I finished reading Charles Dickens’s Our Mutual Friend just the other week or so (the roughly 900-page tome). There is something to be said for sitting down and plowing through an actual book book, something thick and weighty. You can feel the heft of the book. You can flip the pages, fanning them, smelling that good old paper smell (only true bibliophiles can really understand and appreciate this). One plus is that you can actually see how far along you are in your reading progress relative to the whole of the thing. Sure, you can get a page count or percentage on a digital device . . . It’s not quite the same, however. There is something refreshing about doing things the old-fashioned way every once in a while. Can I call this “Unplugged?” It’s just you in a comfortable reading chair, with a good lamp beside you and the book in your hands. It’s a cold winter day out, but you are cozy and warm as you flip those pages. Soon enough you are absorbed in the story, your eyes are moving along the lines of words on the page and your mind is suddenly back in Victorian era London . . .
Perhaps my picking up this book has to do with my just having come off a serious cold. I had downed Nyquil and slept for several days. So I was now wide awake and feeling better, or at least on the upswing. When I was a teenager, home sick from school, I always read Sherlock Holmes stories or dived into a Dickens novel. The real books. Nothing digital back then except the shiny new Sears watch I had gotten for Christmas, where I could watch the time roll along like an odometer on the car.
In any case, there I was (reading a real book, just like old times) . . . and, well . . . I began to wonder if anyone today, however good the overall story, would take the time to wade through several pages of a description of how the button on someone’s overcoat was hanging in a perfect position, not too loose as to give someone the impression that the person in the coat was down and out. Nor was the button too tight and new, etc. And perhaps that would upset the world in a different way, causing other trials and tribulations in the character’s life . . . (Seems as though I remember a passage such as this in Our Mutual Friend).
Dickens always had a way of hitting all sides of an issue. I can’t help thinking of the first few lines of A Tale of Two Cities: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness . . .” My older brother would break into quoting these lines at odd times, and then veer off into his own sarcastic rendition of the passage, trying for humor.
And then, getting back to Our Mutual Friend, there were the Veneerings and the societal dinner parties, etc. Pages and pages of general commentary on the banality of London high society. With a few exceptions, these characters were cardboard props, hardly anyone the reader could possibly care about, each character trying to outwit the other. All of this just manufactured by the author as a way to make a point regarding money and society. The Lammel’s spiteful games and shenanigans were a little interesting, at times. Overall, however, the point could have been made with shorter descriptions. The satirical prose was essential Dickens, no question about that. But my question remains, would anyone read through it all today (without being forced to read through it due to a class)?
In today’s world, the pacing of a novel is quick and to the point. It is a wonder we as readers don’t get whiplash, being thrown from one scene to the next at breakneck speed. Sometimes this is fun and just what we are in the mood for, a book you can zip right on through. There are many books like this out there these days. One such book that comes to mind right off (though it is a few years old) is Gone Girl. That story was a perfectly well written story for today’s world, fast-paced and pointed. From what I remember, the prose was clean and sharp. It worked.
Could Dickens do that? Could he pull off a fast-paced suspense thriller?
I’m thinking probably—if he absolutely had to do it. But would he enjoy it, writing that way?
Again, I’m thinking Yes! Though we will never know for sure (how could we?); but we can read Dickens’s works and tell that he was a passionate writer, as his enjoyment shines through the prose. An example that illustrates this enjoyment is in the following scene with Bella Wilfer and Lizzie Hexam from Our Mutual Friend.
Bella speaking to Lizzie, asks the following—
“You have a brother, I have been told?”
“I have a brother; but he is not friendly with me. He is a very good boy, though, and has raised himself by his industry. I don’t complain of him.”
As she said it, with her eyes upon the fire-glow, there was an instantaneous escape of distress into her face. Bella seized the moment to touch her hand.
Can you spot the one tiny phrase that is the telltale sign of the author’s enjoyment?
. . . there was an instantaneous escape of distress into her face.
For whatever reason, this phrase jumped out at me. There are any number of ways Dickens could have described Lizzie being distressed over thoughts of her brother (the little shit that he was). He could have simply said that Lizzie looked distressed as she stared into the fire-glow, thinking of her brother. He didn’t.
Regardless of Lizzie’s kind words for her brother, there was that instantaneous escape of distress into her face as she stares into the fire-glow.
That phrase, to me at least, is ingenious! Who would have ever imagined thoughts or feelings escaping into the face? This shows the passion Dickens had for capturing a scene, a mood, finding the perfect words. Did the author’s passion escape into the prose and flow into the reader’s mind? It’s obvious that it did into this reader’s mind. Perhaps the words were deliberate, deliberately planted to evoke a feeling. In any event, he presented Lizzie’s thoughts with an especial clarity. I picture Dickens chuckling aloud as he wrote that phrase; I don’t imagine the phrase as artifice, however. I feel as though it came naturally to him, flowing from a love of writing. This novel, I believe, was Dickens’s last completed novel before he died. Edwin Drood was incomplete at the time of his death. In any case, he had plenty of earlier works under his belt. Of course, whether this passage flowed easily (as I imagine it to have done) or not is something else that we will never know.
I’m picturing an illustration of the times, only the scene is of my construction. The illustration I’m seeing is fanciful, and has Dickens hunched over his writing desk in the upper right corner of the illustration. He is working hard, pen in hand, the inkstand is close by on the desk. Perhaps there are a couple of ink drops staining the blotter on his desk. Below and to the left, though centered, I see two girls sitting before a fire. The scene is of Bella and Lizzie having the above conversation. In my mind this illustration comes alive. There is the movement of Bella reaching over to touch Lizzie’s hand.
The funny part of all of this, my musings, is that this simple scene of Bella and Lizzie isn’t even a major scene of the book, at least not in the grand scheme of things. It’s just a simple scene of two young girls (two characters) bonding.
And where does Dickens really shine? What is his special expertise?
Characterization, of course! In Our Mutual Friend you have Silas Wegg as one interesting character, and Jenny Wren as another. In other novels there are scads and scads of offbeat and absurd characters. Dickens characters don’t just walk down a street, they cavort, career, careen. They sneer and slap and jostle. They speak in jibes and jingles, or in an awkward prattle to their fellow characters, often while standing on their heads (I’m thinking of the boy in The Old Curiosity Shop—which I have started reading now) These characters are often absurdly named (think Uriah Heep. Great Expectations? Or was he in David Copperfield?) as well as absurd in manner. They are often times obnoxious and rude (Quilp from TOCS), but can also be the most kind-hearted of souls (many characters would fit this description). They lecture in earnest and laugh wholeheartedly. They cry and shout. These characters sway, tumble and then roll or somersault right off the page and leap into our imaginations.
If we don’t pay close enough attention to these characters there might just be a knock of the head of a cane or walking stick against the glass on the inside of a magnified snow globe that presents an absurdly warped version (or is it?) of Victorian London. Dickens wants us to see it all—the soot and smut of industrialization, the abject poverty slammed right up next to the glamour and glitz of a gentleman’s and lady’s fancy carriage. The man’s top hat might be a bit frayed and the woman’s corset a bit too biting. The satirical bite of the narrative cannot be missed, however. Dickens had something to say, and he said it loudly. He cajoled and entertained. He kept audiences of the day enthralled. But could he do so today?
There is that knock again against the thick glass, a large watery and bloodshot eye peers out at us to see if we are still here. Are we listening? Are we entertained?
But of course we are! We’ll stick around as long as the characters want us to. But true characters are quickly disappearing. With the breakneck speed of the digital plot these days, who has time to stand around and chat, let alone sitting around turning pages of a thick book?
What would Dickens think of all this? Again I ask, could he make it as an author if he were just starting out today?
Well, I suspect he would make whatever adjustments he had to make to be a success. He was a man of the times. In different times he would be a different man, but still a writer who loves to write. And he would know how to make a buck, or shilling as it were, no matter the century. And there is always the lecture circuit. He was a master of the lecture circuit in his day. Dickens would probably have a huge fan base on You Tube or Instagram. He was an Influencer in his time and would probably be so today!
So, if you are up for it, if you are in the mood, take a breath and step back in time. Grab a really thick book—it doesn’t have to be a Dickens novel. Sit in a chair and hold the book close up to your face. Close your eyes and fan the pages. Breathe in the scent that wafts up and smile for a bygone era. Then relax and open the book and start reading. Don’t stop until you come to the end of the story. Take breaks, of course, but finish reading the book at some point. Reflect on the story. Enjoy a break from today’s fast paced information overload. Escape today’s tumultuous world for the safety of the tumultuous world of Victorian London, perhaps. Kick back, put your feet up and get comfortable. Grab your reading glasses if you need them . . .
Read, read, read. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!
***
My favorite quote from the novel Our Mutual Friend:
“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it for any one else.”
(Rokesmith speaking to Bella Wilfer, p. 574)