Oliver Twist: Week 09 - Book 3: Chapters I - IV

[Loretta]

Please discuss below.

[Zulfiya]

I am nearly done with this portion - I will have one chapter to finish, but I did really enjoy the matrimonial mishaps in the Bumble family: she is malicious, devious, and rumbustious, and he is a a hilarious henpecked pushover:-) well, at least as a husband. I could not help smiling when I was reading this chapter.

[Robin P, Moderator]

They are great comic foils, Bumble deserves everything he gets. It's wonderful that Dickens didn't reject his skills at comedy even while telling a serious story. I was thinking about some of our comments on the structure of the book and the flatness of some characters, and I thought it's good to remember that this is Dickens' first actual novel. Pickwick was more a series of vignettes or short stories strung together.

[Zulfiya]

Thank you, Robin, for many things. First, your posts are always insightful and original. Second, you made me read my morning post again, and I spotted flagrant typos. And finally, after your post, I wholeheartedly understand when literary critics call Dickens the biggest humanist of the XIX century in British literature - he eagerly showed foibles in people and also had a decent share of those foibles himself (like plot inconsistencies or minor flat characters), but his sharp observation skills with his genius of character sketches are truly superb and unsurpassed, and that what makes him a true humanist. He is not perfect, but brilliant nonetheless.

[MadgeUK]

Dickens also made a good living on the stage acting out his comic, and not so comic, characters and there are a couple of actors still doing that today.

This is a series by Simon Callow portraying Dickens' life and some of his characters:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0Vskp...

And here is celebrated character actress Miriam Margoyles giving a master class:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPuqPL...

Unfortunately, I can't find anything of Miriam Margoyles in costume or from her actual show, which is excellent if you can catch it.)

[Joyce]

MadgeUK wrote: "Dickens also made a good living on the stage acting out his comic, and not so comic, characters and there are a couple of actors still doing that today.

Thanks so much for mentioning that Dickens had performed as an actor. I never knew that. I had noticed while reading Oliver that many scenes had a theatrical quality. Sometimes it was as if I were reading a play not a novel. Interesting!

[Zulfiya]

There is an excellent book by Peter Acroyd Dickens. It is a very thorough account of his life, but it is also an exciting read.
There is also a mesmerizing fictional tale of Dickens and his life told by W. Collins in the book Drood. Both books contain interesting passages and accounts about Dickens as an actor.

[MadgeUK]

Yes the Peter Ackroyd biog is very good and Claire Tomalin has just written one too, which should be excellent, judging by her other literary biographies.

[Robin P, Moderator]

It's not just theatrical. I kept thinking that elements of the story were very cinematic, for example the last time we see Bill Sykes. (or the attempted robbery where Oliver is shot) A stage is too small to contain the action as Dickens describes it.

[Jenn]

Sykes kills Nancy? That might be a spoiler for a later part than we are discussing since I have read this section and Nancy was still alive at the end of it.

[Zulfiya]

Jenn wrote: "Sykes kills Nancy? That might be a spoiler for a later part than we are discussing since I have read this section and Nancy was still alive at the end of it."

I screwed up, Jenn. The previous part was about theatrical moments in the novel, so I posted a small fact about Dickens and his interest to read in theaters this particular episode (and he was a good public reader). Besides, my edition does not have any books in it - just 52 chapters, so I approximate when I read. I once tried to recalculate the chapters, but it did not work well for me because I lost the scrap of paper with the schedule fitting my book. I deleted my post, but the damage has already been done. Oh, well, I apologize profusely.