Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Saturday, October 3. 2009

Why the Dickens?

Why are we still reading Dickens?


Better question: Why wouldn't we be? He's the best story-teller in all of the world's literature (except maybe for Homer - but Homer cheated: he used a lute or an electric guitar, or something).

Posted by Bird Dog in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 09:08 | Comments (6) | Trackbacks (0)

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I recently read a Dickens novel for a book club. It was the fourth time I had read this novel. Dickens never grows old. He has something for everybody, from 10 to 100.

I don't know if he is the best or 100th best storyteller, but he's good enough for me.
#1 Gringo on 2009-10-03 09:27 (Reply)
Same here.
#1.1 Bird Dog on 2009-10-03 09:32 (Reply)
We are reading Dickens because we are living in "the worse of times."
#2 Cilla Mitchell (Link) on 2009-10-03 09:50 (Reply)
He's the best story-teller in all of the world's literature

Say what?!? I can think of few authors I would rate much below Dickens. Slow, tedious, overly complicated, preachy, patronizing, predictable, and (worst of all) DULL. I hated Dickens when I was forced to read him in high school. From that day to this I have never again touched a Dickens novel, save only A Christmas Carol because I was curious to see just how much Patrick Stewart had improved on the original.

Which was quite a lot, as it turned out.
#3 wolfwalker on 2009-10-03 12:45 (Reply)
Haha. Chacun a son gout.
#3.1 Bird Dog on 2009-10-03 12:48 (Reply)
I read his entire body of work in the eleventh grade - on my own. I think he taught me everything there is to know about human nature. Shakespeare followed in a different vein, but with the same astounding gift of picking out the most obvious to the most arcane aspects of human nature and all of its conditions. Pure genius in both.
`
#4 Meta on 2009-10-03 12:54 (Reply)

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