Charles Dickens

Post by **Anita Bensoussane** » 10 Dec 2006, 22:19

Wuthering Heights is written with such passion. It stirred me and absorbed me the first time I read it, but I did get a little confused between all those different characters whose names began with H - Heathcliff, Hareton, Hindley...

Jane Eyre is a wonderful read as we become so intimately involved with Jane. And I love all the Gothic elements in Victorian literature.

As for Jane Austen, I very much enjoy the delicious formality and precision of her prose.

Anita

Moose · Post by **Moose** » 22 Dec 2006, 19:51

Yeah Wuthering Heights is great. Emily Bronte would have been a fascinating person to get to know I think - a rural parson's daughter who lived a short and fairly sheltered life who could nonetheless conceive of a passion as violent and destructive as that.

Moonraker · Post by **Moonraker** » 06 Aug 2007, 12:44

I am reading The Pickwick Papers at the moment. There is a story in it, retold by a bagman, in Chapter 14 - The Bagman's Story.

It concerns a chair in the bedroom. A queer chair. As he stared at it, it changed into a bent old man. The cushion became a waist-coat, the round knobs on the legs became feet, the whole chair looking like an ugly old man.

Could this have been Enid's inspiration for the Wishing Chair?

Almas · Post by **Almas** » 06 Aug 2007, 13:52

Oooooh! Sounds really interesting, Nigel. I'm a great fan of Dickens but I haven't read this book. I would love to get my hands on it.

Maybe, Enid was inspired by this...

Moose · Post by **Moose** » 07 Aug 2007, 17:30

Interesting catch Nigel. I read Pickwick years ago but don't remember that. It's next up on my Dickens readathon .. I've somehow managed to stall a bit in the middle of Martin Chuzzlewit (not one of his best, I must say).

Kate Mary · Post by **Kate Mary** » 07 Aug 2007, 21:02

I am also reading "The Pickwick Papers", well dipping in and out of it really, and it's an interesting theory about 'The Bagman's Tale' being an influence on the Wishing Chair stories. I have always thought the Victorian children's book "Granny's Wonderful Chair" by Frances Browne was an inspiration, Enid probably read it as a child, it was hugely popular at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries, but few kids read it now.

I read it donkey's years ago and the story is about a little girl (called Snowflower?) who inherits her Granny's chair which tells her stories when she is sad and lonely and takes her on a journey to a fairy king's palace. Granny's name was Dame Frostface I believe, a good Blyton name if ever there was one!

Kate.

Moonraker · Post by **Moonraker** » 08 Aug 2007, 11:47

Kate, you've made me think of an old song - I used to own it on a 78, so that shows how old! I think it was called "Granny's Old Armchair" or something like that. I seem to remember that the gist of it was that there was a lot of money hidden in it.

Maybe some of the other oldies on the Forums might remember it? Anita?

Almas · Post by **Almas** » 08 Aug 2007, 19:19

Nigel wrote:
Maybe some of the other oldies on the Forums might remember it? Anita?

I'm afraid our forums diva has gone to France, Nigel!

Anyways, I've just ordered the paperback version of The Pickwick Papers from Amazon and I am looking forward to read it...

Kitty · Post by **Kitty** » 08 Aug 2007, 19:45

That's a great theory, would love it to be true!

There's a Barchester girls school mentioned in one of the series (MT?) - I think they're the opposition at a lax match - I wondered if that was a nod from Enid to Trollope? I did hope so. On the other hand, it might be a nod to Angela Thirkell (yuck! Sorry AT fans).

I like Joe the fat boy in TPP, but overall it isn't my favourite, I'm more of a later Dickens fan. Luckily Joe doesn't have too much else in common with Fatty, other than weight and snooping abilities!

Moose · Post by **Moose** » 19 Aug 2007, 17:19

Getting off at a vague but still slightly related tangent, has anyone read Barchester Towers? (it's a series isn't it?). I've not read any Trollope but I know we've got them packed away in the loft somewhere and I was wondering if they were worth reading.

Kitty · Post by **Kitty** » 19 Aug 2007, 18:05

Yes, and yes! I'm a great Trollope fan, so I can't give a balanced response here - simply put, he's wonderful! Don't stop at the Barchesters (the last one is my favourite, but read in order or you'll spoil the whole thing) - even the real obscurities are gems! I love AT.

Moose · Post by **Moose** » 19 Aug 2007, 18:07

I'll give him a go then. I like the era so there's no reason I wouldn't enjoy him

Kitty · Post by **Kitty** » 19 Aug 2007, 18:09

Yay!! Try one of the big singletons as well - I defy anyone not to enjoy He Knew He Was Right or Orley Farm!

Mollybob · Post by **Mollybob** » 19 Aug 2007, 18:14

I'm another fan of Anthony Trollope. His books are well worth reading and you should enjoy them if you like other similar books from the period.

Billie · Post by **Billie** » 05 Jan 2008, 20:59

I have recently got into Dickens, after studying an English Lit degree without reading more than one short piece by him as a set text... shocking! Had to rectify that, of course. I loved A Tale of Two Cities- found it a bit hard to get into, but even harder to get out of at the end! I loved it. I've also read Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, Bleak House, Nicholas Nickleby, David Copperfield and The Old Curiosity Shop

Charles Dickens

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