Dickensians! discussion

This is the thread to discuss The Black Veil by Charles Dickens, which is our first summer read this year, between 1st and 15th June. It was one of his Sketches by Boz, so you can easily find it if you look there.

LINK HERE for Connie's summary, and her further information posts. This is comment 52, where the story discussion begins.

Now I'll hand you over to Connie, who is hosting this read. If you can let her comment first please, that would be appreciated :)

This will be my first read of anything from Sketches by Boz. I am really looking forward to this group read.

"The Black Veil" is available as a free online pdf in several places, including Project Gutenberg. It's in the Tales section of "Sketches by Boz."

I'm looking forward to discussing this mysterious tale with the group on June 1.

I'm in - excited to try short-form Dickens! :D

I'm in, too. Looking forward to this discussion and read.

I will be joining in on the read too.

I plan to join this read too.

I am planning to join in on this read Connie. I'm just getting my feet wet in this group, and thought these shorter summer reads would be a good way to do that. I bought a .99 Kindle copy. So we should have it read by the 1st?

I found it on my 25 cent Kindle version of the Complete Works of Dickens. It begins on page 14766!

Oh Kathleen that’s a huge help!! I searched on mine and gave up to try again later!

I also will be joining in. Looking forward to it.

I'll be joining in too. It will be nice to see the usual suspects again and to see Diane joining us for the first time!! :))

I'm excited to be discussing the story with such a great group of readers! "The Black Veil" is only a 30 minute read. We'll jump right into discussing the story on June 1st. But feel free to join the discussion anytime later.

I plan to join in too as long as I can get out from under my other reading :-)

Diane wrote: "I am planning to join in on this read Connie. I'm just getting my feet wet in this group, and thought these shorter summer reads would be a good way to do that. I bought a .99 Kindle copy. So we sh..."

Diane, it would be great if you could read it by June 1st for the start of the discussion. I'm glad you're reading along with us.

Sue wrote: "I plan to join in too as long as I can get out from under my other reading :-)"

I know the feeling! It's great that these upcoming stories are short, perfect for summer.

That’s a definite bonus, Connie.

I'm in too. Thanks for the tip on the page number Kathleen, it was hard to find in that .25 cent ebook.

thanks, Connie and everyone.

Thanks for all the info, everyone. So the understanding is we have this read by June 1, and anyone who doesn't (me, for example heh heh) takes their chances on spoilers? Looking forward.

I'm happy to see more of the group joining in. Our American readers even have a three-day long Memorial Day weekend to read it ;-)

Angela wrote: "Thanks for all the info, everyone. So the understanding is we have this read by June 1, and anyone who doesn't (me, for example heh heh) takes their chances on spoilers? Looking forward."

Angela, it's fine to join in later, but you'll want to read the story first. I'm looking forward to reading with everyone.

Connie wrote: "I'm happy to see more of the group joining in. Our American readers even have a three-day long Memorial Day weekend to read it ;-)"

It’s a long weekend in the UK too, Connie - the last Monday in May is a bank holiday here!

Trisha wrote: "Connie wrote: "I'm happy to see more of the group joining in. Our American readers even have a three-day long Memorial Day weekend to read it ;-)"

It’s a long weekend in the UK too, Connie - the l..."

Wow, I'm always learning something on Goodreads! I hope you have a great long weekend too.

Connie wrote: "...Wow, I'm always learning something on Goodreads! ..."

I agree, Connie. When I joined Goodreads I only expected to learn more about books! But the interaction between people is wonderful & there’s always something new to learn.

I bought my copy for Kindle for 99¢, and I just noticed that it includes a biography of Dickens by G. K. Chesterton. I will take my time reading that, but are any of you familiar with that version?

Diane wrote: "I bought my copy for Kindle for 99¢, and I just noticed that it includes a biography of Dickens by G. K. Chesterton. I will take my time reading that, but are any of you familiar with that version?"

I recall Jean mentioning a Chesterton biography, maybe when we were reading Dombey and Son? I think she said there were spoilers in the biography, but that's the case for all the Dickens bios I've read so far.

I'm planning to join. :)

Erin wrote: "I'm planning to join. :)"

Welcome, Erin! I'm glad you're reading with us.

Diane wrote: "I bought my copy for Kindle for 99¢, and I just noticed that it includes a biography of Dickens by G. K. Chesterton. I will take my time reading that, but are any of you familiar with that version?"
Excellent. I'll do the same.

Diane wrote: "I bought my copy for Kindle for 99¢, and I just noticed that it includes a biography of Dickens by G. K. Chesterton. I will take my time reading that, but are any of you familiar with that version?"

Yes, that's the edition I put on our shelves, although Connie's read is just of the short story "The Black Veil".

G.K. Chesterton's Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens is about the most critical (in a damning sense) of Charles Dickens I've ever read! It does place him in literary history, but G.K. Chesterton often show his dislike.

To give a balanced view, I quote relevant parts of it for each group read. It is definitely more about his works than a straight biography of Charles Dickens, so as Cozy_Pug suspected, it contains many spoilers.

In fact each chapter is about a particular novel, or shorter read, so it is best to only read those about works you are familiar with, and skip the others. Fortunately you can do this with G.K. Chesterton's biography, whereas other authors just sneak them in!

If anyone likes to listen to audio it's free here: https://archive.org/details/sketches_....

#51, Tale 5

Diane, Project Gutenberg has a biography of Dickens written by G K Chesterton and Frederick George Kitton which is different than Chesterton's literary criticisms. Is this the book that is part of your Kindle package?

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/61760...

There's another biography of Dickens by Chesterton on online literature.

http://www.online-literature.com/ches...

I have not read any of these biographies, but came across them when I was researching "The Christmas Carol" last December. I was thinking of reading the Chesterton and Kitton book some time since it seemed reader-friendly, and was illustrated.

Anne (On semi-hiatus) wrote: "If anyone likes to listen to audio it's free here: https://archive.org/details/sketches_....

#51, Tale 5"

Thanks for the tip, Anne. Lots of people love to listen to audio when they're out walking.

Connie, Until last week I didn't think there was an audio recording. I had looked on Librivox under Dickens and didn't find it. As crazy as this sounds I decided to look under Sketches by Boz and found it! Dickens didn't write The Black Veil. Boz did. :))

Anne (On semi-hiatus) wrote: "Connie, Until last week I didn't think there was an audio recording. I had looked on Librivox under Dickens and didn't find it. As crazy as this sounds I decided to look under Sketches by Boz and f..."

Absolutely! The crowds loved calling him Boz!

Curtis wrote: "Diane wrote: "I bought my copy for Kindle for 99¢, and I just noticed that it includes a biography of Dickens by G. K. Chesterton. I will take my time reading that, but are any of you familiar with..."

Welcome, Curtis. I hope you enjoy the story too.

I found a comprehensive collection of Dickens' works to use for the group's Summer reading. This is the Kindle edition that I ordered for $.99

It seems easy to navigate to all the novels and short stories and just hoping all are accurate presentations of Dickens' writing.

If anyone else is using this particular book, all the stories we will be reading can be found here:
(1) The Black Veil in the list under "Sketches by Boz;"
(2) The Wreck of the Golden Mary under "Christmas Stories" (not Christmas Novellas);
(3) The Bloomsbury Christening under "Sketches By Boz;"
(4) A Message From the Sea under "Christmas Stories;"
(5) Public Life of Mr. Tulrumble - Once Mayor of Mudfog under "The Mudfog Papers;" and
(6) George Silverman's Explanation under "Other Stories."

Also included are illustrations, four biographies (including John Forster, G.K. Chesterton, Sir Adolphus William Ward, and Mamie Dickens), Dickens' poetry, plays, Travel Books, Essays, and more! Quite a lot for the Dickens enthusiast!

The Amazon Kindle edition: https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Works...

That's really helpful Elizabeth! Thank you very much :)

I tried to upload that one to my kindle the other day, but it tried for a few hours and then fell over ... But on the other hand my kindle is ancient (it even has buttons!) So instead I bought one Petra recommended a while ago, of all the short stories. The Complete Short Stories of Charles Dickens: 190+ Titles in One Volume (Illustrated Edition): Christmas Tales, Social Sketches & Children's Stories: ... Pearl-Fishing, Child's Dream of a Star….

It costs 49p, and like the other one has an active table of contents.

Elizabeth A.G. wrote: "I found a comprehensive collection of Dickens' works to use for the group's Summer reading. This is the Kindle edition that I ordered for $.99



It seems easy to navigate to all the novels and..."

Oh boy, I'm going to need to buy this one too! The biographies are worth it.

The book I'm using The Complete Works of Charles Dickens: All 15 novels, short stories, poems and plays I like very much - easy navigation and the search function is helpful, too. But it doesn't have the biographies. I neeeeeeed them lol, and 99 cents is a great price.

Thank you for sharing this Elizabeth! :D

Cozy_Pug wrote: "Elizabeth A.G. wrote: "I found a comprehensive collection of Dickens' works to use for the group's Summer reading. This is the Kindle edition that I ordered for $.99



It seems easy to navigate..."

Ha! Cozy_Pug - I ended up getting both books also - can't go wrong for $.99! For the edition I mentioned, there was a review comment that some of the text for the novel Oliver Twist was missing but that seems not bad especially with a second inexpensive edition to check what might be missing.

Jean, This edition had some difficulty downloading at first on my Kindle, so I initially returned it -- then tried a second time and it downloaded without problem - can't figure out what the issue was but glad to get it.

Now I have to get reading The Black Veil!!

Thanks for all the information, Elizabeth.

Everyone has been wonderful at finding Dickens book bargains.

I'll try to read this one tomorrow and join in. I have it on my Amazon Kindle.

Franky wrote: "I'll try to read this one tomorrow and join in. I have it on my Amazon Kindle."

That's great, Franky. We look forward to you adding to the discussion.

Anne - As you probably know, when Charles Dickens published the Sketches, he was an unknown writer, so your instinct was absolutely right! The fact that we now attribute the author to Charles Dickens is "streamlining" an early pseudonym. Also as Connie says, he was affectionately known as "Boz" for many years after his reputation had been established.

How Charles Dickens's nickname came about is interesting. "Boz" is pronounced "Bose" to rhyme with "nose". "Boz" had originally been a nickname Charles Dickens had given his younger brother Augustus, whom he called "Moses" after a character in The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith. His little brother had found the name "Moses" hard to pronounce, and said it through his nose, as "Boses", which in turn became "Boz".

So these sketches are all Charles Dickens's first attempts to get into print (not counting the play he wrote at age 9 ...) G.K. Chesterton describes the state of bubbling resentment at the deal in life Charles Dickens had been given, around 1833, imagining him thinking:

"“Did all my dark crises mean only this; was I crucified only that I might become a solicitor’s clerk?” ... It was about this time that he put together a loose pile of papers, satires on institutions, pictures of private persons, fairy tales of the vulgarity of his world, odds and ends such as come out of the facility and the fierce vanity of youth. It was about this time at any rate that he decided to publish them, and gave them the name of Sketches by Boz."

But the public affectionately continued to call him “Boz”, long after they had forgotten the Sketches by Boz. Now the attribution has to be put in, for modern readers.

Just to add ...

I have linked to all this discussion about different editions, beginning with Elizabeth's informative post, from the official timetable in the Summer Reads thread. It is locked, so that the timetable comes up first and is easily accessible, and is the more logical place for the whole summer.

Mrs. Dickens' parlour is a good place for all chat about current issues. We have a special thread for Charles Dickens on audio, and also a dedicated one for biographies about him.

Tomorrow, when this read begins properly and Connie posts her summary, I will link to it in the first post, so that people can skip all this preamble easily. This should help keep things organised, so that we can have a good focused discussion. I'm looking forward to it, and I know Connie has lot of ideas :)

Thank you for the best way to read the Chesterton biography Jean. That is helpful to know. I'll just read the bits pertinent to this one.

Bionic Jean wrote: "Anne - As you probably know, when Charles Dickens published the Sketches, he was an unknown writer, so your instinct was absolutely right! ..."

Jean, I found it funny that "Boz"s writings aren't listed on Librivox under Dickens, as you say, "streamlined for today's readers" most of whom haven't heard the name Boz.

I love the story about CD's little brother and how the Boz came about.

Thanks for sharing that story about the name "Boz," Jean. It sounds so affectionate toward his little brother.

Did Dickens have cute nicknames for his children and close friends?