The Old Curiosity Shop, Background, Resources, Schedule

[Jonathan]

Fellow Pickwickians, this will be our sixth group read overall; our fourth novel.

[Jonathan]

Reading Schedule


Sept. 30 - Oct. 6 Ch. 1-7
Oct. 7 - Oct. 13 Ch. 8-14
Oct. 14 - Oct. 20 Ch. 15-21
Oct. 21 - Oct. 27 Ch. 22-28
Oct. 28 - Nov. 3 Ch. 29-35
Nov. 4 - Nov. 10 Ch. 36-42
Nov. 11 - Nov. 17 Ch. 43-49
Nov. 18 - Nov. 24 Ch. 50-56
Nov. 25 - Dec. 1 Ch. 57-63
Dec. 2 - Dec. 8 Ch. 64-70
Dec. 9 - Dec. 15 Ch. 71-73
(Begin A Christmas Carol)

[Everyman]

Jonathan wrote: "Reading Schedule

Sept. 30 - Oct. 6 Ch. 1-7"

When is the discussion thread for this set of chapters going to be posted?

[Jonathan]

Everyman, the Cartesian answer would be: when you make one.

Sorry, I thought I already made a thread for that.

[Jonathan]

The supposed location which served as Dickens' inspiration

[Kim]

Jonathan wrote: "The supposed location which served as Dickens' inspiration"

I have a Department 56 Dickens House "The Old Curiosity Shop" (obviously) that looks just like that picture. :}

[Kim]

Dickens dedicated TOCS to the poet Samuel Rogers. I never heard of him so I looked him up. Here are two of his poems:

TO -----

Ah! little thought she, when, with wild delight,
By many a torrent's shining track she flew,
When mountain-glens and caverns full of night
O'er her young mind divine enchantment threw,

That in her veins a secret horror slept,
That her light footsteps should be heard no more,
That she should die--nor watch'd, alas, nor wept
By thee, unconscious of the pangs she bore.

Yet round her couch indulgent Fancy drew
The kindred, forms her closing eye requir'd.
There didst thou stand--there, with the smile she knew.

She mov'd her lips to bless thee, and expir'd.
And now to thee she comes; still, still the same
As in the hours gone unregarded by!
To thee, how chang'd, comes as she ever came;
Health on her cheek, and pleasure in her eye!

Nor less, less oft, as on that day, appears,
When lingering, as prophetic of the truth,
By the way-side she shed her parting tears--
For ever lovely in the light of Youth?


TO THE GNAT.

When by the green-wood side, at summer eve,
Poetic visions charm my closing eye;
And fairy-scenes, that Fancy loves to weave,
Shift to wild notes of sweetest Minstrelsy;
'Tis thine to range in busy quest of prey,
Thy feathery antlers quivering with delight,
Brush from my lids the hues of heav'n away,
And all is Solitude, and all is Night!
--Ah now thy barbed shaft, relentless fly,
Unsheaths its terrors in the sultry air!
No guardian sylph, in golden panoply,
Lifts the broad shield, and points the glittering spear.
Now near and nearer rush thy whirring wings,
Thy dragon-scales still wet with human gore.
Hark, thy shrill horn its fearful laram flings!
--I wake in horror, and 'dare sleep no more!'

[Everyman]

The Gnat reminded me of Donne's The Flea, but it would be off topic to quote it, so I won't. (It wasn't off topic at all for you to quote the Rogers poems since Dickens dedicated the book to him. Thanks for finding those. I had never heard of him either; the original Oxford Book of English Verse doesn't have him, and the New OBEV only has one of his, titled The Wish, which reminds me a bit of The Lake Isle of Innisfree. A probable coincidence is that in the NOBEV Rogers comes right before Wordsworth, and the Rogers poem celebrates a woman named Lucy, and a Lucy was also central to a number of Wordsworth's poems. Could it possibly be the same Lucy??

[Kim]

Everyman wrote: "The Gnat reminded me of Donne's The Flea, but it would be off topic to quote it, so I won't. (It wasn't off topic at all for you to quote the Rogers poems since Dickens dedicated the book to him. ..."

We wouldn't want to get off topic that's for sure. I just hate when that happens. :} Now I have to go look for The Flea myself.

[Jonathan]

Everyman wrote: "The Gnat reminded me of Donne's The Flea, but it would be off topic to quote it, so I won't. (It wasn't off topic at all for you to quote the Rogers poems since Dickens dedicated the book to him. ..."

How the hell can there be a New Original Oxford Book of English Verse? If there already was an original, and now there is a new one, it certainly can't still be original. Do not the folks at Oxford know what they are doing?

[Everyman]

Jonathan wrote: How the hell can there be a New Original Oxford Book of English Verse? ..."

There's not. I referred to the original (not officially called that) which was edited by Quiller-Couch. I also referred to "the New OBEV" which is the New Oxford Book of English Verse, edited by Helen Gardner. There's no New Original. Sorry if my abbreviations confused you.

[Jonathan]

LOL. The New Original that just made me laugh, again. An oxymoron.