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Selected Short Fiction
Stories of comedy and character from one of Britain's greatest novelists
This witty and amusing collection of short pieces shows Dickens liberated from the more formal and sustained demands of the novel and experimenting with a diverse range of fictional techniques. In his tales of the supernatural, he creates frighteningly believable, spine-tingling stories of prophetic dreams and visions, as well as more fantastical adventures with goblins and apparitions. Impressionistic sketches combine imaginatively heightened travel journals with wry observations of home and abroad, while in his dramatic monologues, Dickens demonstrates his talent for exploring the secret workings of the human mind. These short works display Dickens's exuberant sense of comedy and character as his imagination is given free rein.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
This witty and amusing collection of short pieces shows Dickens liberated from the more formal and sustained demands of the novel and experimenting with a diverse range of fictional techniques. In his tales of the supernatural, he creates frighteningly believable, spine-tingling stories of prophetic dreams and visions, as well as more fantastical adventures with goblins and apparitions. Impressionistic sketches combine imaginatively heightened travel journals with wry observations of home and abroad, while in his dramatic monologues, Dickens demonstrates his talent for exploring the secret workings of the human mind. These short works display Dickens's exuberant sense of comedy and character as his imagination is given free rein.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
432 pages, Paperback
First published July 30, 1976
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1166 people want to read
About the author
Charles Dickens
12.7k books31.3k followersCharles John Huffam Dickens (1812-1870) was a writer and social critic who created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the twentieth century critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories enjoy lasting popularity.
Dickens left school to work in a factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors' prison. Despite his lack of formal education, he edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, education, and other social reforms.
Dickens was regarded as the literary colossus of his age. His 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. Oliver Twist and Great Expectations are also frequently adapted, and, like many of his novels, evoke images of early Victorian London. His 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Cities, set in London and Paris, is his best-known work of historical fiction. Dickens's creative genius has been praised by fellow writers—from Leo Tolstoy to George Orwell and G. K. Chesterton—for its realism, comedy, prose style, unique characterisations, and social criticism. On the other hand, Oscar Wilde, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf complained of a lack of psychological depth, loose writing, and a vein of saccharine sentimentalism. The term Dickensian is used to describe something that is reminiscent of Dickens and his writings, such as poor social conditions or comically repulsive characters.
On 8 June 1870, Dickens suffered another stroke at his home after a full day's work on Edwin Drood. He never regained consciousness, and the next day he died at Gad's Hill Place. Contrary to his wish to be buried at Rochester Cathedral "in an inexpensive, unostentatious, and strictly private manner," he was laid to rest in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey. A printed epitaph circulated at the time of the funeral reads: "To the Memory of Charles Dickens (England's most popular author) who died at his residence, Higham, near Rochester, Kent, 9 June 1870, aged 58 years. He was a sympathiser with the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; and by his death, one of England's greatest writers is lost to the world." His last words were: "On the ground", in response to his sister-in-law Georgina's request that he lie down.
(from Wikipedia)
Dickens left school to work in a factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors' prison. Despite his lack of formal education, he edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, education, and other social reforms.
Dickens was regarded as the literary colossus of his age. His 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. Oliver Twist and Great Expectations are also frequently adapted, and, like many of his novels, evoke images of early Victorian London. His 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Cities, set in London and Paris, is his best-known work of historical fiction. Dickens's creative genius has been praised by fellow writers—from Leo Tolstoy to George Orwell and G. K. Chesterton—for its realism, comedy, prose style, unique characterisations, and social criticism. On the other hand, Oscar Wilde, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf complained of a lack of psychological depth, loose writing, and a vein of saccharine sentimentalism. The term Dickensian is used to describe something that is reminiscent of Dickens and his writings, such as poor social conditions or comically repulsive characters.
On 8 June 1870, Dickens suffered another stroke at his home after a full day's work on Edwin Drood. He never regained consciousness, and the next day he died at Gad's Hill Place. Contrary to his wish to be buried at Rochester Cathedral "in an inexpensive, unostentatious, and strictly private manner," he was laid to rest in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey. A printed epitaph circulated at the time of the funeral reads: "To the Memory of Charles Dickens (England's most popular author) who died at his residence, Higham, near Rochester, Kent, 9 June 1870, aged 58 years. He was a sympathiser with the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; and by his death, one of England's greatest writers is lost to the world." His last words were: "On the ground", in response to his sister-in-law Georgina's request that he lie down.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
June 17, 2017
4★ although it's not my favourite, but, well, it’s Dickens!
This is an anthology, which is to say, a dickens of a lot of Dickens, pinched from here and there, a little something for everybody. I found some stories delightful, some interesting, and some sad. [Some were silly or downright dull, but that’s probably not Dickens, that’s me. But I'm not breaking up with him!] I made no attempt to read them all thoroughly, for various reasons.
He’d write a blog today, full of information and humour and philosophy. He is almost unable to separate those things, I think, and when something is on his mind, it turns up again and again.
There were some Christmas ones that seemed to be either precursors to or an echo of A Christmas Carol, and there were some characters in other stories who seemed as if I’d met them in other works.
This is from the introductory note:
“Charles Dickens began his first job at the age of twelve in a shoe polish factory, while his father and, for three months, his mother and siblings spent time in Marshalsea Prison due to their status as debtors. The sense of abandonment, humiliation, and responsibility that developed at such a young age would shape Charles Dickens’s character and influence his writing for his entire life.”
There is no mistaking how he feels about his characters.:
” Gabriel Grub was an ill-conditioned, cross-grained, surly fellow—a morose and lonely man, who consorted with nobody but himself, and an old wicker bottle which fitted into his large deep waistcoat pocket—and who eyed each merry face, as it passed him by, with such a deep scowl of malice and ill-humour, as it was difficult to meet, without feeling something the worse for.”
He would have had a grand time slinging insults in today’s Parliament or Congress. I love this one!
”He was to his wife what the 0 is in 90—he was of some importance with her—he was nothing without her.”
I’m not a fan of the ghost stories or the fantasy, but I was very moved, as was Dickens, when he writes about “A Visit to Newgate”. The introductory note explains that this is one of a selection of pieces written when Dickens was a youthful reporter, some of which were published in 1836 as “sketches”.
He is appalled that we just walk right by places of immense suffering with scarcely a thought. He says everybody would be nervous walking past Bedlam (the nickname for the hospital for the insane), but they don’t think twice about prisoners inside Newgate. Here’s the narrator's breathless 186-word, single sentence rant.
“If Bedlam could be suddenly removed like another Aladdin’s palace, and set down on the space now occupied by Newgate, scarcely one man out of a hundred, whose road to business every morning lies through Newgate-street, or the Old Bailey, would pass the building without bestowing a hasty glance on its small, grated windows, and a transient thought upon the condition of the unhappy beings’ immured in its dismal cells; and yet these same men, day by day, and hour by hour, pass and repass this gloomy depository of the guilt and misery of London, in one perpetual stream of life and bustle, utterly unmindful of the throng of wretched creatures pent up within it—nay, not even knowing, or if they do, not heeding, the fact, that as they pass one particular angle of the massive wall with a light laugh or a merry whistle, they stand within one yard of a fellow-creature, bound and helpless, whose hours are numbered, from whom the last feeble ray of hope has fled for ever, and whose miserable career will shortly terminate in a violent and shameful death.”
GASP!
The narrator tours the prison, describes the men, the women, and then . . . the children. These are boys:
“There were fourteen of them in all, some with shoes, some without; some in pinafores without jackets, others in jackets without pinafores, and one in scarce anything at all. The whole number, without an exception we believe, had been committed for trial on charges of pocket-picking; and fourteen such terrible little faces we never beheld.—There was not one redeeming feature among them—not a glance of honesty—not a wink expressive of anything but the gallows and the hulks, in the whole collection. . .
We never looked upon a more disagreeable sight, because we never saw fourteen such hopeless creatures of neglect, before.”
Today, he would be an activist. He hoped for the best, but I think he’d be disappointed.
“Let us hope that the increased spirit of civilization and humanity which abolished this frightful and degrading custom, may extend itself to other usages equally barbarous; usages which have not even the plea of utility in their defence, as every year’s experience has shown them to be more and more inefficacious.”
Thanks to NetGalley and Dover Publications for the preview copy from which I’ve quoted. Fans of Dickens will have fun browsing through this.
This is an anthology, which is to say, a dickens of a lot of Dickens, pinched from here and there, a little something for everybody. I found some stories delightful, some interesting, and some sad. [Some were silly or downright dull, but that’s probably not Dickens, that’s me. But I'm not breaking up with him!] I made no attempt to read them all thoroughly, for various reasons.
He’d write a blog today, full of information and humour and philosophy. He is almost unable to separate those things, I think, and when something is on his mind, it turns up again and again.
There were some Christmas ones that seemed to be either precursors to or an echo of A Christmas Carol, and there were some characters in other stories who seemed as if I’d met them in other works.
This is from the introductory note:
“Charles Dickens began his first job at the age of twelve in a shoe polish factory, while his father and, for three months, his mother and siblings spent time in Marshalsea Prison due to their status as debtors. The sense of abandonment, humiliation, and responsibility that developed at such a young age would shape Charles Dickens’s character and influence his writing for his entire life.”
There is no mistaking how he feels about his characters.:
” Gabriel Grub was an ill-conditioned, cross-grained, surly fellow—a morose and lonely man, who consorted with nobody but himself, and an old wicker bottle which fitted into his large deep waistcoat pocket—and who eyed each merry face, as it passed him by, with such a deep scowl of malice and ill-humour, as it was difficult to meet, without feeling something the worse for.”
He would have had a grand time slinging insults in today’s Parliament or Congress. I love this one!
”He was to his wife what the 0 is in 90—he was of some importance with her—he was nothing without her.”
I’m not a fan of the ghost stories or the fantasy, but I was very moved, as was Dickens, when he writes about “A Visit to Newgate”. The introductory note explains that this is one of a selection of pieces written when Dickens was a youthful reporter, some of which were published in 1836 as “sketches”.
He is appalled that we just walk right by places of immense suffering with scarcely a thought. He says everybody would be nervous walking past Bedlam (the nickname for the hospital for the insane), but they don’t think twice about prisoners inside Newgate. Here’s the narrator's breathless 186-word, single sentence rant.
“If Bedlam could be suddenly removed like another Aladdin’s palace, and set down on the space now occupied by Newgate, scarcely one man out of a hundred, whose road to business every morning lies through Newgate-street, or the Old Bailey, would pass the building without bestowing a hasty glance on its small, grated windows, and a transient thought upon the condition of the unhappy beings’ immured in its dismal cells; and yet these same men, day by day, and hour by hour, pass and repass this gloomy depository of the guilt and misery of London, in one perpetual stream of life and bustle, utterly unmindful of the throng of wretched creatures pent up within it—nay, not even knowing, or if they do, not heeding, the fact, that as they pass one particular angle of the massive wall with a light laugh or a merry whistle, they stand within one yard of a fellow-creature, bound and helpless, whose hours are numbered, from whom the last feeble ray of hope has fled for ever, and whose miserable career will shortly terminate in a violent and shameful death.”
GASP!
The narrator tours the prison, describes the men, the women, and then . . . the children. These are boys:
“There were fourteen of them in all, some with shoes, some without; some in pinafores without jackets, others in jackets without pinafores, and one in scarce anything at all. The whole number, without an exception we believe, had been committed for trial on charges of pocket-picking; and fourteen such terrible little faces we never beheld.—There was not one redeeming feature among them—not a glance of honesty—not a wink expressive of anything but the gallows and the hulks, in the whole collection. . .
We never looked upon a more disagreeable sight, because we never saw fourteen such hopeless creatures of neglect, before.”
Today, he would be an activist. He hoped for the best, but I think he’d be disappointed.
“Let us hope that the increased spirit of civilization and humanity which abolished this frightful and degrading custom, may extend itself to other usages equally barbarous; usages which have not even the plea of utility in their defence, as every year’s experience has shown them to be more and more inefficacious.”
Thanks to NetGalley and Dover Publications for the preview copy from which I’ve quoted. Fans of Dickens will have fun browsing through this.
February 20, 2017
If you enjoy Charles Dickens and don't have the time to devote to reading or re-reading one of his classics, this is a great volume to keep on your shelf and revisit from time to time. When I first began reading this collection, my intention was to read it cover to cover. After reading a few stories, I started skipping around and decided to read the stories in no particular order and take my time. I found this to be a much better way to enjoy this collection of short fiction. Charles Dickens is not an author to be rushed through. His works are best enjoyed when one can pay full attention and savor his wit an eccentricities.
The collection begins with stories of the supernatural, which is for the most part what we'd consider to be Victorian era ghost stories, not unlike the spirits in A Christmas Carol, although shorter in length. The second section are "Impressionistic Sketches", which are short pieces written mostly during his career as a young reporter. I wasn't sure what to expect from the category of Impressionistic Sketches, but they tend to describe characters of his time. Some of these were more engaging than others, and some I just didn't really enjoy. I skipped around in this section a lot because there didn't seem to be a theme throughout the section. The final section is "Dramatic Monologues" and includes excerpts from longer works.
Thank you to Netgalley and Dover publishing for providing me with a copy to review. I will be revisiting the stories in this volume for years to come.
The collection begins with stories of the supernatural, which is for the most part what we'd consider to be Victorian era ghost stories, not unlike the spirits in A Christmas Carol, although shorter in length. The second section are "Impressionistic Sketches", which are short pieces written mostly during his career as a young reporter. I wasn't sure what to expect from the category of Impressionistic Sketches, but they tend to describe characters of his time. Some of these were more engaging than others, and some I just didn't really enjoy. I skipped around in this section a lot because there didn't seem to be a theme throughout the section. The final section is "Dramatic Monologues" and includes excerpts from longer works.
Thank you to Netgalley and Dover publishing for providing me with a copy to review. I will be revisiting the stories in this volume for years to come.
May 8, 2016
Ok I swear the only reason that this took me so long to finish was because Charles Dickens LOVES run-on sentences and he wants you to keep reading and reading, and even though he adds like fifteen commas in the sentence its really hard to keep reading sentences that long and finish a book during your lunch breaks and while riding the bus, so sorry Charles Dickens, I love and I'm going to keep reading your books but I will keep complaining about it too. See what I mean? But overall, a good collection of some of Dicken's short stories, a nice wide range of everything but be prepared to be reading for a while!
December 16, 2024
The thirty-three fiction pieces here are divided into three categories: “Tales of the Supernatural,” including excerpts from Pickwick Papers and Nicholas Nickleby, are standard Dickens territory and are my favorite of the bunch. The Mrs. Lirriper stories are among the “Dramatic Monologues,” and are also what you’d imagine from shorter works by Dickens. “Impressionistic Sketches” are first-person reportage and feel more like non-fiction. These were a bit of a slog for me and almost, but not quite, have me considering not tackling Sketches by Boz, American Notes, and The Uncommercial Traveller, from which they’re taken.
March 24, 2017
This was such a delight!
I wasn't sure about what to expect from this book because I haven't read much from Dickens in the past. However, I was sure that I'd love the idea of reading short stories one at the time. So, I must say, that I really liked this books and most of the stories.
The narrative was exceptional and it made me feel the story. Despite the fact that Dickens is a classic author, I think his writing is brilliant and his stories too.
I encourage to all who are not very fond of classics to give this a try. You won't be repented!
I won this book through GoodReads and I thank to publishers for providing me this copy. My review isn't influenced by this fact
I wasn't sure about what to expect from this book because I haven't read much from Dickens in the past. However, I was sure that I'd love the idea of reading short stories one at the time. So, I must say, that I really liked this books and most of the stories.
The narrative was exceptional and it made me feel the story. Despite the fact that Dickens is a classic author, I think his writing is brilliant and his stories too.
I encourage to all who are not very fond of classics to give this a try. You won't be repented!
I won this book through GoodReads and I thank to publishers for providing me this copy. My review isn't influenced by this fact
December 29, 2016
For anyone thinking that Dickens isn’t accessible and would like to try, but is put off by the length of some of his most famous tales – try this first!
The story of the goblins who stole a sexton (gravedigger) – on Christmas Eve, goblins visit a cantankerous gravedigger to have chat with him about his ways... This story made me laugh out loud! The way Dickens writes just makes me smile! Within a few sentences I am there, engrossed in the scene; I can feel the cold in my chest and hear the goblins’ echoes!
This just felt like a good old fashioned (obviously…) children’s fairy tale – complete with mythical creatures and a smattering of violence (don’t all the best fairy tales have violence or gruesome ends!?)
I love the rhythm of his prose, which feel melodic, comforting and strangely familiar – more like the book is being read to me, rather than I am reading the book.
The story of the goblins who stole a sexton (gravedigger) – on Christmas Eve, goblins visit a cantankerous gravedigger to have chat with him about his ways... This story made me laugh out loud! The way Dickens writes just makes me smile! Within a few sentences I am there, engrossed in the scene; I can feel the cold in my chest and hear the goblins’ echoes!
This just felt like a good old fashioned (obviously…) children’s fairy tale – complete with mythical creatures and a smattering of violence (don’t all the best fairy tales have violence or gruesome ends!?)
I love the rhythm of his prose, which feel melodic, comforting and strangely familiar – more like the book is being read to me, rather than I am reading the book.
April 15, 2020
The selected tales is broken down into three categories:
Tales of Supernatural - 5 Stars
I highly recommend all the stories in here. Especially, 1."A confession found in prison in the time of Charles the second" and 2. "No.1 Branch Line. The Signalman".
Impressionistic Sketches - 3 Stars
There are glimpses of gold among the rubble. A Christmas Tree & Nursery Stories include some fantastic horror stories. The rest of the section was a slog.
Dramatic Monologues - 3.5 Stars
My favorite stories from the section are: Mrs. Lirriper's Lodgings & Legacy and Doctor Marigold's Prescriptions. These are quintessential and heartwarming Dicken stories.
Just like Washington Irving's sketches, there were portions where I wasn't as engaged with the stories.
Regards,
Vinay A
Tales of Supernatural - 5 Stars
I highly recommend all the stories in here. Especially, 1."A confession found in prison in the time of Charles the second" and 2. "No.1 Branch Line. The Signalman".
Impressionistic Sketches - 3 Stars
There are glimpses of gold among the rubble. A Christmas Tree & Nursery Stories include some fantastic horror stories. The rest of the section was a slog.
Dramatic Monologues - 3.5 Stars
My favorite stories from the section are: Mrs. Lirriper's Lodgings & Legacy and Doctor Marigold's Prescriptions. These are quintessential and heartwarming Dicken stories.
Just like Washington Irving's sketches, there were portions where I wasn't as engaged with the stories.
Regards,
Vinay A
April 18, 2023
This was a fun selection of Dickens's shorter works. It's fascinating to see how his autobiographical details were subtly woven into the stories, as well as the themes and patterns that emerge after reading many of them consecutively. My favorites were the supernatural stories, with Mugby Junction taking the #1 position, though I also enjoyed George Silverman and A Visit to Newgate. I gave it three stars purely because there were some stories I was painfully bored by, and others that I'd give five stars; a ranking right in the middle therefore felt fair.
October 9, 2024
The stories were really hit or miss for me
Some really missed the mark and there weren't many stories that stood out for me..
At some point it just got exhausting getting invested in a story just for it to end in the next couple of pages. I guess these kinds of books aren't really for me.
Other than that i think dickens writing style is phenomenal and i will check out some of his other books in the near future!
Some really missed the mark and there weren't many stories that stood out for me..
At some point it just got exhausting getting invested in a story just for it to end in the next couple of pages. I guess these kinds of books aren't really for me.
Other than that i think dickens writing style is phenomenal and i will check out some of his other books in the near future!
July 28, 2024
I enjoyed some of the stories within this anthology. But there were sentences that made no sense to me even after reading them more than once.
December 31, 2025
Tales of the supernatural were great buy the stories after that weren't really fiction and where nothing good unfortunately I gave up on this book after A Christmas Tree.
June 3, 2015
Review title: Pick your Dickens carefully
If you are a casual reader of Dickens and want an introduction to his short fiction, this is a good edition. But if you are a serious fan and have read some of his less known works like Sketches by Boz or the Christmas stories, then you may be find that there is duplication in this collection of "short fiction."
Actually both parts of that phrase are at least in some respect deceitful. Some of the selections here are stories embedded in Dickens' earlier novels like The Pickwick Papers, lifted out here to stand alone. Others are essays of observations about London life from Sketches by Boz that while enhanced by Dickens' imaginative descriptive phrases are certainly more than fiction.
With those provisos up front, some of these selections are very good, as Dickens is freed from the constraints of long-form fiction written in months long serializations, and able to apply his powerful humor and inimitable skill to the subjects at hand. Particularly powerful are two accounts of travel, "A Flight" and "Refreshments for Travelers" that are as perfectly pertinent to the unglamorous rigors of air travel in 2012 as they were to steam ship and train travel in Dickens' day! They are laugh out loud funny with the instant shock of recognition of the situations and emotions that stressful travel present to the traveler on a regular basis.
And in condensed form, what can seem maudlin or pandering in the novels can pack a powerful emotional punch in these short pieces. Of note on that line are the two parts of "Doctor Marigold's Prescriptions," an account of an itinerant auctioneer (think 19th century Pawn Stars on wheels) who meets and adopts a deaf and dumb girl during his travels across country. These little emotional tales of love and twists of fate can stand with the best of short-story specialists like O. Henry and Poe.
But then, isn't Dickens usually the best, always the Inimitable?
If you are a casual reader of Dickens and want an introduction to his short fiction, this is a good edition. But if you are a serious fan and have read some of his less known works like Sketches by Boz or the Christmas stories, then you may be find that there is duplication in this collection of "short fiction."
Actually both parts of that phrase are at least in some respect deceitful. Some of the selections here are stories embedded in Dickens' earlier novels like The Pickwick Papers, lifted out here to stand alone. Others are essays of observations about London life from Sketches by Boz that while enhanced by Dickens' imaginative descriptive phrases are certainly more than fiction.
With those provisos up front, some of these selections are very good, as Dickens is freed from the constraints of long-form fiction written in months long serializations, and able to apply his powerful humor and inimitable skill to the subjects at hand. Particularly powerful are two accounts of travel, "A Flight" and "Refreshments for Travelers" that are as perfectly pertinent to the unglamorous rigors of air travel in 2012 as they were to steam ship and train travel in Dickens' day! They are laugh out loud funny with the instant shock of recognition of the situations and emotions that stressful travel present to the traveler on a regular basis.
And in condensed form, what can seem maudlin or pandering in the novels can pack a powerful emotional punch in these short pieces. Of note on that line are the two parts of "Doctor Marigold's Prescriptions," an account of an itinerant auctioneer (think 19th century Pawn Stars on wheels) who meets and adopts a deaf and dumb girl during his travels across country. These little emotional tales of love and twists of fate can stand with the best of short-story specialists like O. Henry and Poe.
But then, isn't Dickens usually the best, always the Inimitable?
Read
February 22, 2016Every winter for the past several years I have made a point to read a novel by Dickens. Last year I finished his novels, so this year I thought I'd give his short stories a shot.
In general I don't like them as much. Being short stories, they don't have the time to develop the same as the novels, so mostly they are impressions and the like. I don't know that I will make it a point to read all of his short stories, but we'll see.
Of all the short stories, I liked Lying Awake the best. All in all, I think it is the most universal on a very basic level - being about insomnia and dreaming. In general Much of what Dickens has to say, while in some ways dated, for the most pat still reflects true as far as the human condition is concerned. Lying Awake is closer then the human condition. Because who hasn't at least once lain in bed trying desperatly to sleep? Who hasn't had some sort of an axiety dream? We all know about the dream where you find yourself in public in your underwear. Nothing reminds you that a literary master is human quite so much as knowing that they too are familiar with this particular nightmare.
In general I don't like them as much. Being short stories, they don't have the time to develop the same as the novels, so mostly they are impressions and the like. I don't know that I will make it a point to read all of his short stories, but we'll see.
Of all the short stories, I liked Lying Awake the best. All in all, I think it is the most universal on a very basic level - being about insomnia and dreaming. In general Much of what Dickens has to say, while in some ways dated, for the most pat still reflects true as far as the human condition is concerned. Lying Awake is closer then the human condition. Because who hasn't at least once lain in bed trying desperatly to sleep? Who hasn't had some sort of an axiety dream? We all know about the dream where you find yourself in public in your underwear. Nothing reminds you that a literary master is human quite so much as knowing that they too are familiar with this particular nightmare.
March 11, 2022
Not every story was amazing to read, but they were all interesting. Dickens changed up his style several times depending on the narrator making some pieces read better for me than others. I thought the first set of supernatural stories to be the weakest of the bunch, not that they were bad, just not as interesting to me. The first one I really liked, but after that I found the stories to be a little predictable or cliche. The first impressionistic sketch I didn't care for, but the rest of them were my favorites bits in the book. The final, dramatic monologues, kind of fit nicely between the fun of the impressionistic sketches, and the more to the point ghost stories. A blend of both, a bit funny, but still, I didn't enjoy it as much. A great collection, with highs and lows for me.
February 6, 2017
GNAB I received a free electronic copy of this collection from Netgalley and Dover Publications. Thank you all, for sharing your hard work with me.
This anthology was originally published on July 30, 1981 by Penguin Classics. An extensive compilation of Dickens short works, I found it interesting, but more for the details of daily life in those times than story line. While some were outstanding stories, others felt incomplete. Still and all, this is a book I am glad to have read, and one I will keep for research.
pub date Nov 16, 2016
Dover Publications
originally published Penguin Classics July 30, 1981
Want to read
May 5, 201249/432
January 24, 2014
Classic tales and stories by a master storyteller. The story of The Signalman is simply brilliant.
November 8, 2021
His novels are much better! Most of these are difficult.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews