852-08:00C. Dickens was A very good creative writer, I have...C. Dickens was A very good creative writer, I have watched many movies based on his novels.anthonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02931330128135957439noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-12724948417844030532011-12-21T22:32:04.181-08:002011-12-21T22:32:04.181-08:00Dickens-for all his rather sepia-tinted postcard v...Dickens-for all his rather sepia-tinted postcard view of Victorian England, did write a splendid yarn. <br />A tale of two cities was the second book I braved as a kid, so I have a fondness for that one particularly...<br />And of course Alastair Sim's Scrooge is compulsory viewing every year.<br /><br />I'll be sorry to miss the events planned in his honor.davidgougharthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18351660116914135485noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-49580313311613192892011-12-21T16:30:32.847-08:002011-12-21T16:30:32.847-08:00As far as the other dimension is concerned I was u...As far as the other dimension is concerned I was under the impression that it was based on the Left Wing radical who edited the Examiner magazine (Keats contributed one or two early efforts), Leigh Hunt. In fact Leigh Hunt and Keats are local lads although, as you know, I don't share their politics. Mind you England has changed since the early 1800's and I wonder whether they would sob any tears at what has happened to their country. Labour never did care much for the democracy of the dead: tradition.Nobbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10088033081316289008noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-27873015591984095922011-12-21T15:47:12.494-08:002011-12-21T15:47:12.494-08:00Nobby, thanks for that. Skimpole is just another ...Nobby, thanks for that. Skimpole is just another dimension of John Dickens, the author’s impecunious father, along with William Dorrit and Wilkins Micawber. Of the three I find him the least attractive because his childishness also embraces selfishness and thoughtlessness, a complete indifference to the suffering of others.Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-25687391916583910242011-12-21T15:41:29.807-08:002011-12-21T15:41:29.807-08:00Chris, there is so much that is absurd in Dickens....Chris, there is so much that is absurd in Dickens. For example, remember the scene in <i>Little Dorrit</i> where Arthur Clennam’s mother, after a lifetime as an invalid, suddenly gets up and rushes across London! A lot of his plotting is unbelievable but there is an intense, larger than life, quality to his characters that I find wholly beguiling These are people not easily put out of mind. <br /><br />On <i>The Revolution Bare</i> please look at my response to Jean Paul.Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-45613741832280003932011-12-21T15:33:12.968-08:002011-12-21T15:33:12.968-08:00Dennis, it takes an awful lot to horrify me. Here...Dennis, it takes an awful lot to horrify me. Here's one for you. I'm not awfully keen on <i>Jane Eyre</i>, chiefly because it's the most over-punctuated novel I have ever read!Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-83302467793716067062011-12-21T15:30:28.676-08:002011-12-21T15:30:28.676-08:00Coll, he certainly fell out of love with his wife....Coll, he certainly fell out of love with his wife.Anastasia F-Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01284602529524462457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-14886102324888286612011-12-21T04:22:59.578-08:002011-12-21T04:22:59.578-08:00Hello Ana. This is from 'Bleak House' and ...Hello Ana. This is from 'Bleak House' and one of the funniest character sketches I have read:<br /><br /><br />Harold Skimpole took a bright disdain for the drudgery of adult life—“I am a child, you know!” he frequently reminds us—and delighted in the innocent pleasures around him. Speaking of himself (far and away his favorite topic) he confessed to<br /><br />two of the oldest infirmities in the world: one was, that he had no idea of time; the other, that he had no idea of money. In consequence of which he never kept an appointment, never could transact any business, and never knew the value of anything! . . . He was very fond of reading the papers, very fond of making fancy sketches with a pencil, very fond of nature, very fond of art. All he asked of society, was to let him live. That wasn't much. His wants were few. Give him the papers, conversation, music, mutton, coffee, landscape, fruit in the season, a few sheets of Bristol-board, and a little claret, and he asked no more. He was a mere child in the world, but he didn't cry for the moon. He said to the world, “Go your several ways in peace! Wear red coats, blue coats, lawn sleeves, put pens behind your ears, wear aprons; go after glory, holiness, commerce, trade, any object you prefer; only—let Harold Skimpole live!<br /><br />see link: http://www.firstthings.com/article/2008/08/004-the-skimpole-syndrome-childhood-unlimited-49Nobbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10088033081316289008noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-53263802551516417792011-12-21T02:28:41.411-08:002011-12-21T02:28:41.411-08:00Ah, Ana, ever the polymath! We're on opposite...Ah, Ana, ever the polymath! We're on opposite sides of this issue, or rather, while I acknowledge an authentic gemuetlich quality to some of Dickens' writing, he reminds me of Mozart in the sense that when he reaches for profundity he ends up sounding hysterical . . . but of course there is much to love about Mozart, and perhaps that's your point, in a sense<br /><br />I'm also mulling a response to your post "The Revolution Bare" . . . I think I might have to out-Libertarian you on that one, but I'm struggling to manage the sense of vertigo provoked by the very thought . . . !Chris Coffmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16599801901347194290noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-89221988642106838492011-12-20T17:23:55.136-08:002011-12-20T17:23:55.136-08:00You're going to be horrified by this: I picked...You're going to be horrified by this: I picked up a copy of <i>Great Expectations</i> recently and couldn't get past the first chapter. Twenty years of editing other people's work means that I can't shake off the habit of reading like a proofreader (I was annoyed by the punctuation, for Christ's sake!). So I'm glad that I read most of Dickens's novels when I was growing up.Dennis Hodgsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09409579380626581592noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413130168723738166.post-38052050696668322342011-12-20T16:09:48.415-08:002011-12-20T16:09:48.415-08:00Good author, fair enough dad. Shitty husband if a...Good author, fair enough dad. Shitty husband if accounts are true. Parallel Lives provides an interesting look at him.Amerginhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02831215950929976823noreply@blogger.com