To celebrate the Dickens' anniversary I decided to read a couple I couldn't remember having read before. I'm taking them together (doubling the words available!) because of their similarities. What is immediately striking is that every single character is either a caricature or a stereotype. The baddies are irremediably bad and all come to sticky ends; the goodies are mercilessly good and end happily. Women over thirty are figures of fun; younger women are pure, loving, self-sacrificing . . . Having said that, the fact remains that Dickens was a marvellous storyteller: even at his most torrid and credibility-stretching his imaginative use of language carried me along willingly (well, I did skip a bit). Unusually for Dickens, Barnaby Rudge takes place during the (luridly described) Gordon Riots, giving him an excuse to preach nondiscrimination. Chuzzlewit, on the other hand, is pure Victorian fiction with - it must be said - some wonderful characters. All in all great stuff!
(Annabel Bedini - bwl 64 Spring 2012 ) |
