I was assigned “Emma” and “Great Expectations”in high school, but as an adult I went a Dickens kick and read “Pickwick Papers”, “Tale of Two Cities”, “Nicholas Nickleby”, “Bleak House”, “Hard Times”, “Martin Chuzzlewit”. My wife has read the Austen canon several times.
Dickens writes long form, but some of them are well worth it. “Bleak House” was great, “Martin Chuzzlewit” very under-rated, “Tale of Two Cities” very important. “Hard Times”, on the other hand, was a little too much, even for Dickens, and halfway through the book he seems to be presenting an apology for easy divorce the motivation for which might stem from his own bad behaviour.
Either of you ever read A Handful of Dust, by Evelyn Waugh? I’m thinking of the chapter in which Tony is lost in the Amazon bush and rescued by Mr. Todd, who is fond of Dickens.
I really like Waugh. He had a savage sense of humor.
“Tale of Two Cities” is one of my favorite books...
Last year I went on a Dickens binge.
He wrote for publication is magazines in segments. He apparently needed to meet a word quota..
At the end my conclusion was that so far as Charles Dickens is concerned, neber write 10 or even 20 words when you can write a hundred.
The Tale of Two Cities is not so word as some others.
Aside:
My grand father was from Knox county Tennessee where there are lots of Mynatt’s. The last time I read, actually watced, A Tale of Two Cities I wondered. Is Mynatt an Americanization of Doctor Manette