Dickensians! discussion

Do you remember when you first heard of Charles Dickens? Did you watch a film of one of his stories? Did you read him at school? Or go to see an adaptation of "A Christmas Carol"?

Whatever your first memory of Mr. Charles Dickens is, we'd love to hear about it.

I remember watching a classic serial on TV every Sunday teatime, when I was very young. Different classics were chosen, and I think this must be the first time I ever encountered a story by Charles Dickens. The story which really gripped me, was the serialisation of Great Expectations. When (view spoiler)[ Miss Havisham's wedding dress caught fire (hide spoiler)] it gave me nightmares for a week! Since it was in black and white, it must have been pretty powerful!

My first encounter with Dickens was when I was about eight, and I read Oliver Twist in the old Great Illustrated Classics edition published by Dodd, Mead and Co. (It was from the public library, a little branch library up in the north end of town, where we lived; at that time, I didn't have official permission to check out "adult" books, so I'm not sure how I got this one --maybe my mother checked it out in her name for me.) Anyway, I heartily liked it; so that put Dickens on my radar! As a kid, I read a few of his books, have reread some of them as an adult, and definitely want to read more.

That's a lovely memory Werner! Thanks for sharing it. I read a couple of Charles Dickens' stories when I was just a little older, as what we call "comics" here in the UK - sequential strip stories on newspaper grade paper. "Classics Illustrated" was the series, and they are now republished with the same Artwork, but to better standards, on better paper.

I wonder if you took your book out of the children's library, in fact, Werner. For some reason, many libraries do seem to class some of Charles Dickens' novels as children's books, even though the language belies this. It could be because of the many adaptations, perhaps.

My first Dickens was either Oliver Twist or David Copperfield. I can't rightly say as I read them both in my early teens. My father had his father's very old editions. I don't know when these were published, but I can say that they were somewhat musty and looked ancient! They had obviously not been stored properly at some point. I should ask my father if he still has these around the house somewhere.

It would be interesting to know, Candi! I remember when my parents were clearing out my grandma's house, and several classics just went in the dustbin. I too was a young teenager, and hadn't seen them ever throwing books away before, as were we all readers. So I was a bit shocked. But Mum said they were old and musty - pretty much how you describe - and that it was easy to get better versions. And when I came to look at them, the print was so small that I wasn't tempted to read them at all!

I wonder how many other people have been put off reading Charles Dickens, just because the print was so tiny that it made it look boring. You must have been a very keen and dedicated reader Candi, to persist at that age, with such editions!

Jean, it's odd to me that these were even around! I'm pretty sure my grandfather would not have read them and I'd be surprised if my dad did. They were certainly not appealing to the eye!

Perhaps they were just the sort of books people had in their houses and never read ;) I wonder what their equivalent would be today!

The first memory of Charles Dickens' works that I have is of reading Great Expectations at about 11 or 12. My family aren't readers; I was the exception. I had no background or expectations of any book I took out of the library. I just randomly checked them out as they peeked my interest.
I remember loving this story (and I still do). I don't recall, though, whether I read a children's version or not. It was probably a children's version.

Jean wrote: "I wonder if you took your book out of the children's library, in fact, Werner. For some reason, many libraries do seem to class some of Charles Dickens' novels as children's books, even though the language belies this. It could be because of the many adaptations, perhaps."

That might well be the case, because at that age I wouldn't have been browsing the adult shelves. They might have thought the book was a good children's read because it has a child protagonist --although that's not always as true as some people think, and in this case I doubt that many of my schoolmates would have enjoyed it as much as I did. (I was always on the precocious side! :-) )

My first Dickens was Great Expectations and it remains my favorite, perhaps because of he memories tied to it. My older sister would bring home her assigned reading and school books, and I would devour them. I was 11 when I read it. I decided on the spot to read all his works, but there are still a few I have not gotten to some 50+ years later.

For a very long time if asked my favorite authors I would say Dickens and Hardy, and I still love them both.

My first exposure to Dickens was a Christmas Carol in middle school. We did a class play of an abridged version and I remember being annoyed that all the main roles were played by boys.
The first Dickens book I read was David Copperfield, during summer holidays in my early teens, after watching a serialized version on tv, back in the 60s.

My first Dickens was A Tale of Two Cities which I read when I was 13. I'm still haunted by the scenes of the mean Madame Defarge knitting at the public beheadings!

So Petra and Sara - you both read Great Expectations before anything else - and that was my first encounter with his stories, although mine was on screen.

I do think it's a good one to start with as it just has such a good story, with plenty of twists and mystery, and phenomenally larger than life characters. In fact I did wonder if it should be our first group read - then decided Charles Dickens knew better, and went with his own favourite :)

Rosemarie - that would definitely have annoyed me too! But if I think back, all the male parts were played by girls in my school, and all the female parts by boys, in my brother's. However, in A Christmas Carol, there isn't an excuse for not making at least one of the "shades" a girl, surely!

I wonder how you will view David Copperfield, reading it again all these years later. I always find it interesting, to compare the different reactions I might have.

Oh Connie, I think there are parts of that book which are terrifying - and absolutely hairraising even as an adult! What an imagination! Yes, Madame Defarge in A Tale of Two Cities is unforgettable :)

My first memory of Dickens is watching the 1951 version of 'A Christmas Carol' - with Alistair Sim as Scrooge - as a little girl. I read it in my early teens, but surprisingly didn't read any more Dickens until my late teens! My first Dickens novel was Oliver Twist. I still haven't read all of his novels yet and have mixed feelings about the time when I will have read them all. I love having more to look forward to! :)

That's a great memory, thanks Meg :)

Reading a novel by Charles Dickens again, I think there are bound to be parts you have forgotten :) Also, he wrote so many short pieces that even I, far older, am still finding ones which are new to me!

I am delighted that you chose David Copperfield, Jean. It has been decades since I read it last and it is high on my wish list to get to. In fact, I had wanted to join a group read a couple of months back but simply could not fit it in. For an opener, it is perfect.

Bionic Jean wrote: "That's a great memory, thanks Meg :)

Reading a novel by Charles Dickens again, I think there are bound to be parts you have forgotten :) Also, he wrote so many short pieces that ev..."

Yes there will always be re-reads! :) I've actually lost count of how many times I've read Oliver Twist and the Christmas stories. I did read a collection of his short stories and loved them...now you have me wondering if there are more!!

Hi Meg - there are loads! I can count about 30 Christmas stories, for a start, and these don't include the 5 novellas, starting with A Christmas Carol :)

Sara - I'm so glad David Copperfield is proving a popular choice. Now if I can just learn not to type "cipperflod" every time ... (my typing is terrible!)

Bionic Jean wrote: "Hi Meg - there are loads! I can count about 30 Christmas stories, for a start, and these don't include the 5 novellas, starting with A Christmas Carol :)"

Oh my goodness I had no idea! I loved the 5 Christmas novellas, especially The Chimes and The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain. Is there a complete collection of his short stories?

Not that I know of Meg, but many are available online free.

Some are from his periodicals Household Words: A Weekly Journal and Contributions To All The Year Round, and they are collected together in various ways.

Meg, I'm not aware of any complete collections of his short fiction either (except as part of various multi-volume editions of his collected works). But the partial collection Select Short Fiction brings together 30 of his shorter writings. (I haven't read it myself, but it's on my to-read shelf!)

That looks like a good medley, thanks Werner :)

Several of this collection are take from other writings, eg., The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton is in The Pickwick Papers. Charles Dickens often included short stories in his novels, as various travellers told them to each other, in the evening, around a fire. He liked stories within stories, as did many Victorians.

Werner wrote: "Meg, I'm not aware of any complete collections of his short fiction either (except as part of various multi-volume editions of his collected works). But the partial collection"

Thanks, I will add that to my to-read list! Finally found the collection I read before... The Short Stories of Charles Dickens.

That's quite a good collection too! Some from Sketches by Boz ... and Mugby Junction is itself a collection of stories by himself and a couple of friends. It includes The Signalman, which is my favourite short story of his :)

You see how complicated it is, though. Because he co-authored ones (eg. with Wilkie Collins), included some in novels, had some standalones, some in themed collections, and some in with factual pieces, it's virtually impossible to make a definitive list, unless you include everything and annotate it!

Definitely a project for some Dickens critic, there.

Bionic Jean wrote: "That's quite a good collection too! Some from Sketches by Boz ... and Mugby Junction is itself a collection of stories by himself and a couple of friends. It includes [b..."

Oooh 'The Signalman' is my favorite too! :) Yes definitely sounds complex...I'm looking forward to finding more to read!

Until just a few years ago, I actually didn't know that Dickens ever wrote short stories --none of them were included in the only two British Literature textbooks I was ever exposed to (an inexcusable omission, IMO!), so I'd just assumed that his fictional output was entirely made up of novels. Even now, I think I've only read three, in various anthologies. "The Signalman" was one of them, though, and I definitely liked it! (It's included in Charles Keeping's Book of Classic Ghost Stories, though it's more a tale of the uncanny and inexplicable than an explicit ghost story.

As the title suggests, Dicken's "The Lawyer and the Ghost" is a ghost story; it's a really short one at less than three pages, but I really like it. :-) It's included in Vampires, Zombies, Werewolves and Ghosts: 25 Classic Stories of the Supernatural.

Werner wrote: "Until just a few years ago, I actually didn't know that Dickens ever wrote short stories --none of them were included in the only two British Literature textbooks I was ever exposed to (an inexcusa..."

I wouldn't have known about the short stories either if our library didn't happen to have that one collection! I will have to look for 'The Lawyer and the Ghost'...ghost stories aren't usually my favorites but I do enjoy Dickens'! :)

If you run across it sometime, Meg, I hope you like it. :-)

Werner wrote: "If you run across it sometime, Meg, I hope you like it. :-)"

Thanks! I'm sure I will! :)

Can anyone else remember the first time they became aware of Mr. Charles Dickens?

My family used to watch the Alistair Sim version of A Christmas Carol on TV. I believe I also saw a version of David Copperfield as a movie on TV. When I was about 10, I got a paperback book at a grocery store, called something like "Children's Stories from Dickens". Unfortunately, most of them were about children dying! (They were excerpted from novels and stories) When I was about 12, we read excerpts from Great Expectations in school, and I went on to read the whole book, plus David Copperfield and Nicholas Nickleby.

Robin wrote: "My family used to watch the Alistair Sim version of A Christmas Carol on TV ..."

I still think that's the best version, and have watched it countless times :)

""Children's Stories from Dickens". Unfortunately, most of them were about children dying!" Oh dear, that doesn't sound appropriate for children! Especially since those parts now seem rather mawkish to a modern audience. Perhaps children weren't the target audience.

It was a paperback edition aimed at kids, that is the weird part. I imagine it was something put together cheaply because the stories were in public domain. Plus I was totally confused about one story with a character called The Marchioness. I think it is in The Old Curiosity Shop and the young man calls the little kitchen servant by that title ironically but that was never explained in the excerpt.

When I was a child I would read whatever was to be found in my parents' shelf - hardly ever age-appropriate but as they didn't read Dickens I didn't come across any of his books. However, my family has this tradition to watch an adaptation of A Christmas Carol every year in early December. In most cases, it was The Muppet one. :)

I read the book a couple of years ago and it got me hooked.

In some ways, I think the Muppet version is closest to Dickens' whole story, even with 2 Marleys and singing vegetables!

Robin, I haven't seen the Muppet version and am now intrigued......singing vegetables, you say? LOL!

My first Dickens was Oliver Twist, when I was about 10 or 11. I think this was after I acquired an album of the Oliver! musical and wanted to know the story (I only saw the film many years later!) I was also intrigued by mentions of Dickens in Edith Nesbit's books and Little Women.

I remember reading it in the school library, in an enormous hardback with the full-page Cruikshank illustrations. I was instantly hooked and went on to Nicholas Nickleby and David Copperfield next, as I recall.

Robin wrote: "Plus I was totally confused about one story with a character called The Marchioness ..."

Oh yes, that would make no sense at all, out of context! She is one of Charles Dickens's comic characters, (in The Old Curiosity Shop, as you rightly say) and has several names. This is yet another device Charles Dickens loves to employ!

This diminutive maidservant does not know her name, nor her age, so people call her what they wish. The most neutral description is "the small servant", but she has more colourful nicknames too, such as "Sophronia Sphynx" or "the little devil", and "The Marchioness" is one of these.

Petra, I echo your thoughts!

Judy - I just love how several of us came to approach him sideways, as it were, through some sort of adaptation or mention. "I was also intrigued by mentions of Dickens in Edith Nesbit's books and Little Women." Yes, again!

I'm beginning to wonder if discovering the stories of Charles Dickens for ourselves, plays a big part in how many of us continue to love his works when we are older.

But maybe there are just as many people who were introduced to one of his books at school, and continue with a life-long love.

Petra wrote: "Robin, I haven't seen the Muppet version and am now intrigued......singing vegetables, you say? LOL!"

Same with me. ....and my local library carries it. Yay.

Watching A Christmas Carol is my earliest memory of Charles Dickens. It was years before I found out it was a book, and yet more years before I actually read it. Dickens was not in our home nor in school. Of course, through the years, I have heard of most of his books but have yet to read them or watch the various movies (except for A Christmas Carol).

I had forgotten about Little Women which I read when I was about 10. The girls have a Pickwick Club and I didn’t know what that was about. I also didn’t know Pilgrim’s Progress, which features prominently. I didn’t read Pickwick till fairly recently. A lot of the humor still holds up.

Every Christmastime my family has watched "Scrooge" for as long as I can remember. I suppose that was my first exposure to Dickens.

I think that may be how many people first became aware of him, Erin :) And it's not such a bad way ...

Like many others, my first exposure to Dickens was "A Christmas Carol". I think I saw the movie on TV first and later read a children's version of it. I didn't actually read a "real" Dickens novel until a few years ago when I read Great Expectations and decided I need to read more of his books.

That's a great one to start with either, isn't it Katy :)