The Pickwick Club discussion
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Little Dorrit
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Book I Chapters 01 - 04
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Tristram wrote: "But history repeats itself, and Hegel was right in a way, though unreadable in all ways: Writing a message on a modern smartphone that even has auto-correct features and keeps replacing words is at least as cumbersome as writing with a quill. "LOL!! Ain't that the truth!
Glad to see another fountain pen lover here. Let's both shake our pens at Peter and splatter him with ink!
Gee, thanks guys ....
Tristram wrote: "wrote: "My neighbours sometimes wonder when I am sitting on the balcony reading Dickens or Conrad aloud but I consider this as a kind of boon lavished upon them. "A little off topic, but I thought of Tristram sitting on his patio while his neighbors overhear him reading Dickens as I read "Velocity" by Dean Koontz - has anyone read it? [Spoiler alert] - there's a character in a semi-coma who talks in her sleep. The main character tries to make sense of the seemingly random phrases she says. At one point she says something about "Mr. Joe" at which point Koontz's more astute readers realize that she is quoting Dickens. Knowing that in her mind she's living in her favorite books gives the protagonist some peace. If I'm ever in a coma (or stranded on a desert island) I hope my mind will take me to my favorite Dickens stories. Tristram - your neighbors don't know how lucky they are to have you. :-)
As usual, Mary Lou, your kind words oblige me - albeit I think that in my relationship with my neighbours the profit is all on their side ;-) E.g. I inform them on the birthdays of famous people, like Charles Dickens, Johnny Cash or Clint Eastwood, and always propose to celebrate the occasion with a dram in the evening. Only, of course, if they can plausibly claim some familiarity with the oeuvre of the respective birthday boy or girl.
Peter wrote: "Gee, thanks guys ...."It's not a lot of ink, anyway. My catridges are always half empty.
Lindsay wrote: "Totally Off-Topic!!!I'm thinking of delving into the world Shakespeare, is there any recommended order of reading???"
I haven't read any Shakespeare in years, but one can assume that the easiest plays are the ones they assign in high school. For me, that was Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Macbeth.
Well 'tis about time I dropped in here; briefly I hope.Thank you for your excellent introduction, as always, Tristram and of course, Kim!
I visited Marseilles some years ago around Bastille Day, so it was more vibrant than usual, one might have imagined. One would have imagined wrongly. The description that Dickens provides of the 1800's Marseilles is almost an exact replica of a relatively current Marseilles, give or take the odd rat. Though I don't believe that I believe in a Purgatory, to live in Marseilles would lead one to believe in a Purgatory or at least a Hell. This is why ...
The sun beats down in a cruel
way and even the rain brings no rejoicing
for it turns the streets to mud. The harbour is dank and whiffy. Grey/black sailing boats once white decorate the water. Kill me now! The happiest part of that ill-beguiled city was the road out of it. If I ever see it again it will be too soon. Trust Dickens to sustain relentless horror by locating his first prison in Marseilles. The Marshalsea, though not pretty, was the Ritz in comparison.
Thank you, Tristram, for the reminder of Pecksniff et al. When I was a child my father was a pretend Sabbatarian. The TV was never on, on Sundays; yeah and the Pope isn't a Catholic. When some dear behatted visitors would arrive just in time for Afternoon Tea on a sacred Sunday, there was brisk activity in our house (well, at least my father moved swiftly). The TV was turned off (it was bad enough to own one) the newspapers were hidden in the magazine rack which unholy thing was hidden behind the sofa. My mother used to say that she'd never seen him move so swiftly. She, in her turn, was not a hypocrite, but found great mirth in watching the uncustomary rapid movements of C.G. (Charles George). Ahh, those were the days ...
Hilary, I must say you have a knack for writing: The description of Marseilles, in a few strokes, made a mental picture rise before my eyes, and your childhood memories made me smile. Maybe we are even relatives because my grandmother behaved in a similar way, i.e. switching off the TV when someone called on a Sunday. The bad thing, though, was that old TVs had this habit of making soft clicking noises when cooling down - but both my grandmother and her visitors pretended not to notice. It was a bit like in that brilliant film Friendly Persuasion where Gary Cooper plays a Quaker and he buys an harmonium, and then his neighbours come to see him, and his children play the harmonium next door ...
Tristram wrote: "Maybe we are even relatives because my grandmother behaved in a similar way, i.e. switching off the TV when someone called on a Sunday. ."At least you had a TV to switch off.
That's the next best thing to having no TV to switch on.
I grew up on fountain pens and love them. I have my favorite fountain pen sitting right in front of me at this very moment. Yes, it uses cartridges, and no, I never have a mess with it. Main problem is that if I don't use it almost every day (and since most of my writing is on the computer, except for note taking in my books, which is always done in pencil), the ink in the nib dries up and I need to use a damp scrap of paper to get it flowing again. Also, the cartridges don't last very long. But I am much fonder of writing with it than a sterile mass-produced ballpoint pen.