The Old Curiosity Club discussion
General Discussion
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Please Introduce Yourself
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Hi Everyone! I’m Andrew, from the frigid Southern USA, and I’m a huge fan of 18th and 19th century British lit. I’ve been a member of the group for quite a while, but never participated before—I always thought “Oh I’ll wait until they start the next book” and then promptly forgot. But I guess the stars aligned this time! My experience with Dickens started in college with “Bleak House”. I was an English major (though I wound up working in healthcare) and there was a two-semester Victorian Lit requirement. I wasn’t looking forward to it—my impression was tomes full of these minuscule plot developments which were dramatic and engrossing only if you happened to possess Victorian social mores....Fortunately, the class had a British History “lab” attached to it. The professor was wonderful, and as a result everything from Tom Jones to Sherlock Holmes suddenly became a lot more accessible and entertaining. To this day, I still enjoy reading about British history—and I LOVE early British detective stories!
Haven’t read Pickwick in quite a while, but it’s one of my favorite Dickenseses. I’m a sucker for a picaresque novel (maybe it’s from being such a fan of the “Wizard of Oz” books as a kid), and between this book and “Nicholas Nickleby” I’m in heaven. (Of course there’s an exception to every rule—I tried to like “Old Curiosity Shop,” I really did...)
Anyway, looking forward to Pickwick, and to some great conversations!
Welcome, Andrew. It's interesting to me how many Curiosities were drawn to Dickens after reading Bleak House, which wasn't among my first, but is probably my favorite. The lab you talk about sounds like a great tool. I so admire teachers and professors who know how to bring books/history alive for their students! I'd love to hear more about it. PS it's darn chilly here in the mid-Atlantic states, too! Brrrrrr!
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I consider Bleak House not just the greatest Dickens novel, but one of the best novels in the language! I would rank Our Mutual Friend second. I loved The Old Curiosity Shop. For some fantastic insights into that admittedly problematic novel, check out A.E. Dyson's critical study The Inimitable Dickens. Dyson is also highly appreciative of Barnaby Rudge, which I have yet to read.
Really, there is not a single Dickens book that I dislike. For example, I valued Hard Times for its spare, idiosyncratic character, which proves that Dickens was in complete control of his artistic effects. He chose a different style for that book and stuck to it.
I assisted (interned and ran lines with the actors) on a production of Hard Times in NYC, so I've read it in a sense, but just in bits. It worked well as a play.
Hello Andrew, I'm glad you decided to participate. Welcome!
Jess wrote: "I assisted (interned and ran lines with the actors) on a production of Hard Times in NYC, so I've read it in a sense, but just in bits. It worked well as a play."Hard Times is one of my favorites, would love to see a production of it one day!
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Kim wrote: "Welcome Andrew, we're glad to have you here. Thinking of you in the frigid South, my daughter hates winter, she hates being cold, I hate summer, I hate being hot, and the sun gives me migraines, so..."Well frigid is relative—I’m sure it’s balmy here by New England standards! I’d much rather deal with cold, though. You can always put on a sweater, but air conditioning can only do so much (although we’ve got some whoppers down here)
Patrick wrote: "I consider Bleak House not just the greatest Dickens novel, but one of the best novels in the language! I would rank Our Mutual Friend second. I loved The Old Curiosity Shop. For some fantastic i..."
I LOVE Our Mutual Friend. I think it has the best overall blend of early and late Dickens, and Headstone is such a wonderful villain. I love the scenes between Headstone and Wrayburn. Oddly—to most Dickens fans—I love Nicholas Nickleby almost as much; I’d probably rank it third! Even though Nicholas is sort of a blank slate, the book has such wonderful characters and scenes I don’t mind. The chapters with the Crummles acting troupe=pure brilliance
Mary Lou wrote: "Welcome, Andrew. It's interesting to me how many Curiosities were drawn to Dickens after reading Bleak House, which wasn't among my first, but is probably my favorite. The lab you talk about sounds..."Hi Mary Lou! Basically the lab met 1-2x/week for an hour or two. We were supposed to write down anything that confused us or that we didn’t understand about the readings for that week...and so we’d spend maybe half the time addressing those. For Bleak House, for example, none of us had any idea what a chancery court was, or why exactly it was so terrible, so we spent quite a while learning about that nightmare... the other part of the class would be a short lecture on some part of 18th-19th century England—the military, monarchy, crime and punishment and jail, etc.
For example, I remember one of the first labs was about high society—we learned about the differences b/w a duke, earl, viscount, etc., how the aristocracy got money (or didn’t), what servants did...I think we also learned about their leisure pursuits—fox hunting, gambling, secret affairs, and of course, long country house visits (those sounded rather wonderful to me, especially this time of year, though I’d likely have been very bored without a witty murder mystery going on)
We used as a resource a really wonderful book I’d recommend to anyone who reads a lot of Victorian fiction:
. Lots of examples from Victorian literature to explain the various concepts!
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Andrew wrote: "We used as a resource a really wonderful book I’d recommend to anyone who reads a lot of Victorian fiction: What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew From Fox Hunting to Whist—the Facts of Daily Life in 19th-Century England by Daniel Pool ...."I love the lab idea. There was so much that I missed or didn't understand when I read things for school. Had I had more inspired teachers, I might have gotten more from my lit. classes. As it is, reading with this group has often filled that void.
Coincidentally, I've had the Pool book on my bookshelf for some time, but I haven't cracked it open yet. Perhaps I should keep it close at hand as a companion book rather than waiting for an opportunity to read it cover to cover.
Andrew wrote: "Patrick wrote: "I consider Bleak House not just the greatest Dickens novel, but one of the best novels in the language! I would rank Our Mutual Friend second. I loved The Old Curiosity Shop. For ..."
For many decades, Our Mutual Friend was undervalued. I think that has been corrected now. It is a mesmerizing novel.
If I rank Little Dorrit just a smidge below Bleak House and Our Mutual Friend, it is because the plot is so complicated that I still have some trouble over the denouement. I recall that one edition - was it Penguin? - actually included a separate 3-page explanation of the ending for befuddled readers!
Patrick wrote: "I recall that one edition - was it Penguin? - actually included a separate 3-page explanation of the ending for befuddled readers! "I could have used that with "The Haunted Man"! I loved Little Dorrit, but I do remember that there were some plot points that were still confusing to me at the end. I very much look forward to reading it again, this time with the Curiosities.
Andrew wrote: "We used as a resource a really wonderful book I’d recommend to anyone who reads a lot of Victorian fiction: What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew From Fox Hunting to Whist—the Facts of Daily Life in 19th-Century England by Daniel Pool . Lots of examples from Victorian literature to explain the various concepts! "I have that book and read it maybe 2 or 3 years ago. I had gone years just picking up bits and puzzling them together over the norms of Victorian society while reading various novels. But this book was great in spelling everything out and I wished I had read it or something similar a long time ago.
Mary Lou wrote: "Coincidentally, I've had the Pool book on my bookshelf for some time, but I haven't cracked it open yet. Perhaps I should keep it close at hand as a companion book rather than waiting for an opportunity to read it cover to cover. "I enjoyed reading it cover to cover, Mary Lou. I keep meaning to have it out, though, when I need a money reference. I still can't keep straight the farthings, bobs, pence, and whatnot.
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When I was 11 I was sent for a year to an English boarding school while my mother studied in London. Let me tell you, before the decimal system took over in England, it was a nightmare for an American used to 100 cents in the dollar to try to add 3 pounds 4 shillings and fourpence hapenny to 1 pound 9 shillings and sixpence farthing and then divide that by three people sharing the cost.
Everyman wrote: "it was a nightmare for an American used to 100 cents in the dollar to try to add 3 pounds 4 shillings and fourpence hapenny to 1 pound 9 shillings and sixpence farthing and then divide that by three people sharing the cost."I can only imagine. Just reading this made my head hurt, and I'm generally a math person!
At least I have an easier time of it, being English! I well remember the imperial money system. My favourite was the threepenny (thru'pny) bit :) I liked farthings too, with a robin on the back, but they went out of circulation before I was born. I collected halfpennies for every year, and "bun" pennies (those with Queen Victoria's hair in a bun). My parents also remembered silver fourpenny coins. There was a silver sixpence, shilling and florin (two shillings) and half crown. The crowns (5 shillings) had stopped, and the pounds were notes, not coins as they now are in decimal. There was a guinea coin, which was worth (very oddly) one pound and one shilling. They were thought to be like high class pounds, and often luxury products would be priced in guineas, not pounds LOL!
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Yes, I love when in Victorian literature prices are quoted to the aristocracy in guineas rather than pounds.
I still have some of the older English coins from when I was over there. Probably not worth much these days, but are nice mementos of my time there.
Everyman wrote: "it was a nightmare for an American used to 100 cents in the dollar to try to add 3 pounds 4 shillings and fourpence hapenny to 1 pound 9 shillings and sixpence farthing and then divide that by three people sharing the cost. ..."Kim -- can you please simplify this for us? ;-)
Hi from Seattle. I read through almost all of Dickens in college and just after and loved it. Just for fun; I was a computer major. I hadn’t revisited Dickens until I found this group and followed the Our Mutual Friend read, although that was after it had finished. I learned a lot from the discussions, so I’m happy to be in synch for PP. I don’t remember any details becuase I last read PP 30+ years ago, so it should be new for me again!
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When I was 11 I was sent for a year to an English boarding school while my mother studied in London. Let me tel..."
It sounds like a glimpse into hell.
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Welcome Ali, you've joined us just in time!
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But then you'd definitely miss something! For instance, seeing the places so many wonderful novels had as their settings.
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But then you'd definitely miss something! For instance, seeing the places so many wonderful novels had as t..."
And if you have to pay to get into any of them, how am I supposed to figure out how to do it? Unless you or Jean meet me there.
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That's what credit cards are for. Hand over the little chunk of plastic and the seller will figure it all out for you. And the bill will come in US dollars, so that's all good!
HAHA Kim - that was all pure nostalgia. Now we are very boring and all metric with our money. It's almost as bad as having streets with numbers rather than interesting names. That must be so awful ... ;)
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Hello Ali
Welcome to the Curiosities. I see you are from Seattle. That makes it official. Washington State has more members of the Curiosities than anywhere else in the world. I’m just north of you in Victoria.
Please join in our discussions as we begin The Pickwick Papers.
Canadians obviously have good taste in their admiration of English writers ;)
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They would probably also use the d/m/y calendar, wouldn't they? Good taste often pervades all things in a person's life.
Absolutely old fellow, what, Tristram ;)
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I certainly agree that Canadians have good taste. As for reading day/month/year we are flexible, although I much prefer the European style.
:-))
Ali wrote: "Hi from Seattle. I read through almost all of Dickens in college and just after and loved it. Just for fun; I was a computer major. I hadn’t revisited Dickens until I found this group and followed ..."Hello Ali! Welcome. I'm looking forward to discussing PP with you :)
Hi everyone, I'm from Delhi, currently pursuing a PhD, Dickens is my all time favourite, I haven't read all the books of Dickens but a few and 'Great Expectations' is my favourite (the only book that I have read twice, I liked it so much). I may not be as active as others but I will try my best. Regards.
Imran wrote: "Hi everyone, I'm from Delhi, currently pursuing a PhD, Dickens is my all time favourite, I haven't read all the books of Dickens but a few and 'Great Expectations' is my favourite (the only book th..."Glad to have you with us Imran! I hope you'll join in as you can. The only thing better than reading Dickens is doing it with others who love him. :-)
definitely! there are few people left who read and try to understand Dickens(his works), I'm glad that there is a platform where one can connect with like minded people.
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Welcome. Please join in on our rambles as we enjoy reading The Pickwick Papers.
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Welcome Imran. You are right about there being few people left reading Dickens, around here there are few people who know who he is. :-)
Peter wrote: "ImranWelcome. Please join in on our rambles as we enjoy reading The Pickwick Papers."
I have Pickwick Papers I will also start reading it.
Hi all! My name is Sara, I'm from California, and I would have joined this group much sooner if I had known about it.My experience with reading Charles Dickens has been nearly a lifelong one. One of the first books I remember my father giving me was an abridged children's version of Great Expectations when I was in the first grade. I flew through that, which delighted him so much that he went out and bought me a copy of David Copperfield from the same series. Fast forward a few years to middle school and I read Great Expectations, unabridged, for the first time. After that, it was A Tale of Two Cities, Little Dorritt, The Old Curiosity Shop, and David Copperfield (unabridged) in fairly quick succession.
But it wasn't until high school, when I read Bleak House and The Pickwick Papers, that really solidified my love for Dickens, especially Bleak House, which is one of the greatest novels of the language.
Welcome Imran, Ali and Sara :) I hope you enjoy the group.
Welcome to all our new members. This group has been a true joy for me. I hope you will read along with us - I'm sure you'll enjoy the discussions as much as I do!
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My experience with reading Charles Dickens has been nearly a lifelong one. One..."
Welcome Pillsonista
Please join us as we follow the adventures of Mr Pickwick.
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You are joining this group at a good moment because we have just started reading Dickens's novels again. You can easily catch up on Pickwick, I'm sure, and I hope you are going to have fun joining in our discussions.
The Old Curiosity Club
Books mentioned in this topic
A Christmas Carol (other topics)A Christmas Carol (other topics)
The Pickwick Papers (other topics)
The Pickwick Papers (other topics)
Bleak House (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Charles Dickens (other topics)Bryan Kozlowski (other topics)
Thomas Hardy (other topics)
Thomas Hardy (other topics)
I am a former actress/theater critic/person who has read
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So glad to be back, Kris!