Nicola
06-14-2007, 12:46 PM
Am I the only person in the world that doesn't see it?
I admit, I haven't read a lot of his work (I've read Hard Times, Great Expectations and David Copperfield). But from what I have read-- he is so boring! No, it's not because it's a Victorian narrative, because Victorian novels are my absolute favourites. You read again and again that his level of characterisation is of the highest. Come again? His characters from Hard Times were as thin as the pages they were written on.
The issues he tackles of Victorian society can be found superior elsewhere, such as Mary Barton, or Tess of the D'Urbervilles.
I find his apparent wit, witless to say the least. Charles Dickens is so unfunny, that even South Park couldn't make him funny when they did an episode on Great Expectiations. I have never laughed out loud during his novels, whereas Wilkie Collins, Oscar Wilde, and H. R. Haggard have no problem. Genius of charactersation can be found in the Bronte sisters (Jane Eyre especially), Collins and Hardy.
I guess I'm just so tired of hearing ranting and raving about Charles Dickens, how all of his novels seem to reach Hollywood or BBC adaptations. How everyone knows his name, but if Wilkie Collins or Thomas Hardy (to general mass of the public) are mentioned, you are greeted with blank faces.
[Personal rant]Ironically, my favourite writer of all time, Wilkie Collins, was his best friend, and they wrote many plays and stories together, and Wilkie's finest books were all serialized in Dickens' magazine. What grates me here is that critics these days say they Collins' writing was heaviliy influenced by Dickens, and they will pick out a passage of Collins' writing and vaguely say 'This passage is so Dickens'. Then they don't explain why. Collins was the pioneer of detective, mystery and thriller, completely different to Dickens, yet Dickens seems to get credit for his genius. It annoys me. At the time, Collins was the most popular author, and by far the most successful (much more than Dickens), but as time goes by, some American picks up a Dickens book during the war, than all this interest begins. Okay, the guy was T. S. Eliot, and he also did the same for Collins, but... well... GRR!!!
[/personal rant]
If you enjoy Charles Dickens, please tell me which genius novel that I haven't read of his and tell me why you enjoyed it. Please, I want to see the light.
I admit, I haven't read a lot of his work (I've read Hard Times, Great Expectations and David Copperfield). But from what I have read-- he is so boring! No, it's not because it's a Victorian narrative, because Victorian novels are my absolute favourites. You read again and again that his level of characterisation is of the highest. Come again? His characters from Hard Times were as thin as the pages they were written on.
The issues he tackles of Victorian society can be found superior elsewhere, such as Mary Barton, or Tess of the D'Urbervilles.
I find his apparent wit, witless to say the least. Charles Dickens is so unfunny, that even South Park couldn't make him funny when they did an episode on Great Expectiations. I have never laughed out loud during his novels, whereas Wilkie Collins, Oscar Wilde, and H. R. Haggard have no problem. Genius of charactersation can be found in the Bronte sisters (Jane Eyre especially), Collins and Hardy.
I guess I'm just so tired of hearing ranting and raving about Charles Dickens, how all of his novels seem to reach Hollywood or BBC adaptations. How everyone knows his name, but if Wilkie Collins or Thomas Hardy (to general mass of the public) are mentioned, you are greeted with blank faces.
[Personal rant]Ironically, my favourite writer of all time, Wilkie Collins, was his best friend, and they wrote many plays and stories together, and Wilkie's finest books were all serialized in Dickens' magazine. What grates me here is that critics these days say they Collins' writing was heaviliy influenced by Dickens, and they will pick out a passage of Collins' writing and vaguely say 'This passage is so Dickens'. Then they don't explain why. Collins was the pioneer of detective, mystery and thriller, completely different to Dickens, yet Dickens seems to get credit for his genius. It annoys me. At the time, Collins was the most popular author, and by far the most successful (much more than Dickens), but as time goes by, some American picks up a Dickens book during the war, than all this interest begins. Okay, the guy was T. S. Eliot, and he also did the same for Collins, but... well... GRR!!!
[/personal rant]
If you enjoy Charles Dickens, please tell me which genius novel that I haven't read of his and tell me why you enjoyed it. Please, I want to see the light.