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Loading... Charles Dickens: A Life (edition 2011)by Jane Smiley
Work InformationCharles Dickens by Jane Smiley
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. A little too artistic. It's like too little cake with too much frosting. ( ) An excellent short biography of Dickens. I'm having a Dickens moment right now and am reading a few of his novels, so I was looking for a little context, but didn't want to invest the time to read Ackroyd's or another full length investigation. Just what the doctor ordered as they say. Maybe a little more supposition and psychology than I was expecting, but Smiley is a novelist so bringing some of that to the table is to be expected I suppose. Very good!! A slim (207 pgs.) volume that hits some of the highlights of Dickens' life and, more importantly for someone like myself who hasn't actually read much Dickens ("Great Expectations" many years ago), gives a feel for the novels. (And from the viewpoint of one who writes novels). Made me want to read more Dickens...what more can one ask? I've enjoyed all the books I've read in this series (Penguin Lives). "For me, Our Mutual Friend is Dickens' perfect novel, seamless and true and delightful in every line." "... the newcomer to Dickens can do no better than to begin with a novel - my suggestion is David Copperfield, to be followed by Great Expectations, Dombey and Son, A Tale of Two Cities and Our Mutual Friend, in that order, light, dark, light, dark, light, a wonderful chiaroscuro of Dickens's most characteristic and accessible work." Jane Smiley' writes an engaging and conversational commentary on the interplay between Dickens's life and each of the novels. Flora in Little Dorrit was based on a former love, re-encountered 20 years on. no reviews | add a review
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With the delectable wit, unforgettable characters, and challenging themes that have won her a Pulitzer Prize and national bestseller status, Jane Smiley finds a kindred spirit in the author of classics such as Great expectations and A Christmas carol. As "his novels shaped his life as much as his life shaped his novels," Smiley's Charles Dickens is at once a sensitive profile of the great master and a fascinating meditation on the writing life. Smiley evokes Dickens as he might have seemed to his contemporaries: convivial, astute, boundlessly energetic-and lionized. As she makes clear, Dickens not only led the action-packed life of a prolific writer, editor, and family man but, balancing the artistic and the commercial in his work, he also consciously sustained his status as one of the first modern "celebrities." Charles Dickens offers brilliant interpretations of almost all the major works, an exploration of his narrative techniques and his innovative voice and themes, and a reflection on how his richly varied lower-class cameos sprang from an experience and passion more personal than his public knew. Jane Smiley touches, too, on controversial details that include Dickens's obsession with money and squabbles with publishers, his unhappy marriage, and the rumors of an affair. Here is a fresh look at the dazzling personality of a verbal magician and the fascinating times behind the classics we read in school and continue to enjoy today. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.8Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Victorian period 1837-1900LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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