Dickensians! discussion
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American Notes for General Circulation Vol. 2 (hosted by John)
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It does seem like he hit a figurative wall once he got as far south as the Potomac River. Slavery and the custom of spitting seems to have changed the dynamic and Charleston became an absolute no go. I also got the feeling that even Richmond was done begrudgingly. He could not wait to leave. Note this paragraph:The same decay and gloom that overhang the way by which it is approached, hover above the town of Richmond. There are pretty villas and cheerful houses in its streets, and Nature smiles upon the country round; but jostling its handsome residences, like slavery itself going hand in hand with many lofty virtues, are deplorable tenements, fences unrepaired, walls crumbling into ruinous heaps. Hinting gloomily at things below the surface, these, and many other tokens of the same description, force themselves upon the notice, and are remembered with depressing influence, when livelier features are forgotten.
Bionic Jean wrote: "John wrote: "a fellow writer, Irving should have understood that good writers are opinionated and observant. An honest book should be lauded and this is an honest book ..."Oh I completely agree, ..."
My feeling is that Dickens' American Notes being the source of a Dickens--Irving rift is probably exaggerated or may even be apocryphal, a product more of assumption than evidence. Irving was part of the Tyler Administration, was appointed Minister of Spain by Tyler, and set off for Spain right after hosting Dickens. Communication between the two faltered after that and there are the negative comments attributed to Irving, but without more solid details from the period, I think we should treat the story more for how it has been worked into legend and consider that like most legends, it is much more invention than fact. I believe there was a disconnect between Dickens and Tyler's proslavery party, which might account for Irving's words as he might be taking a party line or there might have been a slight of which we are not aware, but comments linked to Irving dropping the friendship over Dickens' criticism of America sound exaggerated and unrealistic. They could have been created by the press or, if actually made by Irving, made to generate publicity for himself and his own sagging sales. He did share the idea of copyright reform with Dickens and worked for that legislation in the States. My belief is that they probably lost touch occupied by their own duties.
I want to piggyback the comments on Dickens changing style in volume two of the book but wish to add that IMO, the key difference is that Dickens in changing from a simple record of the trip, is using his writing skills to write a more entertaining narrative, thus he is employing techniques used in his novels. The writing instead of being from a static wide shot perspective takes on a host of different perspectives, moves with the subject, zooms in on details, and Dickens seems very conscious of the reader in while he is writing, making sure to keep him emotionally engaged and usually through exaggeration, smiling. I don't know what has contributed to the change, but find this later work far more fit for finished publication.
Sam, I believe that is an excellent observation. One thing I noticed, but did not pick up on until your post, was that my Endnotes seem to have more references to Martin Chuzzlewit further along in the book. We know he used this trip as a basis for that book, but the increasing number of references in the Endnotes speak to formulating the novel — almost a practice run for his comedic and observational skills.
Regarding the editions of "American Notes", I obtained mine from our local library. It is the 1985 hardback edition printed in 1985 by St. Martin's Press:
On the copyright page, the publishers include a discussion of three versions published. The first was printed in two volumes in 1842; the "cheap edition" was printed in 1850, and the "Charles Dickens" edition was printed in 1868 [by this note, it sounds like only the original 1842 version was printed in two volumes]. The edition I'm reading is based on an 1892 publication which is essentially the same as the 1868 edition. There is much more detail, and I will be glad to type it in if there is a possibility this will help the discussion.
The edition I'm reading also includes a Preface and an Introduction which I read but did not understand the significance of until we started reading Dickens' dissatisfaction with the States. The publisher's note states: Additions to the preface are taken from the "cheap edition". The dedication is found only in the first two editions. The withdrawn motto and the "Introductory" are taken from Forster's Life of Dickens. I went back through our first thread, but did not see where we discussed the Preface and Introduction (as they are obviously not part of the actual narrative). It really adds to the understanding of Dickens' travelogue. But I'm guessing that the Preface and Introduction are not present in all of the editions we are reading?
Regarding two volumes vs. one volume: In the edition I'm reading, at the end of Chapter 8, the publishers added the following note in italics "End of volume I of the two-volume edition." The next chapter is labeled Chapter IX.
I'm beginning to appreciate St. Martin's Press edition. It appears to be a quite thoughtful publication.
Thanks for sharing that, Shirley. My Penguin Classics edition has no preface by Dickens. I have an Introduction by Patricia Ingham, a Victorian scholar, and a brief page of suggestions for further reading. We then go right into Volume One, Chapter The First.I chose Penguin Classics because they are a favorite of mine for book reading. My overall favorite is anything that Norton puts out, but I do not think a Norton was available.
I hope I am able to attach the link I found online to the two prefaces that Dickens wrote: the first one in the 1850 "cheap edition" and the second in the 1868 "Charles Dickens" edition.https://studylib.net/doc/7438748/amer....
The St. Martin's Press edition uses the 1868 version, but includes passages from the 1850 edition in a footnote.
Shirley (stampartiste) wrote: "I hope I am able to attach the link I found online to the two prefaces that Dickens wrote: the first one in the 1850 "cheap edition" and the second in the 1868 "Charles Dickens" edition.https://s..."
Ah, now I see what my edition has done. They made that 1850 introduction into Appendix 2. I never realized these publishing houses handled things so differently for this book.
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I have take these details from the Penguin edition of 1973, which I linked to before. It seems extraordinary that Penguin then chose to miss them out for their latest edition, from what you were saying John! The only reason that I can see for this, is that as Shirley deduced, the only edition which used 2 Dickens's preferred 2 volumes was the original 1842 one, which predated any preface. Indeed the prefaces are both responses to the readers' reaction.
So your edition is trying to preserve the original text , thinking perhaps to make it more authentic. But since it also includes an introduction by a scholar (as do mine) and is annotated, logically we would expect it to include the prefaces too, for completion!
I too l looked unsuccessfully for a Norton edition. Even though I am English (the home of Oxford and Penguin) I agree they are the best!
EDIT - crossposted - Oh I see you have located one preface in an appendix, John. Yet the earlier Penguin with both prefaces also has 3 Appendixes! What a mystery awaits us ...
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I was amazed to be loaned such an old copy! But evidently it is not very popular here, despite this being the author's own country. Perhaps it is because we English struggle with the locations. I've been very grateful to have the support of this group to try to "fix" (there's a good American word for you, I learned in ch 9 😆!) where I am.
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I am relieved that Charles Dickens has recaptured his equanimity and bonhomie of the first chapter, and yet is still managing to put in honest criticism of the status quo where he feels it is needed.
I had not known that native Americans of this era signed with pictograms of their totems. I found the entire passage profoundly moving, and more modern in outlook than I had expected. This quotation from near the end of chapter 9 (vol 2 ch 1) really tugged at my heartstrings:
"Nor could I help bestowing many sorrowful thoughts upon the simple warriors whose hands and hearts were set there, in all truth and honesty; and who only learned in course of time from white men how to break their faith, and quibble out of forms and bonds. I wonder, too, how many times the credulous Big Turtle, or trusting Little Hatchet, had put his mark to treaties which were falsely read to him; and had signed away, he knew not what, until it went and cast him loose upon the new possessors of the land, a savage indeed."
I liked Dickens's reattribution, Who, indeed, was the "savage"?
Jean and John, I'm wondering if the "Introductory, and Necessary to Be Read" section that follows the Preface is one of the Appendices in the Penguin editions you both own. Following the Introductory, there is this note, presumably by St. Martin's Press:Dickens withdrew this "Introductory" ten days before the publication of the first edition. Forster, Dickens' biographer, offers the following account: "On 10 October I heard from him that the chapter intended to be introductory to the Notes was written, and waiting for our conference whether or not it should be printed. We decided against it; on his part so reluctantly, that I had to undertake for its publication when a more fitting time should come. This in my judgment has arrived..."As I mentioned earlier, St. Martin's Press stated on the copyright page that the "Introductory" was taken from Forster's Life of Dickens.
Just to see if someone in our discussion can check to see if the "Introductory" is indeed one of the Appendices in a Penguin edition, I am providing the first paragraph of the Introductory below:
I have placed the foregoing title at the head of this page, because I challenge and deny the right of any person to pass judgment on this book, or to arrive at any reasonable conclusion in reference to it, without first being at the trouble of becoming acquainted with its design and purpose.The final paragraph of the Introductory is as follows:
I may be asked--"If you have been in any respect disappointed in America, and are assured beforehand that the expression of your disappointment will give offense to any class, why do you write it at all?"I am sorry this Introductory is not included in all editions because it is certainly controversial and worthy of discussion.
I find this so fascinating. The publishing history seems awkward, for lack of a better word. I decided to go back to my Barnes & Noble Nook app and found that there are 41 different e book editions of American Notes available for purchase. I think they start at one dollar and go up to about ten dollars.
Thanks to John for telling us about Putnam's article in the Atlantic in 1870, and to Sam for the information on retrieving it. I downloaded the two PDFs and then enlarged them for easier reading. They provide a somewhat different perspective on Dickens' trip. Putnam makes positive comments about Kate's looks and demeanor and appears to answer the question as to whether Dickens was depressed. The constant press of people was tiring, but Dickens seems to handle situations well and was generally agreeable.
While reading Notes, I was curious as to how Dickens knew where to go and what to do in the US. Now I realize that those he met were more than willing to offer suggestions and guide him.
Although it seems we all have diverse editions of this book, I have found the Endnotes in mine to be a big help. Each chapter seems to have 15-20 Endnotes with various kinds of information. The first time I read American Notes I did not pay much attention to the Endnotes. I am glad I did this time and my hope is your editions have something similar.
Such excellent ideas and discussion is occurring. ‘American Notes’ is indeed much more than a simple travelogue. It is perhaps, a good time to introduce what Dickens was saying in his private letters to friends in England. As early as 12 March he wrote of America ‘I shall be truly glad to leave it, though I have formed a perfect attachment to many people here.’
To his good friend William Macready he wrote ‘This is not the Republic I came to see. This is not the Republic of my imagination.’
Peter wrote: "Such excellent ideas and discussion is occurring. ‘American Notes’ is indeed much more than a simple travelogue. It is perhaps, a good time to introduce what Dickens was saying in his private lette..."This is interesting, Peter. I wonder what the Republic of his imagination was? I’ve not really read anything anywhere that would enlighten us as to what he was expecting. For the most part, I believe this book, up to this point certainly, is an honest travelogue that offers compliments and imperfections and also criticisms.
I tend to believe, without knowing for sure, is that he was so lauded here during his visit that there was a great letdown to many when he offered an honest appraisal. It was as if they expected the book to be some sort of fluff piece about how wonderful every minute was. Perhaps American Notes suffers from not what was offered, but what was expected.
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It is indeed printed in full in the Penguin edition from 1973, and as you suspect is an appendix : the first one called "Dickens' Discarded Introduction". It begins with part of Forster's bio - probably the same as yours - to explain what had happened.
I look forward to discussing this when we get there, along with all the controversy.
Peter which edition are you reading, please? Or are you reading several at once, like me?
Bionic Jean wrote: "Shirley (stampartiste) wrote: "Jean and John, I'm wondering if the "Introductory, and Necessary to Be Read" section that follows the Preface is one of the Appendices in the Penguin editions you bot..."Jean
I am reading the most recent Penguin edition of ‘American Notes.’ The letters I am referring to are found in The Pilgrim Edition of the ‘Letters of Charles Dickens’ Vol Three 1842-43. Edited by Madeline House, Graham Story and Kathleen Tillotson.
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VOLUME TWOChapter The Third (Or Chapter Eleven)
From Pittsburgh to Cincinnati in a Western Steamboat. Cincinnati.
Dickens boards The Messenger on the Ohio River to sail to Cincinnati. He finds his tiny state room to be satisfactory because it is near the back of the boat because he had heard when these boats blow up, it is usually near the front.
He finds The Messenger unlike any ship he has seen. "No mast, cordage, tackle, rigging or other boat like gear," he writes. Nonetheless, the staterooms have glass doors and windows and thus feel more open and airy, to his satisfaction.
He does remark here, though, that he finds "American customs with reference to to the means of personal cleanliness and wholesome ablutions, are extremely negligent and filthy; and I strongly incline to the belief that a considerable amount of illness is referable to this cause."
He finds dinner to be wide ranging, but the portions or plates are small. There is nothing on the tables to drink except jugs of cold water. Nobody talks much. Joyless meals seem to be the norm on The Messenger. He also notes no diversity of character and everyone seems alike. The descriptions here seem rather irritable for what seems to be a pleasant boat ride.
He finds Cincinnati a beautiful city. "I have not often seen a place that commends itself so favorably and pleasantly to a stranger a the first glance as this does: with its clean houses of red and white, its well-paved roads and footways of bright tile."
Dickens notes that there is a Temperance Convention underway and describes its attendees. He was pleased to see Irishmen in attendance with their green scarves. He also notes that Cincinnati is honorably famous for its free schools and partakes in a class with boys and one with girls. He is glad the girls are being taught to read, but feels what is offered to them is a dry compilation with dreary passages. Dickens ends this chapter in a complementary mood about Cincinnati.
I have been to Cincinnati and found it to be nice. It sits on a U-shaped bend of the Ohio River, which seems such a peaceful river. If you cross one of the bridges — I remember it was painted a bright yellow — you are in Covington, Kentucky. From Covington, you see a very pretty city on a bluff with paddle boats on the Ohio going by. So, from my memory of the city, I can see why Dickens liked it. An interesting tidbit: the Cincinnati International Airport is not in Cincinnati. It is not even in Ohio. It is across the river in Kentucky.
This link has a picture and description of The Messenger. It is a fairly standard paddle boat, or steamboat, of that era, but was new to Dickens. Also some other nice pictures.https://gypsyroadtrip.com/2016/10/28/...
John wrote: "VOLUME TWOChapter The Third (Or Chapter Ten)
From Pittsburgh to Cincinnati in a Western Steamboat. Cincinnati.
Dickens boards The Messenger on the Ohio River to sail to Cincinnati. He finds his ..."
I would imagine that one reason Dickens found his fellow passengers to be a rather quiet and perhaps even boring collection of people is the fact that probably few of the passengers knew each other. It is never a bad idea to be a bit quiet until you get a feeling for your company, especially if you are not a resident of the country you are travelling in.
Perhaps some of the other passengers knew of Dickens, thus knew his importance and stature, and were unsure how to act.
I think the main reason for Dickens’s comments and feelings is Dickens himself. By 1843 Dickens was one of the most popular men in England. He associated with writers, actors, politicians, philanthropists, and a public who recognized and respected him. He was in his element, his country, and his milieu when he lived in England. This is his first time in America and while he is known and has been integrating with is hosts and people in Boston and New York and seen the President of the United States, he is now on a riverboat, away from much of the limelight and hype.
Think of ourselves when we are ‘out of our element.’ Before we learn how to fit in we are always in the process of looking in.
It does strike me that perhaps he was expecting too much of people on such a short river journey. It appears they were on the steamboat only two days, maybe three. This is transient travel. It would be difficult to get to know others. His comments on the boat are decidedly different from on land. Maybe he was just getting tired of water journeys. Note what he wrote on land:The society with which I mingled, was intelligent, courteous, and agreeable. The inhabitants of Cincinnati are proud of their city as one of the most interesting in America: and with good reason: for beautiful and thriving as it is now, and containing, as it does, a population of fifty thousand souls, but two-and-fifty years have passed away since the ground on which it stands (bought at that time for a few dollars) was a wild wood, and its citizens were but a handful of dwellers in scattered log huts upon the river's shore.
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John, I enjoyed your Ohio River and Dickens link. Dickens' good spirits seem to have returned when he reached Cincinnati. These last few chapters emphasize how dangerous and uncomfortable travel was to the frontier states.It took a lot of courage for a family to start their life again in the frontier. Dickens paints quite a picture in words when he tells about the family, with grandma in her chair, looking at the boat pulling away from shore. They are starting with nothing but hope in their hearts.
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I have never read any pioneer fiction, or biographies, and I'm sure they are full of stories of courage and tenacity. But what a bleak landscape we are presented with here, where the personification emphasises the grotesqueness:
"And still there is the same, eternal foreground. The river has washed away its banks, and stately trees have fallen down into the stream. Some have been there so long, that they are mere dry, grizzly skeletons. Some have just toppled over, and having earth yet about their roots, are bathing their green heads in the river, and putting forth new shoots and branches. Some are almost sliding down, as you look at them. And some were drowned so long ago, that their bleached arms start out from the middle of the current, and seem to try to grasp the boat, and drag it under water."
Wow! Then he personifies the steamboat: an unwieldy machine as "hoarse and sullen" and talks of the burial mound of dead "Indians" (sic). Charles Dickens hates the destruction of the primeval forests, presenting us with a picture of indiscriminate felling and burning of trees, the "noble works [tree stumps] wasting away so awfully alone".
And again, as in the previous chapter 10 (vol II ch 2), Charles Dickens lays the blame firmly with the arrival of Europeans, whilst continuing his personification:
"The very river, as though it shared one’s feelings of compassion for the extinct tribes who lived so pleasantly here, in their blessed ignorance of white existence, hundreds of years ago, steals out of its way to ripple near this mound".
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If we examine the writing we can see that at no point does Charles Dickens criticise individual pioneers. Quite the reverse, as with the family Connie mentioned. Here, with this detail, we get an impression of despair emanating from them, as if they now embodied the desolation of the landscape. It has immediately transferred itself to them too. They will need great courage to survive.
As I read this chapter, I'm remembering the novel which came out of these experiences. Peter hinted at it, and I think you will know from these descriptions whether it is safe to unclick this: (view spoiler) Here, as there, no blame is laid on hardworking individuals trying to forge a new life, but partly on the culture and mostly on the system, which allowed unregulated destruction of native peoples and the habitat they lived with in such harmony.
That's what I take from this chapter, anyway. Along with the horrifying chapter about the penitentiary, there's some marvellous writing here: some of the best so far, I think. Charles Dickens is passionate in his views, but heightens the descriptions for us, so that we want to read on.
It then finishes with a much-needed lightness of touch and humour: a bright and breezy description of Cincinnati, which as John said, he really likes. Charles Dickens was also quite restrained about the Temperance movement, which he was hardly in favour of back home. Perhaps he did not want to divert from the main thrust of his criticism here.
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Bionic Jean wrote: "I intend to ask about the previous chapter, when the "brown forester" was complaining about premium and express passengers being bundled together on the boat, what on earth does "Down Easters and J..."Both are expressions for people from New England. At the time, they may have been pejorative, but perhaps not. Johnny Cakes are also a corn meal cake popular in New England.
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In current times, Down-Easter has an especially strong Maine connotation although it may have included all of the northeast in Dickens' time.
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My niece (husband's side) married a New Jerseyan and now lives there. Is she a Down-Easter?
Bionic Jean wrote: "I'm going to have to study the maps again ...My niece (husband's side) married a New Jerseyan and now lives there. Is she a Down-Easter?"
As a former New Jerseyan myself, Down- Easter would not apply to those of us from New Jersey. As Connie pointed out, Down-Easter has a strong Maine connotation and possibly other New England states. New Jersey gets the Mid-Atlantic state appellation.
A comment up to this point: I do think the schedule and itinerary for this trip was just too ambitious and exhausting. Even today, with interstate highways and rail, this is a lot of mileage to travel. Imagine the discomfort on just your back riding bumpy carriages over dirt roads. I think this may have a lot to do with his moods and how those moods impacted his interaction with others and the actual writing he did.
Still a little behind (busy month!), but I made it through Chapter 10 and laughed a lot. I especially enjoyed Dickens's description of rolling into the shelf-bed on the boat, and then worrying that the bed above him will collapse under its heavy occupant, and that will be the end of Dickens. My family may be glad when I am done with this book because I keep making them stop what they're doing and listen to me read them parts of it. Or who knows, maybe they will miss it.
Julie wrote: "Still a little behind (busy month!), but I made it through Chapter 10 and laughed a lot. I especially enjoyed Dickens's description of rolling into the shelf-bed on the boat, and then worrying that..."That was so funny. I was reminded of Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail. He has to sleep one night in a decrepit hiking lodge and the beds are the same way and he hears the one above him, made of pine wood and jutting out from the wall, cracking all night and wonders if this is how his end is written.
John wrote: "He finds Cincinnati a beautiful city. "I have not often seen a place that commends itself so favorably and pleasantly to a stranger a the first glance as this does: with its clean houses of red and white, its well-paved roads and footways of bright tile."He seems to like cities--Boston, Cincinnati--whenever he visits them right after he's gotten off a boat. He was pretty positive on that Barnum Hotel right after he got off a boat, as well. I don't think Dickens likes boats.
Bionic Jean wrote: "Here, as there, no blame is laid on hardworking individuals trying to forge a new life, but partly on the culture and mostly on the system, which allowed unregulated destruction of native peoples and the habitat they lived with in such harmony."It seems to be on his mind a lot. Things were changing so fast, and with so much destruction. That's fun for Dickens when it's a bustling Cincinnati sprouting out of a wood in 50 years, but less fun when he's looking out from the river at a wood burning down.
When I got to the burning wood, I wasn't sure whether I was reading properly. I couldn't understand why a wood would be burning. But I asked my husband, who studies agriculture, whether they would have been burning to clear land for farming, and he said yes--and further, that Dickens got it right about the forest coming back, at least in some places. Settlers would burn the woods so they could farm the land, but when they heard there was better soil in the Midwest, they packed up and left the woods to regrow.
Chapter 11 (from Pittsburg to Cincinnati);I can't begin to say how much I loved this chapter because Dickens witnessed first-hand, from a clueless perspective, a small part of the westward migration at this point in time in America. I love history, but particularly I love to read of the courage of these early settlers who left the comforts of home as a result of the Panic of 1837 and the years' long depression that followed. The people that Dickens encountered on that steamboat were these people. And I found it fascinating to read Dickens' descriptions, as I've never read a description of these immigrants from a contemporary foreign source. I don't think Dickens completely understood the reasons behind the behavior of the people on board ship - their moroseness, their detachment, their lack of hygiene. Theirs was no longer a life of niceties, of frivolities. Theirs was a life of daily survival in a hostile world.
That scene on the riverbank that Connie and others also were touched by really affected me as well. I could see that old woman in her rocker, so disoriented by the fate of her life - giving up family, friends, comfort of home - to follow her son or daughter into the wilderness. I doubt it was her choice. But how touching that they did manage to bring her rocking chair, a memento of what she left behind. Such a sad, tragic scene! I'm so glad Dickens let the scene play out for us!
By Dickens' reaction to Cincinnati, I finally realized that Dickens was a city bred man and was really only happy in that element. The wilderness was definitely not for him! ☺️
David McCullough wrote an excellent book on the settlement of the Ohio River, particularly the town of Marietta, located on the banks of the Ohio River between Pittsburg and Cincinnati: The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West.
Conrad Richter won a Pulitzer Prize for one of his novels on the settlement of Ohio, The Awakening Land: The Trees, The Fields, & The Town. These were some of the most poignant novels I have ever read. They all center around one young family, as it sets out into a forest so thick they barely can see the sun, eventually clearing a little land to farm, and as more settlers arrive, build a proper town. I can see Dickens' descriptions in these books. This was also fascinating.
And lastly, I wanted to share a real-life episode of what Dickens describes about the dangers of steamboats. In reading Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi last year, he talked of the devastating loss of his younger brother Henry in a steamboat explosion. Twain was a river pilot on the Mississippi River, and his younger brother worked on another steamboat at the same time. I was able to find this article about Henry Clemens' accident which includes a drawing of the steamboat accident.
http://www.twainquotes.com/Steamboats...
I'm sorry for being so long-winded. This chapter covered so much of the American experience, and I thought I would share some side information in case anybody else likes going down rabbit holes. LOL
Excellent Shirley. I am going through the links. I have to read McCullough’s book, as I have enjoyed others by him. One of his books that seems to get less notoriety than his others, but is an excellent story is: The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris.
I totally agree about The Greater Journey, John. I loved that book when I read it, and I still think about it so often. There is so much valuable, and so highly fascinating, information in that book. It could have been several. I loved every topic he discussed. I particularly loved his treatise on sculptors. So much work and imagination - and engineering - to build one statue! People really need to be taught these things! I’m glad you enjoy him too. We lost a treasure when he passed away!
I was looking for a picture of 1840s Cincinnati and came across the history of the Cincinnati Riots of 1841. By 1840, Cincinnati had grown from a frontier settlement to the sixth largest city in the US. It was a crowded city of contrasts, with prosperous neighborhoods and squalid, violent slums inhabited by immigrants from Europe and black migrants from the South who were drawn there by economic opportunities.
The link below does provide an image of Cincinnati and the story of these riots. They occurred only months before Dickens’ visit.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinci...
Shirley (stampartiste) wrote: "Chapter 11 (from Pittsburg to Cincinnati);I can't begin to say how much I loved this chapter because Dickens witnessed first-hand, from a clueless perspective, a small part of the westward migrat..."
Thanks Shirley
I did not know this information about Twain’s brother. Much appreciated.
I've not yet read chapter 11, but would like to interject a few comments before moving on. Just to add to the confusion about editions, volumes, etc., my copy is from a set of complete works, published in 1900. It is volume 27, and shares space with "reprinted pieces". Within the volume, American Notes is only divided by chapters, going from 8 to 9. Its preface is the conciliatory version.
Re: the change in tone, perhaps his contemporary readers, like me, found the earlier chapters becoming a bit too serious, and were tiring of prisons and asylums, interesting as it may have been in small doses.
As an American, it's a bit of a generalization, but I'd venture to say that while many of my countrymen are happy to gripe about our own homeland, we take a dim view of foreigners' criticisms. Especially high-profile criticisms by celebrities.
I can't help but notice the great number of people we've met with the names of George and/or Washington. 43 years after George Washington's death, he was still America's great hero.
Finally, if anyone can enlighten me as to how Charles and Catherine packed for this trip, I'd be fascinated. I love the quotidian stuff, and when I hear about the length of the trip, the crowded conditions on the coaches, ships, etc., along with things like Charles sitting on top of a coach in a freezing downpour, I wonder how many changes of clothes, etc. they could bring with them. How on Earth did they have room for Catherine's dresses, petticoats, etc.? How many did she have? Even without the spitting, things must have been mighty stinky and uncomfortable.
Finally... did Charles have a travel desk? I've seen some 19th century lap desks, but not, that I can recall, one owned by Dickens. It seems like something he would have had, and yet that would just be one more bulky item he'd have to lug from place to place.
I'm looking forward to Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.
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Shirley said "I don't think Dickens completely understood the reasons behind the behavior of the people on board ship - their moroseness, their detachment, their lack of hygiene. Theirs was no longer a life of niceties, of frivolities. Theirs was a life of daily survival in a hostile world."
This is such a fantastic insight, Shirley.
"I found it fascinating to read Dickens' descriptions, as I've never read a description of these immigrants from a contemporary foreign source."
And Dickens's reaction was mine too. As I said earlier, I have not read anything about pioneers, and I was finding it difficult to see why they were so morose. But then I have been surprised that so much of what Charles Dickens describes is life on steamboats - and is to continue through the next chapter!
I think you are absolutely right that he had not taken account of the simple fact that they were worn down, and that he was after all, observing as a traveller, for whom the conditions were temporary. He is out of his milieu. When he visits, prisons, schools, parliament and and so on, he has a comparable one at home in England to compare it with. He keep his facility for judgement. But on steamboats ... we just do not have anything like that! So he is operating in a vacuum, with the only comparison being with others who travel for leisure, or education - not their very survival.
Charles Dickens has plenty of compassion for the homeless and indigent poor or imprisoned in London. These he knows well, and can empathise with their misery. There, but for "the grace of God", or luck, go I. But the emigrants are alien to Charles Dickens, and like me, he finds it finds it difficult to get a handle on it.
John - His itinerary here makes me think of his later itinerary in his 1868 trip, when he was basically too weak to travel, and slowly killing himself. Ditto the insanity of his reading tours. It reveals his obsessive side, I think. Peter remarked earlier that it might be good to read this trip from Catherine's maid's point of view.
Mary Lou - Or Catherine's!
You probably remember seeing Dickens's desk in Doughty St - not the huge one transferred from a later home, but a reading desk - or what we would call a lectern. I'm trying to remember a portable writing desk there 🤔
I'll post a slightly later illustration to chapter 11 (vol II ch 3) in the next post
Dickensians!
Books mentioned in this topic
The Fraud (other topics)A Passage to India (other topics)
Dickens and Empire: Discourses of Class, Race and Colonialism in the Works of Charles Dickens (other topics)
Dickens and the Children of Empire (other topics)
Walking to Samarkand: The Great Silk Road from Persia to Central Asia (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Charles Dickens (other topics)Zadie Smith (other topics)
Charles Dickens (other topics)
Grace Moore (other topics)
Wendy S. Jacobson (other topics)
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Oh I completely agree, the dislike seems extraordinary to us now. And especially as you say, from a friend and fellow writer. Perhaps Washington Irving was extra touchy.
There is an excellent essay by Arnold Goldman (the then Reader in English and American Studies at Sussex university, and formerly Manchester university and Smith College in Massachusetts) in my Penguin edition from 1973. It goes into details and examples of the strength of feeling between the US and Britain, captured by writers of the time, and the various prejudices on each side.
Here's a bit from the blurb - but please don't shoot the messenger!
"On the whole, the young and liberal minded Dickens did not like what he saw, and it has been argued that Dickens himself took a right-ward turn after his experience of the New World. Americans were still hyper-sensitive to any criticism of their country and its institutions and American Notes for General Circulation did not find much favour there."
Yet so many passages, both prefaces and the dedication are full of praise!