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Don’t groan. I know people get Dickens crammed down their throats in school, and they aren’t keen on him as a result. But the Masterpiece Theater adaptation of The Mystery of Edwin Drood captivated me, and not just because it was an interesting completion of his last, unfinished novel. The part I got sucked in on was the beginning, which he wrote. And I got sucked in because he could always tell a rip-roaring good story.
Yes, he’s ponderous and sometimes way too in love with his prose, but he can just haul you into a story like nobody’s business. Why else would we still be doing adaptations of his works all the time? I mean, how many versions of A Christmas Carol are there, anyway?
So here are some of my other favorite things about Dickens:
- His fondness for melodrama, which I just adore. I don’t know why. It’s not popular in our day and age (except in soap operas), but I eat it up. Give me an orphan found to be a benevolent lady’s long lost nephew (Oliver Twist) or a poor man winning the woman of his dreams after her abusive husband conveniently dies (Pip in Great Expectations), and I’m a happy camper.
- The quirky character names he invented. In The Mystery of Edwin Drood alone, there are Durdles (a hilarious stonemason), Rev. Crisparkle, and Mr. Grewgious. You won’t find a single one of those names in the Dictionary of English Surnames. Trust me, I looked. But they’re all great, evocative names. Just not real.
- His dedication to highlighting injustice and social ills. It probably comes from my upbringing as a missionary’s daughter, but I do love that about him.
- His willingness to listen to his readers, and alter his work accordingly. That’s a bit easier to do when your novels come out in serialized fashion, though.
As a man, he had his problems. Don’t we all? But his work still shines for me, and perhaps always will.
So how do you feel about Dickens’ work? Do you ever watch any of the adaptations? Who is YOUR favorite “classic” author? Do you think we would see Victorian England in quite the same way if not for Dickens?
65 Comments on “Why I Love Dickens”
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I always feel that the mini-series productions of Dickens always make it so accessible. It’s after watching a production that I then hunt out my books.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 3:46 am.
It’s so true. I know people don’t like to read a book AND watch an adaptation, but I see them as different versions of the same story, so I usually enjoy both, depending on how good the adaptation is.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 7:41 am.
I can’t believe that I found someone else who thinks the same way about books and their adaptations. I always tell my friends that I look at them as different media with film having the biggest handicap – time limitations – which affects how the story is presented.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 11:59 am.
Thank you Masterpiece and Patrick Stewart for making Dickens likable.
I slogged through Great Expectations in HS and all it got me was the ability to make and get witty Miss Havisham references. Some designer calls their bridal collection web page Miss Havisham’s Room.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 6:29 am.
That’s too funny about the bridal collection. You’d think that Miss Havisham would be a made-up character, but it seems that there were multiple REAL LIFE women who could have inspired her–women who left their dining room/house/etc. intact after a betrayal. I find that so bizarre.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 7:49 am.
Really ??? I need to research that fascinating tidbit.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 11:17 am.
Look under Miss Havisham on Wikipedia. They have a whole entry for her!
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 11:29 am.
Thanks for the tip. That was an interesting read.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 8:35 pm.
I do like Dickens, I also love Dickens in a mash up. I love the Bronte sisters with wonderful characters. Just an update on the possible um yeah, New Guy and I went to the doctor today and the doctor said that I needed a blood test (which I did) so I have to go back on Friday to find out the results.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 6:40 am.
We’ll keep our fingers crossed that the um yeah turns out how you want!
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 7:50 am.
Mystery of Edwin Drood was actually turned into a musical. One my my former favorite audition songs (and fav song to sing now-a-days) is from it, called Moonfall. It’s super creepy, but really a great song.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 7:01 am.
I didn’t know that! The BBC rendition is super creepy, too. I loved it!
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 7:51 am.
I’m afraid I still shudder at the thought of Dickens. I do like some of the movies made from his works. Loved Oliver as a kid, and the Christmas Carol is classic.
My favorite classic author is Shakespeare, of course. On this side of the pond I always had a fondness for Poe.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 7:19 am.
I loved Oliver! as a kid, too. I think that’s what got me into Dickens.
And I adore Shakespeare, too, of course (Will and Jane wouldn’t be the same without him). Notice that Poe and Dickens both are two of my action figures.
I was always also a big fan of Charlotte Bronte and Nathaniel Hawthorne, even if Hawthorne could be sort of snarky about women writers.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 7:53 am.
There is just something about Charles Dickens’ work that makes great plays and movies. A Christmas Carol has been made into movies many times and I feel like I’ve seen most of them including Walt Disney’s and the Muppets. I have always enjoyed the works of Louisa Alcott and Jane Austen. Little Women has always been one of my favorite books.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 7:24 am.
I loved LIttle Women. I think I read all the related books, if I remember right. It’s been a while.
Yes, Dickens work is great for plays and movies. That’s why I say he always told a rip-roaring good story.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 7:54 am.
I’ve always loved to read Dickens, although he’s not my favorite author. I guess in my childhood that was Alexandre Dumas and R.L. Stevenson. I loved the adventure and the melodrama in those books, which carried me away to parts unknown.
These old style novels influenced me a lot and will continue to do so.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 8:06 am.
I always loved the Three Musketeers movies, although I never read the books. He’s another great storyteller. I didn’t read Robert Louis Stevenson either, but I remember really loving the book The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann Wyss. I must have read that book ten times as a kid. Always wanted to be stranded on a desert island.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 8:17 am.
And he was funny. I love Dickens humor. As much as I love Dickens, I would take Austen any time. I also adore the Edith Wharton novels.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 8:25 am.
Oh yes, he really is very funny. And I will admit that given the choice between Dickens and Austen, I would choose Austen most times. Then again, if I were in a certain mood …
I like Edith Wharton, too!
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 10:54 am.
Ah Edith. She’s my favorite – her novels, short stoires and ghost stories are all great.
I have a few early editions including her once hard to find and sadly boring first novel The Valley of Decision.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 11:25 am.
Haven’t read that one. Sounds like I should be glad.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 11:30 am.
I like Edith Wharton too. The first chapter of The Age of Innocence is absolutely brilliant.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 11:31 am.
I loved the Age of Innocence.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 11:37 pm.
No Dickens for me, but I’ve seen a movie adaptation of Oliver Twist once. The one with the really cute kid
And no classic authors for me, either. Though, if you put a gun to my head, I’d pick Austen
Contemporary FTW
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 8:26 am.
Well, B, there are contemporary classic authors, too–Faulkner, Steinbeck … Do you like any of those?
Was it the one with Mark Lester playing Oliver? Because I LOVED that movie as a kid. Still do.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 10:56 am.
I love Dickens but Jane Austen is my favorite.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 8:29 am.
Me, too!
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 10:56 am.
Dickens is not my “cup of tea” as he is too ponderous for me. And the fact that he was forced reading in HS. I don’t think I was ready for him at that age.
To me, the “classic” authors are Georgette Heyer, Victoria Holt and Phyllis A Whitney.
All born around the turn of the century they opened a lot of doors for women’s fiction. I am not sure we would have the genre for Kathleen Woodiwiss, or any of our Goddesses, without Georgette Heyer…
Austen is a class all her own!
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 8:35 am.
The problem with Dickens in school is the same as the problem with Shakespeare in school, especially HS. You’re just not mature enough to appreciate them at that age. And then you get burned out. That’s what happened to me with Shakespeare … until I took a mandatory Shakespeare class in college as an English major. Then I fell in love!
I read some of Victoria Holt, etc. when I was younger, but no Georgette Heyer until recently. Weird, I know.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 11:28 am.
I think with any classic it is all how it is introduced. I didn’t mind “Great Expectations” in school, though not my favorite, and I have to agree with others about how bizarre it was to keep an entire room intact. I had the most wonderful college professor that introduced me to Walt Whitman. He managed to break down “Leaves of Grass” so that it was accessible to us.
Last year, my book club was on a classics kick and “Little Women” was chosen. While I read LW in the past, I couldn’t finish the book again. About the same time, I was reading “Treasure Island”. While Jo was trying to deal with her temper, Jim–a character of about the same age–got to go on a treasure hunt. I ended up not entirely finishing each story. My modern sensibilities were offended because the boy got to go on an adventure, and the girl struggled to change herself so that her personality fit into Victorian society. I don’t know what that says about me, but I’m glad that women can be anything they want to be in society today.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 8:57 am.
Amanda, what it says is that you’re a child of your age, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I too am glad that women have so many more options now. Thank God for the women who blazed the trail before us!
Jo did become a writer, so that’s a nice ending for me. *G*
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 11:32 am.
I love Dickens and most of the classics. Some of my favorites are: Great Expectations and A Christmas Carol. My all time favorite classic author is Emily Bronte known for Wuthering Heights. I can never get enough of Heathcliff’s torment over losing Cathy. I have a wonderful Masterpiece Theater adaptation of Wuthering Heights with Tom Hardy as Heathcliff and it is fantastic. (Hardy will play the villan, Bane, in this summer’s newest Dark Knight) and I will go just to see him. He has such an intensity, just like the real Heathcliff.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 8:58 am.
I liked the one with Ralph Fiennes, but in general I don’t like Wuthering Heights. I’m more of a Charlotte Bronte girl.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 11:35 am.
I need to see that version sometime. Charlotte was good too. The talent from that family really is amazing.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 12:09 pm.
I know! Isn’t it amazing that three good writers should emerge from one family like that?
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 4:49 pm.
I had been only a moderate fan of Dickens UNTIL I heard “A Tale of Two Cities” read on audiobook by Frank Muller. Then everything changed. It was so good, so intense, that I immediately listened to the whole thing again. I realized Dickens is best when read aloud–and think about it, that was often their entertainment in those days! I also highly recommend any of Dickens’ books read by Simon Vance. I do watch the adaptations, too, but they can’t match the richness of Dickens’ language. Since I write books set in the Victorian era, I’m always combing through Dickens’ books to get the feel of the time, the manners, the vocabulary, the outlook.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 9:06 am.
That may be why he’s good for movie adaptations–because you hear the language (or at least the dialogue).
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 12:28 pm.
I don’t love Dickens to read, but he’s a great storyteller. My favorite classic writers are Charlotte Bronte, Shakespeare and…does Hemingway count? Not all of his stuff, but A Movable Feast is one of my favorite books of all time.
I also love Little Women.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 9:07 am.
That’s kind of what I meant to say–Dickens is dense to read, but his stories are compelling, which is why I like so many of the adaptations made of his work. He really is a great storyteller.
Of course Hemingway counts! I don’t like him myself, but I know some do. I like Faulkner a lot. And James Joyce.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 12:30 pm.
I love Dickens. Especially Great Expectations and A Christmas Carol. Although George C Scott isn’t English, I still love that version–I remember watching it when I was little. I LOVE Edward Woodward–he’s brilliant in that film. Also love the one with Patrick Stewart–I will pretty much watch him in anything. I also like Steinbeck, although it could be REALLY sad, and Austen. I love English dry humor and Dickens was great with that.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 9:57 am.
And, not that it’s completely factual, but I really liked Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy in Becoming Jane. It was very engaging and funny, but very sad as well. They were both really good in it.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 11:24 am.
I liked that movie, too!
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 12:31 pm.
Not much of a fan after Great Expecations in high school… I wonder if it would have been different had we read it more like it was published… wasn’t most of his work originally published in a serial format?
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 10:10 am.
Yes, it was. And it was designed to be read that way, which has to make a difference in how they’re written. Good point!
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 12:32 pm.
You almost make me want to pick up one of his books and try it again.. almost.
I recently saw Nicholas Nickelby with Jamie Bell and Anne Hathaway. It was pretty good. Can’t say I was tempted to read the book again, but I liked the adaptation.
I am have been remiss in my classical reading. I read most of them in college and think I became jaded against them (too many lit classes each semester can do that).. SO in regard to my favorites, I’ll leave that space blank for now.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 10:48 am.
Oh, believe me, I understand. I really don’t read classics anymore. For me, an adaptation can be fine, but I did REALLY enjoy the adaptation, enough that I will probably read the book.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 12:34 pm.
I had to read Great Expectations in middle school and later decided that perhaps I’m misjudged it, so I tried it again. It wasn’t any better for me after that.
I need to give his other works a try, but I’m not a fan of his style. It’s just so … long-winded. And yet I must say that A Christmas Carol worked for me. Maybe it was edited to be short and thus simpler in style? I don’t know.
As for my favorite classic authors, probably a toss up between Jane Austen and Alexandre Dumas. I love her humor and his action-adventure intrigue.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 12:02 pm.
Yeah, Dumas was a great storyteller, too. And of course, Jane is golden. *G*
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 12:35 pm.
I feel like I should read more Dickens. I just worry that I’d feel that I’d be slogging thru the book, like I did when my book club read Villette and Middlemarch. I never finished either one.
I do love classic authors – Austen, Poe, Hawthorne, Alcott, Steinbeck, Dumas, Shakespeare, Marlowe, Sir Walter Scott, Mark Twain, F. Scott Fitzgerald (I can’t wait to see Leo as Gatsby), Edith Wharton (Ethan Frome!), Verne, Shelley, Bradbury, and it feels like I’m forgetting so many more. If you want to include poets Shelley, Byron, Keats, Whitman, Edna Saint Vincent Millay, Cummings, Yeats, Dickinson, Tennyson, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Burns, etc.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 12:30 pm.
You like a lot of the same ones I do, although I haven’t read Verne, I don’t think.
I like your taste in poets, too!
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 12:37 pm.
You have to read Verne. Around the World in 80 Days is my favorite work of his.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 1:33 pm.
I’ve seen the movie. Does that count? *G*
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 4:49 pm.
I loved the Miniseries with Pierce Brosnan and of course David Niven in the Movie.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 6:49 pm.
No, I really think Dickens defines Victorian England better than anyone else of his generation. I’m so glad he was there to take note of the dark underbelly and bring it all to light!
My fav Dickens is A Christmas Carol. Love, love, love that story!!
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 12:33 pm.
Me, too! Greatest Christmas story EVER!
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 12:38 pm.
Dickens has always been more palatable to me in movie/tv form than slogging through the books. Dumas, on the other hand, enthralled me as a kid.
As for the names Dickens came up with: I googled a g-g-g-grandfather’s name a few years ago and up popped Septimus Hicks as a Dickens character. I had to start filtering out “Dickens” to track the old rascal down.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 1:26 pm.
That’s so cool! Yes, once in a while, he did use real names. *G*
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 2:51 pm.
I love the Christmas Carol, and Oliver Twist. But I loved how you made Dickens a part of your Novella “Snowy Night with a Stranger” By using a the Pub scene where Lord Thorncliff shows up with all the fixings for a christmas meal that would seam to be the prelude for a Christmas Carol. LOVED IT
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 2:42 pm.
I was laughing while I wrote that. It was my little homage to A Christmas Carol, especially since Dickens took all kinds of stuff from his real life for his books.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 2:52 pm.
I’ve never been a big Dickens fan – which is weird, because I love the time period. I’ve read him some (had to, in college), but never willingly. Go figure. *g*
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 4:40 pm.
He’s a slog, I admit. But I still find it worth it sometimes.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 4:50 pm.
I like Dickens. How many authors works can be adapted so smoothly to modern day? The characters are rich and you can point at them and say…I know a person that has the content of character that Scrooge or Pip or David Copperfield.
Favorite Classical Authors; Poe and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The wrote for the masses and they wrote a good story.
Favorite Classical Stories:
Silas Marner: Loved the book, showed people not getting rewarded for poor behavior, particular fondness of mine. Loved the modern movie adaptation with Steve Martin called Matilda or A Simple Twist of Fate.
The Scarlet Pimpernel: They seek him here…they seek him there… Awesome.
The Count of Monte Cristo: Again…people not getting rewarded for poor behavior.
Hmmmm… I’m starting to see a theme in my reading.
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 6:00 pm.
Ooh, Pesky, I loved that Steve Martin film, too. It was such a great take on Silas Marner.
LOL about the theme in your reading!
Posted on May 30, 2012 at 11:39 pm.
To the best of my memory, I have never read Dickens; I’d have to review a list to be positive.
Have seen “A Christmas Carol”.
Posted on May 31, 2012 at 12:11 am.