Charles Dickens is overrated

[George_Bonanza]

I thought I would love his books. When I was little, the cartoon versions of Dickens' stories were always my favourite. But now having read a few of his books, I can't see what the fuss is all about. I first read David Copperfield. Then I tried Great Expectations. Now I'm on Nicholas Nickleby. Of the three, I couldn't finish Great Expectations because it was too damn boring. David Copperfield and Nicholas Nickleby are both boring. Their stories are almost identical: Two young boys are cast into misfortune, and after bad experiences involving evil schoolmasters, some benevolant person saves them, they go on to prosperity, meet a girl, then live happily ever after. I haven't finished Nicholas Nickleby as of yet, but I'm getting close, and I reckon it's a happy ending. Often, I hear of Dickens' wonderful and funny characters. I couldn't care less for any of the characters, and they weren't funny. Just annoying or incoherent, like John Browdie, the Yorkshireman in NN. And my god, Dickens needs a course in grammar. I've often found sentences long as a paragraph, with many many many commas in it. And they're usually about useless things as well. I like to read books and envision an ongoing movie in my head. However, Dickens' books are longwinded yet they provide little imagery of the locations. Like it just says "a cottage," and no description of its surroundings or size, etc. Yet it'll spend two paragraphs going on and on about some trifling little brooch.

Argh, I think Dickens was perhaps entertaining for his time, but has lost favour with modern audiences, and for good reason too.

Some of my favourite classics are Les Miserables and Sense and Sensibility. Those are some great books.

[XanaDUer]

1. And he was a hippie!

:P

[Ivory_Tower]

3. LOL, ya beat me to it!

:)

[George_Bonanza]

4. A hippie?

I don't think so. He was pretty uptight about having to work as a labourer for a mere 4 months. Doesn't sound like a hippie to me. I also heard he was quite conservative/royalist.

[HEyHEY]

2. Let's not be hasty here

You have to be in the right mood, frame of mind etc...to enjoy Chuck, then it's awsome.

[MuseRider]

I am a reader

I read and have read a lot from a lot of different genres but I have never been able to enjoy Dickens either, but then I was a hippie when I had to read him so maybe that is why! (I am just kidding you I hope you know)

[tjdee]

5. He was paid by the word, so that's why they're so damn long, LOL.

IF I'm not mistaken, Dickens had much of his work as serials in magazines. So one week, one chapter (or something like that), not really meant to read all at once.

Interestingly, though, A Christmas Carol is one short little thing, and they've stretched it to 2 hour films!

I think that Dickens was the mag fellow, anyway...

I've always wondered how he would have done with a better editor. I tried to read Great Expectations after seeing the film, never made it, LOL. I've always adored A Tale of Two Cities though...maybe it's nostalgia.

[Nikia]

6. My English teacher said he was paid by the word

That could explain his long windedness. I want to read "Tale of Two Cities" again sometime. I read it on my own in junior high and think that I would get more out of it now.

[JohnKleeb]

10. Was your teacher's name Robinson

and was it a she, and was she from New York, and could be funny at times then lol we had the same english teacher. I am just joshing Nikia but my freshman english teacher told us the same thing, she was pretty cool,

[Nikia]

14. Nope

Maybe, they went to the same college or something though.

[librechik]

7. I adore Dickens

never found him boring--I've read Copperfield several times (once in Spanish!) and Bleak House is a favorite too--it could be a generational thing about liking him or not, after all the guy was writing 150 years ago and the language is dated indeed! He's rather ornate and Grand Guignolish in his plots, not crisp and historical like Tolstoy. Yes he was paid by the word, but I must say he gives good value for the expense!

[MuseRider]

9. Any hints about how

one might go about reading his work and enjoying it? I really have tried. It isn't his words or the length or the times. I just can't keep an interest. It may be I never will be able to but sometimes someone elses insight can lead you to it. I didn't used to like Faulkner until a boyfriend of mine explained him to me. After that I was able to read his work and I fell in love with it. Just thought I would ask.

[bleedingheart]

15. Another Dickens fan here!

But remember... beauty, art and literature are all in the eye of the beholder/reader.

Now Captain Underpants..one of my son's favorites...well that I can't get into...

[roughsatori]

20. I love Bleak House too

Not every writer is for every person. But to simply dismiss a writer of Dickens caliber because he does not appeal to one's "contemporary" taste is a huge mistake.

[MasonJar]

8. Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens' father was sent to debtor's prison when he was young. Many of his novels are great pleas for social reform, as Oliver Twist. Pickwick Papers is full of delightful Victorian characters; Tale of Two Cities is a highly symbolic book. David Copperfield is a masterpiece. But not everyone would be interested. I guess I just love British literature. I liked Pip and despised Lady Havisham. However, the greatest of all in my mind is Jane Austin. Have you tried Pride and Prejudice? Her words are like jewels of cleverness. As for Dickens, he did write for serials in a magazine, was paid by the word. He also needed to have something in each chapter to bring the reader back...hence the melodramatic aura. P>S> I'm not trying to be bossy; I am an English teacher with a major in British lit.

[George_Bonanza]

11. I seem to enjoy Dickens is short spurts

I recall a few moments, few and far in between, where I would be somewhat enthralled by Dickens. For example, a couple of days ago, I read Nicholas for almost 2 hours, and I liked it. However, since then, it's been a pretty boring ride. On the other hand, books like Les Miserables and Sense and Sensibility, I was ALWAYS in the mood for.

I think I need to break away from Dickens, for like five years =).

[stickdog]

12. "A Tale of Two Cities" ain't bad.

And at least "Oliver" has one plot Twist.

(sorry, couldn't resist)

[meegbear]

13. Niether is a Sale of Two Titties by Darles Chickens

[Ediacara]

16. Dickens IS overrated

He wrote serials for a magazine. Great Expectations was written as short articles over a period of a few years. The trick to keep readers interested was to re-introduce old characters in insane coincidences. This makes his books both boring in stupid, where the world is populated by less than 1000 people constantly running into eachother and acting like assholes. Although....... Miss Havashem is the funniest character I've ever come across in any book ever.

[mitchum]

17. Balzac kicked his pallid ass

[KoKo]

24. Balzac...compared to Dickens?

You've got to be kidding! I read Balzac and Dickens......No way they were two different birds.....not even birds.....apples and oranges..........?

Why did you post this? What's "your" comparison? Why?

[mitchum]

25. Anglophobia (sorta)

I was a literature major and always dreaded having to cover 19th century British lit, because it was, to me, just not a very good time and place for fiction . The French and Russians own that century.

[caledesi]

18. Never liked Dickens either. Took me years to finally admit it.

[DerekG]

19. Shouldn't liberals champion him, though...

More than perhaps any other writer, Dickens displayed a great sympathy for the poor, the neglected, the unloved. His stories have such a moral urgency to them.

[dofus]

21. How old are you?

This isn't intended as a put down, but as an observation. I suspect like a lot of younger (under thirty perhaps) readers, you're used to novels that have a lot more action, especially at the very beginning, than Charles Dickens is ever going to give you.

Another point: one reason Dickens remained so well regarded for so long a time is that he's in many ways a "modern" writer. Which is to say he's not giving as convoluted a sentence structure as most of his contemporaries. So His stuff reads more as if it had been written mid twentieth century, rather than mid nineteenth.

But if you don't like his stuff, don't waste your time on reading any more. There are too many good writers and good books out there to read ones that don't grab you. Other than what you're required to read for lit classes, that is.

[Cocoa]

22. I'm with you

I know people that absolutely love him, so I've tried many times, I simply don't like his books.

Like you said, I couldn't care less about the characters, I don't even like them.

As I'm reading, I see the things that are supposed to be amusing, but there's something about the "voice" of the writing that irritates me so much that I can't enjoy it.

[KoKo]

23. Well those of us who are worried about Jobs and the Economy better damn

well read Dickens.....because that was what he was about! Labor, and the misuse of it by unscrupulous, captalist employers. Maybe the language (in the age of MTV and simple soundbytes turns us off) but Dickens was ringing the alarm bell for laborers for a century before his time. He started the "meme" for the Labor Movement.

Cough Dickens down, put sugar in your medicine to get him down, or watch any of the British versions in miniseries form of his novels. If one is a Democrat with a big "D" then Dickens is your man!

No one described what could happen in a Bush America if that pice of shit is re-elected better than Charles Dickens......read him and weep......

Or, don't read him and get the "Cheat Sheets" about what he said......

[Shanty Oilish]

26. In your corner, G_B

I've read everything, and I can vouch for this, Dickens positively sucks waste. Mostly he's dated, and the modern mind can't relate to his characters or his style. It's not your fault.