Friday, February 7, 2014

Happy Birthday to.... Charles Dickens!

Today marks the 202nd anniversary of the birth of dear old Charles John Huffam Dickens.


Now, from what I can tell, a lot of people have trouble reading Dickens. He is too dense. Too long-winded. And thus, we have given up on him.


Of course, back in the day when Dickens was writing, people would generally read his work in weekly or monthly installments, not just picking up Bleak House and muddling through it for hours at a time. Perhaps this is how we should attempt to approach his longer more intricate texts today.


But however wordy Mr. Dickens may have been, he wrote some of the most touching, most endearing stories in literature. A Christmas Carol, for example, single-handedly revived Christmas traditions in England, and around the world. I watch the George C. Scott movie version of it every year, and when the Ghost of Christmas Present speaks the words “It may be in the sight of Heaven that you are less worthy and fit to live than millions like this poor man’s son” my eyes always fill with those tears that only Dickens can bring.


Dickens truly created some of the most outrageous and touching characters I have ever come across. From Miss Havisham’s ghostly haunting existence, as she forever mourns her lost wedding day, to Little Dorrit’s patient and self-sacrificing nature, Dickens weaves tales of love and loss, good and evil.


And yes, I know he was kind of really not nice to his wife. I know. But I just wanted to focus on the good that he did do and the influence his stories continue to have in the world of literature.

So stop being scared of Dickens. Read his books. Or at least watch all the fantastic BBC adaptations of them. They are pretty wonderful.

"Whatever I have tried to do in life, I have tried to do it well; whatever I have devoted myself to, I have devoted myself to completely. In great aims and in small, I have always been thoroughly in earnest." -Charles Dickens

Whatever I have tried to do in life, I have tried with all my heart to do it well; whatever I have devoted myself to, I have devoted myself completely; in great aims and in small I have always thoroughly been in earnest.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/c/charlesdic121245.html#YiTGtjeFlGvJ0ZvY.99
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