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George Silverman's Explanation
“George Silverman's Explanation”, published in instalments from January to March 1868, was one of the last pieces of fiction written by Charles Dickens, two years before his death.
Silverman is born in a Preston cellar, and spends his early years locked in there, often left alone while his parents go out to seek work.
Silverman is born in a Preston cellar, and spends his early years locked in there, often left alone while his parents go out to seek work.
52 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1868
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274 people want to read
About the author
Charles Dickens
12.3k books31.1k followersCharles John Huffam Dickens (1812-1870) was a writer and social critic who created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the twentieth century critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories enjoy lasting popularity.
Dickens left school to work in a factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors' prison. Despite his lack of formal education, he edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, education, and other social reforms.
Dickens was regarded as the literary colossus of his age. His 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. Oliver Twist and Great Expectations are also frequently adapted, and, like many of his novels, evoke images of early Victorian London. His 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Cities, set in London and Paris, is his best-known work of historical fiction. Dickens's creative genius has been praised by fellow writers—from Leo Tolstoy to George Orwell and G. K. Chesterton—for its realism, comedy, prose style, unique characterisations, and social criticism. On the other hand, Oscar Wilde, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf complained of a lack of psychological depth, loose writing, and a vein of saccharine sentimentalism. The term Dickensian is used to describe something that is reminiscent of Dickens and his writings, such as poor social conditions or comically repulsive characters.
On 8 June 1870, Dickens suffered another stroke at his home after a full day's work on Edwin Drood. He never regained consciousness, and the next day he died at Gad's Hill Place. Contrary to his wish to be buried at Rochester Cathedral "in an inexpensive, unostentatious, and strictly private manner," he was laid to rest in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey. A printed epitaph circulated at the time of the funeral reads: "To the Memory of Charles Dickens (England's most popular author) who died at his residence, Higham, near Rochester, Kent, 9 June 1870, aged 58 years. He was a sympathiser with the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; and by his death, one of England's greatest writers is lost to the world." His last words were: "On the ground", in response to his sister-in-law Georgina's request that he lie down.
(from Wikipedia)
Dickens left school to work in a factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors' prison. Despite his lack of formal education, he edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, education, and other social reforms.
Dickens was regarded as the literary colossus of his age. His 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. Oliver Twist and Great Expectations are also frequently adapted, and, like many of his novels, evoke images of early Victorian London. His 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Cities, set in London and Paris, is his best-known work of historical fiction. Dickens's creative genius has been praised by fellow writers—from Leo Tolstoy to George Orwell and G. K. Chesterton—for its realism, comedy, prose style, unique characterisations, and social criticism. On the other hand, Oscar Wilde, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf complained of a lack of psychological depth, loose writing, and a vein of saccharine sentimentalism. The term Dickensian is used to describe something that is reminiscent of Dickens and his writings, such as poor social conditions or comically repulsive characters.
On 8 June 1870, Dickens suffered another stroke at his home after a full day's work on Edwin Drood. He never regained consciousness, and the next day he died at Gad's Hill Place. Contrary to his wish to be buried at Rochester Cathedral "in an inexpensive, unostentatious, and strictly private manner," he was laid to rest in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey. A printed epitaph circulated at the time of the funeral reads: "To the Memory of Charles Dickens (England's most popular author) who died at his residence, Higham, near Rochester, Kent, 9 June 1870, aged 58 years. He was a sympathiser with the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; and by his death, one of England's greatest writers is lost to the world." His last words were: "On the ground", in response to his sister-in-law Georgina's request that he lie down.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews
August 23, 2022
Three really strong short stories.
April 17, 2021
Such a sad, bleak story, almost un-Dickens like because there is very little hope in it. One of Dickens last pieces of writing, I hadn’t heard of it before. Written in the first person George tells us of his awful childhood and his life after the death of his parents. This is a psychological portrait of oppression and how difficult it is to find a way in the world after such a bleak start especially dealing with unjust accusations against him.
September 7, 2021
"George Silverman's Explanation" is a first-person narration of an insecure man who has tried to do the right thing, but has often been misjudged. George spent the first few years of his life in a dank cellar with his impoverished parents. When he wanted the most basic necessity in life-food-he was told he was selfish and worldly. After his parents died of the fever, he practices self-sacrifice instead of accepting love or the financial benefits he deserved. George tells about the religious hypocrite who managed his education, and a woman "benefactor" who was actually corrupt.
Now over the age of sixty, George wants people to understand the choices he made in his life. By his account, he was an introverted, innocent man who was often victimized by others. His deprived early childhood, and a lack of a loving adult set the scene for the rest of his life. He does have the respect and friendship of a few friends, and has a reputation as an excellent tutor. But a part of him will psychologically always be that neglected boy in the cellar. He wrote his "explanation" so others can see that he always tried to be a good, selfless man, and hopes that people will judge him kindly.
Now over the age of sixty, George wants people to understand the choices he made in his life. By his account, he was an introverted, innocent man who was often victimized by others. His deprived early childhood, and a lack of a loving adult set the scene for the rest of his life. He does have the respect and friendship of a few friends, and has a reputation as an excellent tutor. But a part of him will psychologically always be that neglected boy in the cellar. He wrote his "explanation" so others can see that he always tried to be a good, selfless man, and hopes that people will judge him kindly.
September 5, 2021
This is a late work of Dickens, written in 1868, a long story of a child found in poverty, rescued by a self righteous religious “Brother” Hawkyard, who elects to see to his raising and education if he proves to be a proper lad. This is an odd tale, in which Dickens appears to be working with a different formula of characterization. There are no motives at the start, merely an orphaned toddler left in squalor, seemingly damned by the circumstances of his existence. Who is this child if no one gives him any positive definition. I’m struck by the possibility that Dickens was delving deeper into what humanity is about. Can you imagine what Dickens would have done during the 20th century with all of the then new psychological insights into human behavior, behavior he was so good at observing.
September 14, 2021
Written very late in Dickens' life, this might be the saddest Dickens story I have ever read. Not that Dickens doesn't do tragedy in all his books, but George Silverman seems more than usually desolate and alone. Perhaps Dickens was feeling his life ebbing, because there is no trace of his humor in this story, just a pathos that is pervasive.
July 20, 2022
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November 30, 2016
Getting out of the Cellar Is Not the Same as Getting Rid of the Cellar
George Silverman’s Explanation is one of the later works by Charles Dickens, dating from 1868, i.e. even after Dickens had completed his last major novel Our Mutual Friend. Like in his masterpieces David Copperfield or Great Expectations, but also like in minor stories such as Hunted Down, Dickens employs a first-person narrator, the eponymous George Silverman, who leads the reader through decisive stations in his life in his attempt to give an “explanation” of himself. At the beginning, we are left to marvel as to the aim of that “explanation” but the more and more we read, the clearer it becomes that George Silverman intends to exonerate himself from any imputations of selfishness that may be laid on his doorstep.
Mr. Silverman has difficulty in beginning his account of himself, and he actually needs three approaches in order to start out on his enterprise of giving his “explanation”.
This his second attempt at beginning his story shows that when starting to write down his explanation, he has suddenly realized that it is necessary to go back into an earlier period of his life in order to make his actions understandable. One can say that the initial problems Silverman has to pen down his account reflect the subjectivity of any account whatsoever and show the account not only as influenced and distorted by the point of view and the motives a narrator may have but also by the choice he makes from things to report. This is probably why Silverman, on second thoughts, starts his explanation at the very beginning of his biography by sharing sombre childhood memories of having been brought up in a damp and insalubrious cellar in Preston, and when he thinks of his mother, this comes to his mind:
He apparently rarely has the opportunity to leave this cellar-hole, and it is with a pang that he notices his mother scolding him for being a “worldly little devil”, just because he is hungry and thirsty and feels cold – and, with the honesty of a child, voices these needs. One might say that his mother’s careless and bitter words cause a trauma in him and make him doubt of his own right to look after his own interests. In fact, his mother’s reaction and maybe also the death of his parents and little George’s initial lack of affection by it make him have a bad conscience and consider any urge to look after himself and to feel, let alone voice, his individual needs as signs of his own utter depravity:
George’s adolescence is marked by his withdrawal from everybody he cares for – on the grounds of not wanting to harm them – and by his willingness to be duped by the religious hypocrite Hawkyard. For a while he suspects Hawkyard of foul play but then he brushes away this thought as a sign of his own meanness and rushes into writing an exoneration of the vile crook.
His own diligence and hard work at school result in his being given a scholarship and later starting a modest university career. Nevertheless, all his time during school and university is marked by George’s inability – or unwillingness – to establish closer human ties with those around him, as the following passage makes clear:
One day – he has already become a tutor at the university – he is offered a rectorate by the mother of one of his former students, a Lady Fareway, who has – as her son tells Silverman, and as the reader soon learns – quite a hand for doing business. She offers Silverman a rectorate with a yearly income of 200 £ and at the same time talks him into doing private secretary work for her and teaching her daughter Adelina, a young woman of high intellect. Silverman, in order not to seem worldly, accepts these modest terms and … he falls in love with Adelina. Of course, being the man he is, he considers himself as infinitely below Adelina and her family, but instead of just relinquishing his young disciple, he sees to it that Adelina and his other student, Mr. Granville, fall in love with each other. Eventually, Silverman weds them without Lady Fareway’s assent or even her knowledge.
When he tells his benefactress about the wedding, the Lady flies into a fury and accuses him of having performed the wedding for worldly reasons, being bribed into it by a scheming Mr. Granville. She makes him resign the rectorate and also tries to give him a bad name in the country, but even though there are hard times before him, Adelina and her husband stand by him and eventually more and more people realize that such worldly behaviour would be out of character with George Silverman.
George Silverman’s Explanation is one of Dickens’s last completed works, and it quite fascinated me, although the story seems straightforward and hardly original at first sight. If you look closely, though, you will probably find that it is one of Dickens’s finest psychological achievements in that it uses the first-person perspective in order to give us insight into a deeply flawed and tormented character. I hold that Silverman is flawed despite his readiness to sacrifice his own happiness for that of the people around him, because his relations with his surroundings are out of balance and unhealthy. His wish to prove himself disinterested and altruistic to the core – it is this wish that also makes him write down his “explanation” and which might remind us that we have anything but a completely reliable narrator in George Silverman – causes him to stand in the wings and watch the comédie humaine as a benevolent bystander rather than be part of it. Is it diffidence, or already cowardice and the dread of really caring and being cared for that makes him shy away from all more intimate human bonds? His reference to the rats and to the sky looking down in sorrow on him betray a deep lack of self-love and may argue for a less favourable view on Silverman. The use of an emotionally unbalanced and therefore unrealiable first-person narrator links George Silverman to Miss Wade’s “History of a Self-Tormentor” from Little Dorrit, which gives us another instance of a deeply flawed human being; only in Miss Wade’s case, her lack of self-love has led her to torment others as much as herself – even though both Miss Wade and George Silverman live the lives of recluses.
Although the story is dark and serious in tone, there are instances of Dickens’s tendency to use larger-than-life characters, in this case the pompous hypocrite Hawkyard, who is even more annoying than Pecksniff or Uncle Pumblechook. And yet, owing to the restrictions of a short story, Dickens does not allow his fancy to run exuberantly free but links even Hawkyard to the main theme of the story – making this self-serving hypocrite the opposite of George Silverman. Just look at these grandiloquent words of self-praise and compare them to George Silverman’s lack of self-love:
What is more, George Silverman’s Explanation can also be read as a disguised explanation of Dickens himself. Although hardly a man to forget his own interests over the feelings of other people, Dickens might probably have considered himself a paragon of self-denial when he gave up his idea of openly replacing his wife Catherine with the young actress Ellen Ternan and decided, instead, to keep his relations with the latter in the dark, one of Victorians’ unmentioned room-filling elephants. What makes me believe this, is that Silverman on the one hand denies himself the gratification of his wish to become Adelina’s husband but on the other hand actively provides her with a husband of his own choice, somebody whose spirit has been shaped in a way to resemble Silverman’s own. This way Silverman can derive vicarious pleasure from the budding love between Adelina and Granville – something I find quite creepy, to be honest. Apart from that, the references to the damp Preston cellar, and George’s difficulty not so much in getting out of the cellar but in getting the cellar out of himself, may address a childhood trauma of Dickens’s himself, i.e. the time when he was forced to do menial work in a factory.
Be that as it may, George Silverman’s Explanation may be a short story and dwindle into nothingness next to Dickens’s impressive novels, but it is definitely a source of interest and bewilderment, being rather dark a tale.
George Silverman’s Explanation is one of the later works by Charles Dickens, dating from 1868, i.e. even after Dickens had completed his last major novel Our Mutual Friend. Like in his masterpieces David Copperfield or Great Expectations, but also like in minor stories such as Hunted Down, Dickens employs a first-person narrator, the eponymous George Silverman, who leads the reader through decisive stations in his life in his attempt to give an “explanation” of himself. At the beginning, we are left to marvel as to the aim of that “explanation” but the more and more we read, the clearer it becomes that George Silverman intends to exonerate himself from any imputations of selfishness that may be laid on his doorstep.
Mr. Silverman has difficulty in beginning his account of himself, and he actually needs three approaches in order to start out on his enterprise of giving his “explanation”.
”It happened in this wise—
But, looking at those words, and comparing them with my former opening, I find they are the self-same words repeated. This is the more surprising to me, because I employ them in quite a new connection. For indeed I declare that my intention was to discard the commencement I first had in my thoughts, and to give the preference to another of an entirely different nature, dating my explanation from an anterior period of my life. I will make a third trial, without erasing this second failure, protesting that it is not my design to conceal any of my infirmities, whether they be of head or heart.”
This his second attempt at beginning his story shows that when starting to write down his explanation, he has suddenly realized that it is necessary to go back into an earlier period of his life in order to make his actions understandable. One can say that the initial problems Silverman has to pen down his account reflect the subjectivity of any account whatsoever and show the account not only as influenced and distorted by the point of view and the motives a narrator may have but also by the choice he makes from things to report. This is probably why Silverman, on second thoughts, starts his explanation at the very beginning of his biography by sharing sombre childhood memories of having been brought up in a damp and insalubrious cellar in Preston, and when he thinks of his mother, this comes to his mind:
”Mother had the gripe and clutch of poverty upon her face, upon her figure, and not least of all upon her voice. Her sharp and highpitched words were squeezed out of her, as by the compression of bony fingers on a leathern bag; and she had a way of rolling her eyes about and about the cellar, as she scolded, that was gaunt and hungry.”
He apparently rarely has the opportunity to leave this cellar-hole, and it is with a pang that he notices his mother scolding him for being a “worldly little devil”, just because he is hungry and thirsty and feels cold – and, with the honesty of a child, voices these needs. One might say that his mother’s careless and bitter words cause a trauma in him and make him doubt of his own right to look after his own interests. In fact, his mother’s reaction and maybe also the death of his parents and little George’s initial lack of affection by it make him have a bad conscience and consider any urge to look after himself and to feel, let alone voice, his individual needs as signs of his own utter depravity:
”I have written that the sky stared sorrowfully at me. Therein have I anticipated the answer. I knew that all these things looked sorrowfully at me; that they seemed to sigh or whisper, not without pity for me, ‘Alas! poor worldly little devil!’
There were two or three rats at the bottom of one of the smaller pits of broken staircase when I craned over and looked in. They were scuffling for some prey that was there; and, when they started and hid themselves close together in the dark, I thought of the old life (it had grown old already) in the cellar.
How not to be this worldly little devil? how not to have a repugnance towards myself as I had towards the rats? I hid in a corner of one of the smaller chambers, frightened at myself, and crying (it was the first time I had ever cried for any cause not purely physical), and I tried to think about it.”
George’s adolescence is marked by his withdrawal from everybody he cares for – on the grounds of not wanting to harm them – and by his willingness to be duped by the religious hypocrite Hawkyard. For a while he suspects Hawkyard of foul play but then he brushes away this thought as a sign of his own meanness and rushes into writing an exoneration of the vile crook.
His own diligence and hard work at school result in his being given a scholarship and later starting a modest university career. Nevertheless, all his time during school and university is marked by George’s inability – or unwillingness – to establish closer human ties with those around him, as the following passage makes clear:
”I can see others in the sunlight; I can see our boats’ crews and our athletic young men on the glistening water, or speckled with the moving lights of sunlit leaves; but I myself am always in the shadow looking on. Not unsympathetically, God forbid! But looking on alone, much as I looked at Sylvia from the shadows of the ruined house, or looked at the red gleam shining through the farmer’s windows, and listened to the fall of dancing feet, when all the ruin was dark that night in the quadrangle.”
One day – he has already become a tutor at the university – he is offered a rectorate by the mother of one of his former students, a Lady Fareway, who has – as her son tells Silverman, and as the reader soon learns – quite a hand for doing business. She offers Silverman a rectorate with a yearly income of 200 £ and at the same time talks him into doing private secretary work for her and teaching her daughter Adelina, a young woman of high intellect. Silverman, in order not to seem worldly, accepts these modest terms and … he falls in love with Adelina. Of course, being the man he is, he considers himself as infinitely below Adelina and her family, but instead of just relinquishing his young disciple, he sees to it that Adelina and his other student, Mr. Granville, fall in love with each other. Eventually, Silverman weds them without Lady Fareway’s assent or even her knowledge.
When he tells his benefactress about the wedding, the Lady flies into a fury and accuses him of having performed the wedding for worldly reasons, being bribed into it by a scheming Mr. Granville. She makes him resign the rectorate and also tries to give him a bad name in the country, but even though there are hard times before him, Adelina and her husband stand by him and eventually more and more people realize that such worldly behaviour would be out of character with George Silverman.
George Silverman’s Explanation is one of Dickens’s last completed works, and it quite fascinated me, although the story seems straightforward and hardly original at first sight. If you look closely, though, you will probably find that it is one of Dickens’s finest psychological achievements in that it uses the first-person perspective in order to give us insight into a deeply flawed and tormented character. I hold that Silverman is flawed despite his readiness to sacrifice his own happiness for that of the people around him, because his relations with his surroundings are out of balance and unhealthy. His wish to prove himself disinterested and altruistic to the core – it is this wish that also makes him write down his “explanation” and which might remind us that we have anything but a completely reliable narrator in George Silverman – causes him to stand in the wings and watch the comédie humaine as a benevolent bystander rather than be part of it. Is it diffidence, or already cowardice and the dread of really caring and being cared for that makes him shy away from all more intimate human bonds? His reference to the rats and to the sky looking down in sorrow on him betray a deep lack of self-love and may argue for a less favourable view on Silverman. The use of an emotionally unbalanced and therefore unrealiable first-person narrator links George Silverman to Miss Wade’s “History of a Self-Tormentor” from Little Dorrit, which gives us another instance of a deeply flawed human being; only in Miss Wade’s case, her lack of self-love has led her to torment others as much as herself – even though both Miss Wade and George Silverman live the lives of recluses.
Although the story is dark and serious in tone, there are instances of Dickens’s tendency to use larger-than-life characters, in this case the pompous hypocrite Hawkyard, who is even more annoying than Pecksniff or Uncle Pumblechook. And yet, owing to the restrictions of a short story, Dickens does not allow his fancy to run exuberantly free but links even Hawkyard to the main theme of the story – making this self-serving hypocrite the opposite of George Silverman. Just look at these grandiloquent words of self-praise and compare them to George Silverman’s lack of self-love:
”’[…] Behave well, and I’ll put you to school; O, yes! I’ll put you to school, though I’m not obligated to do it. I am a servant of the Lord, George; and I have been a good servant to him, I have, these five-and-thirty years. The Lord has had a good servant in me, and he knows it.’”
What is more, George Silverman’s Explanation can also be read as a disguised explanation of Dickens himself. Although hardly a man to forget his own interests over the feelings of other people, Dickens might probably have considered himself a paragon of self-denial when he gave up his idea of openly replacing his wife Catherine with the young actress Ellen Ternan and decided, instead, to keep his relations with the latter in the dark, one of Victorians’ unmentioned room-filling elephants. What makes me believe this, is that Silverman on the one hand denies himself the gratification of his wish to become Adelina’s husband but on the other hand actively provides her with a husband of his own choice, somebody whose spirit has been shaped in a way to resemble Silverman’s own. This way Silverman can derive vicarious pleasure from the budding love between Adelina and Granville – something I find quite creepy, to be honest. Apart from that, the references to the damp Preston cellar, and George’s difficulty not so much in getting out of the cellar but in getting the cellar out of himself, may address a childhood trauma of Dickens’s himself, i.e. the time when he was forced to do menial work in a factory.
Be that as it may, George Silverman’s Explanation may be a short story and dwindle into nothingness next to Dickens’s impressive novels, but it is definitely a source of interest and bewilderment, being rather dark a tale.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 3, 2021
First book of the year done. And what a read it was. Finished it in one sitting. Maybe two idk who cares.
October 12, 2021
עם תחילת קריאת הנובלטה הופתעתי לגלות כי הספר תורגם לעברית מספרדית ולא מאנגלית, עניין שלי הקורא ההדיוט, נראה מוזר מאד.
כמי שקרא את רוב ספריו של דיקנס, אשר תורגמו לעברית, לא התרשמתי במיוחד מהספר הזה. הרושם שלי שדיקנס תכנן לכתוב רומן אבל מסיבות שאינן ידועות לי, הפסיק את כתיבתו במעין סיום מאולץ.
כמי שקרא את רוב ספריו של דיקנס, אשר תורגמו לעברית, לא התרשמתי במיוחד מהספר הזה. הרושם שלי שדיקנס תכנן לכתוב רומן אבל מסיבות שאינן ידועות לי, הפסיק את כתיבתו במעין סיום מאולץ.
June 13, 2019
📚Es una novela breve y ...adictiva ...si adictiva:porque no podrás parar de leer hasta saber que le depara la vida a George Silvernan desde que lo sacan del sótano hasta que termina contemplando el cementerio.
📚Temas importantes y hasta de actualidad:como la educación nos enseña a reprimir el deseo.
📚El nudo central del libro:El transitó entre la naturaleza y la civilización .
📌En el epílogo muy acertadamente a mi manera de ver #rafaelreig lo relaciona con “La letra escarlata “:critica al puritanismo,la conciencia de culpa y la represión .
❤️Si todavía no has leído ningún Dickens este es perfecto por su extensión,no llega a 80 hojas y si has leído ya y te gusta el autor este libro es perfecto para salirse de los “típicos “ .
📚Temas importantes y hasta de actualidad:como la educación nos enseña a reprimir el deseo.
📚El nudo central del libro:El transitó entre la naturaleza y la civilización .
📌En el epílogo muy acertadamente a mi manera de ver #rafaelreig lo relaciona con “La letra escarlata “:critica al puritanismo,la conciencia de culpa y la represión .
❤️Si todavía no has leído ningún Dickens este es perfecto por su extensión,no llega a 80 hojas y si has leído ya y te gusta el autor este libro es perfecto para salirse de los “típicos “ .
August 16, 2021
Los sacrificios de Dickens en sus tantos dobles. Hay que interpretar como Chesterton para soportarlo. O por lo menos tener la voluntad de Dickens para seguir adelante. Hasta caer frío sobre la mesa de la cena una noche cualquiera. No tiene sentido que esta intuición de la condición humana tenga sentido. Lo terrible es que parece tenerlo. Todos somos Silverman de una u otra manera.
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February 9, 2017
Fairly universal concerning his other works, but lacked the humour they're noted for. I enjoyed parts, and this was written with the intention of being made in to a full novel about a man who wished to explain his life in the book, but he did before any such novel could be written.
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December 28, 2024
Relatively sad story from later in Dickens' life, close to his death. One of the easier Dickens' stories to read, it flows well and is gripping until the end.
August 31, 2020
Un Dickens breve y desolador, como sus mejores trabajos. La pintura del pobre George Silverman es tan sentida como la de Oliver Twist, aunque más concentrada. Tanto su desoladora infancia como su adolescencia y juventud, tan tímido y temeroso de ejercer cualquier tipo de daño sobre sus semejantes, aún a costa de su propio sufrimiento constante, son conmovedoras. La falta de un “final feliz” en toda regla deja un poso amargo en el lector, encariñado con el personaje y deseoso de que algo le salga bien en la vida.
Pues eso, que da gusto disfrutar de Dickens, hasta en obras pequeñitas como esta.
Pues eso, que da gusto disfrutar de Dickens, hasta en obras pequeñitas como esta.
August 1, 2024
La declaración de George Silverman es una novela corta escrita por Charles Dickens y publicada en 1868. Esta obra se presenta como un relato introspectivo en el que Dickens explora temas como el amor, la identidad y la redención.
La historia está narrada desde la perspectiva de Silverman, joven de origen humilde que se embarca en un viaje hacia la autocomprensión y la búsqueda de su lugar en el mundo. Silverman se siente atraído por un ideal de amor y conexión, pero también enfrenta el rechazo y la incomprensión, lo que le lleva a una serie de reflexiones sobre su vida y sus elecciones.
En particular, algunas partes de esta novela me parece que inspiraron Cuatro años a bordo de mí mismo de Eduardo Zalamea Borda. Grandiosa novela.
A lo largo de la narrativa, Dickens muestra su maestría en la creación de personajes memorables y en la construcción de situaciones que revelan la complejidad de las relaciones humanas. La historia se adentra en las contradicciones de la naturaleza humana y la lucha interna de Silverman por reconciliar sus deseos con las expectativas sociales y las normas de su época.
El estilo de Dickens en esta obra es profundo y melancólico, con un enfoque en el desarrollo psicológico del protagonista. Aunque La declaración no es tan conocida como algunas de sus obras más famosas, ofrece una mirada íntima y conmovedora a la lucha por la identidad y la conexión emocional en un mundo a menudo indiferente.
Esta novela corta merece ser leída por su rica exploración de temas universales y la habilidad de Dickens para crear una narrativa que resuena con la experiencia humana.
La historia está narrada desde la perspectiva de Silverman, joven de origen humilde que se embarca en un viaje hacia la autocomprensión y la búsqueda de su lugar en el mundo. Silverman se siente atraído por un ideal de amor y conexión, pero también enfrenta el rechazo y la incomprensión, lo que le lleva a una serie de reflexiones sobre su vida y sus elecciones.
En particular, algunas partes de esta novela me parece que inspiraron Cuatro años a bordo de mí mismo de Eduardo Zalamea Borda. Grandiosa novela.
A lo largo de la narrativa, Dickens muestra su maestría en la creación de personajes memorables y en la construcción de situaciones que revelan la complejidad de las relaciones humanas. La historia se adentra en las contradicciones de la naturaleza humana y la lucha interna de Silverman por reconciliar sus deseos con las expectativas sociales y las normas de su época.
El estilo de Dickens en esta obra es profundo y melancólico, con un enfoque en el desarrollo psicológico del protagonista. Aunque La declaración no es tan conocida como algunas de sus obras más famosas, ofrece una mirada íntima y conmovedora a la lucha por la identidad y la conexión emocional en un mundo a menudo indiferente.
Esta novela corta merece ser leída por su rica exploración de temas universales y la habilidad de Dickens para crear una narrativa que resuena con la experiencia humana.
September 12, 2021
בקצרה, אדם הנולד למשפחה הלא נכונה, חיי בתנאים לא תנאים
ומה שחשוב עבורו הוא השרידות היומ-יומית מקבל את
הצ'אנס של החיים שלו ולאיזה כיוון הוא ייקח את זה.
ומה שחשוב עבורו הוא השרידות היומ-יומית מקבל את
הצ'אנס של החיים שלו ולאיזה כיוון הוא ייקח את זה.
December 17, 2012
The title says it all. This short story is literally an account of a chap named George Silverman's life by the man himself. His unfortunate starving start in life & curse of parents dying of the fever seems to set him up to be completely misunderstood his whole life through, despite his best intentions. Something we have no doubt all experienced at some point in our lives so one does feel sorry for him. Things seem to come right at various stages but even these times in his life have a depressive/oppressed tone to them. Read it but wouldn't recommend it. (only took 2 days to read in a couple of short bursts) Aside: read that this was written two years before Charles Dickens died so the depressive feeling of the story may have been linked to his state of mind, not sure. Will have to read his biography.
March 18, 2013
This is a curious story. I was drawn to it after visiting Houghton Tower which is described in the story in a haunting and powerful way. Clearly it moved Dickens and may have reminded him of some of the harsher aspects of his childhood when his family lacked the means to support him. It starts powerfully, but develops in a strange and not entirely satisfactory way - the central character's selflessness is exaggerated to an unreal height and the prejudice he encounters is equally extreme. The description of the ruined great house is as good as anything he ever wrote.
October 4, 2019
the only thing i liked about this were the references to north west england
November 18, 2023
A thoroughly enjoyable collection of three really compelling and highly contrasting short stories—“George Silverman’s Explanation,” a first-person narrative and Bildungsroman in miniature, “Hunted Down,” a detective story, and “Holiday Romance,” a children’s novella. Demonstrates through the succinctness of the short story form, rather than the lengthy and expansive novels for which he’s more well-known, the incredible range and breadth of Dickens’s writing ability and genius. Enthusiastically recommended!
May 14, 2025
"George Silverman's Explanation" is an illustration of how the events and relationships a person experiences in childhood shape his self-image and impact others' lives as well as his own. Dickens, who wrestled with his own childhood demons, examines the challenges of being "worldly" and one man's endeavors to overcome worldliness, striving for the divine.
April 7, 2019
Dickens, Charles. George Silverman’s Explanation. 1868. Project Gutenberg.
This longish story published in near the end of Dickens’ life is tempting to read as a story about Dickens himself. But let’s take it at face value. It is as an end-of-life apology, in both the modern and ancient senses of the term, for the life of its narrator, George Silverman. It is certainly depressive, the sad summary of a man disappointed with his life and with the character of most of the people around him. His childhood, surrounded by death disease and squalor, left him antisocial and convinced that he was the selfish, worldly wretch others thought him to be. Turned over to zealous religious hypocrites whose goal was to exploit him, he nevertheless manages to educate himself and become a cleric with the help of a benefactor, who, unfortunately, is willing to see his motives as corrupt as her own. Though he helps others, his virtue is never rewarded, and his inability to express love makes it hard to return the love he is given. Is this how Dickens saw his own life? Maybe.
This longish story published in near the end of Dickens’ life is tempting to read as a story about Dickens himself. But let’s take it at face value. It is as an end-of-life apology, in both the modern and ancient senses of the term, for the life of its narrator, George Silverman. It is certainly depressive, the sad summary of a man disappointed with his life and with the character of most of the people around him. His childhood, surrounded by death disease and squalor, left him antisocial and convinced that he was the selfish, worldly wretch others thought him to be. Turned over to zealous religious hypocrites whose goal was to exploit him, he nevertheless manages to educate himself and become a cleric with the help of a benefactor, who, unfortunately, is willing to see his motives as corrupt as her own. Though he helps others, his virtue is never rewarded, and his inability to express love makes it hard to return the love he is given. Is this how Dickens saw his own life? Maybe.
April 8, 2018
An interesting little story, but too short to have a satisfactory ending. George Silverman gives his little life story, from his childhood in the slums to his education, his ordination, and short clerical career.
He meets a beautiful woman; but convinced of his own unworthiness, he persuades her to fall in love with another man, with a more illustrious background.
Throughout the story, there is an emphasis on suppressing one’s own worldly inclination to selfishness, deceit, or greediness. George makes every effort at self improvement, until he has a reputation for kindness, generosity, and innocence. But then he is accused of a heinous deceit and discovers who his true friends are, and who will stand by him when he is falsely maligned.
I wish that the ending were better organized, with a more satisfactory conclusion. Otherwise, this is a touching little story!
He meets a beautiful woman; but convinced of his own unworthiness, he persuades her to fall in love with another man, with a more illustrious background.
Throughout the story, there is an emphasis on suppressing one’s own worldly inclination to selfishness, deceit, or greediness. George makes every effort at self improvement, until he has a reputation for kindness, generosity, and innocence. But then he is accused of a heinous deceit and discovers who his true friends are, and who will stand by him when he is falsely maligned.
I wish that the ending were better organized, with a more satisfactory conclusion. Otherwise, this is a touching little story!
September 29, 2020
Escrita en 1868, dos años antes de la muerte de su escritor, está breve novela de poco más de 50 páginas muestra a un Charles Dickens expuesto al puritanismo de mediados del siglo XIX. La confesión de quien vivió sobre la estricta moralidad de la supresión del deseo, revisa su vida y deja al lector en la duda si, al final, decidió que había o no válido la pena.
February 20, 2018
"Consuélate, mortal, que tu vida es corta. Nuestros preparativos para lo que haya de venir han perdurado, y perdurarán, por tiempo inimaginable". Un pasado infortunado no define el corazón de una persona. Las ilustraciones son una combinación perfecta en una narración que no carece de nada.
January 22, 2016
Such a quick clever read. George Silverman is such a conniving trickster. Why can't all of Dickens novels be like this??
August 26, 2015
Publicado en http://lecturaylocura.com/escenas-de-...
“Escenas de la vida de Londres” por “Boz” de Charles Dickens. Lo cotidiano como expresión de grandeza literaria
La lectura de “Escenas de la vida de Londres por “Boz” de Charles Dickens me lleva a este post que escribí hace poco tiempo sobre el Dickens primerizo; bien podría haber aparecido en ese momento ya que, en esta recopilación de Abada Editores, nos encontramos veinticinco esbozos que puede ser la recopilación más completa traducida por estos lares. En el prólogo de esta fantástica edición de Miguel Ángel Martínez-Cabeza queda bien claro lo que nos podemos encontrar:
“El Londres de los Esbozos es el de los aprendices y oficinistas, de los juzgados y los periódicos, de las crónicas parlamentarias y las cenas benéficas, de los teatros, la feria de Greenwich y el circo de Astley, de los jardines públicos y de las licorerías, de los viejos coches de punto y los nuevos ómnibus. Los cinco primeros esbozos urbanos, “Los ómnibus”, “Las tiendas y los comerciantes”, “Los tribunales de justicia”, “Las casas de empeño y las tiendas de efectos navales” y “Los caballeros venidos a menos”, representarían algo nuevo en las descripciones de Londres. Ensayistas como Charles Lamb, Leigh Hunt y Washington Irving habían escrito con espíritu romántico sobre los rincones pintorescos de la ciudad; Pierce Egan en su popular Life in London (1820) había llevado a los lectores por los locales nocturnos de una forma estilizada; pero serían las dotes de observación y atención al detalle lo que permitiría a Boz reflejar las escenas de la vida diaria londinense y los hábitos de las clases menos favorecidas con asombrosa fidelidad.”
Es más que patente el reflejo de lo cotidiano gracias al realismo de descripciones, más cercano gracias a la reproducción del habla de la calle, ese cockney que causa quebraderos de cabeza en la traducción; pero lo mejor de todo es que nos encontramos al Dickens más creativo sin perder de vista las características que le harán grande, bien lo dice Miguel Ángel:
“En los Esbozos es fácil encontrar elementos que más tarde definirían el sello “dickensiano”: las situaciones absurdas, la disparidad entre los pensamientos y las acciones, o el conflicto entre la conducta natural y las convenciones sociales. Sin embargo el material del que parten –excluyendo los cuentos- viene dado por la realidad.”
En una descripción de una escena diaria podemos comprobar el estilo del escritor inglés, en plena efervescencia; tiene la maravillosa virtud de hacernos partícipe del momento; como si estuviéramos viendo la acción, cargada de elementos que suceden habitualmente, todos los días:
“Chicos de los recados con sombreros más grandes que ellos, convertidos en hombres antes de ser niños, pasan de prisa en parejas con su primer frac bien cepillado y los pantalones blancos del domingo pasado profundamente manchados de polvo y tinta. Por supuesto requiere un considerable esfuerzo mental evitar invertir parte del dinero para la comida del día en la compra de tartas rancias expuestas tentadoramente en latas empolvadas a las puertas de las pastelerías; sin embargo, la conciencia de sentirse importantes y la paga de siete chelines a la semana con la expectativa de un rápido aumento a ocho viene en su auxilio y en consecuencia inclinan sus sombreros un poco más hacia un lado y miran bajo las tocas de todas las modistillas de los sombrereros y fabricantes de corsés -¡pobres chicas!- a quienes mientras más trabajan peor les pagan, y que muy a menudo son la clase más explotada de la sociedad.” (“Las calles de día”).
Cada momento tiene su magia inherente, a pesar de estar describiendo acciones que no pasan de ser el día a día de una gran ciudad, con su aparente monotonía, hasta se puede escribir sobre el transporte público sin ser aburrido; los coches de día y los ómnibus se vuelven familiares gracias al humor de Dickens:
“Generalmente se admite que el transporte público proporciona un vasto campo para la observación y el entretenimiento. De todos los transportes públicos que se han inventado desde los tiempos del Arca de Noé –pensamos que ese es el más antiguo del que se tiene constancia- hasta la actualidad, me quedo con el ómnibus.” (“Los ómnibus”).
Buena cuenta de su capacidad humorística se pone de relieve en algo tan aparentemente falto de interés como una crónica parlamentaria; así en “Un esbozo parlamentario” el prólogo es muy sintomático de esta virtud, además de utilizar la exhortación directa al lector como recurso para aumentar la involucración:
“Esperamos que nuestros lectores no se alarmen por lo ominoso del título. Les aseguramos que no vamos a tratar de política ni tenemos la más ligera intención de ser más aburridos que de costumbre –si podemos evitarlo-. Se nos ha ocurrido que un esbozo superficial del aspecto general de “la Cámara” y las multitudes que acuden a ella la noche de un debate importante daría lugar a algún entretenimiento.”
Según avanzamos en su lectura comprobamos que, en efecto, su sátira es aún más ejemplarizante y cómica al mismo tiempo:
“El espacio principal de la Cámara y las galerías laterales están llenos de parlamentarios, unos con las piernas sobre el asiento de delante, otros con las piernas estiradas por completo en el suelo, unos saliendo, otros entrando, todos hablando, riendo, ganduleando, tosiendo, gritando de asombro preguntando o gruñendo, presentando un conglomerado de ruido y confusión imposible de encontrar en ningún otro lugar, ni tan siquiera con las excepciones de Smithfield en día de mercado o una pelea de gallos en su apogeo.”
Solamente por el proverbial esbozo “Una visita a Newgate” esta recopilación valdría la pena; prodigio de estilo y manejo de la estructura más arriesgada a medio camino del realismo más lírico sin dejar de ser social:
“La chica pertenecía a una clase –por desgracia tan extendida- cuya misma existencia debería hacer sangrar los corazones. Apenas pasada la infancia, no hacía falta más que una ojeada para descubrir que era una de esas criaturas nacidas y criadas en el abandono y el vicio, que jamás han conocido lo que es la niñez, a las que nunca se les ha enseñado a amar ni buscar la sonrisa de los padres, o temer su ceño fruncido. Los mil cariños de la infancia, su alegría e inocencia les son todos desconocidos. Han entrado en seguida en las duras responsabilidades y penurias de la vida, y después es casi inútil apelar a su mejor naturaleza con las referencias que despiertan, aunque sea solo durante un instante, algún buen sentimiento en el pecho de cualquiera, por más corrupto que haya llegado a estar.”
Red Christmas giftEntrando por momentos en el territorio del sueño para volver a la crónica:
“Sigue un periodo de inconsciencia. Se despierta, aterido y consternado. La mortecina luz gris de la mañana se cuela en la celda y cae sobre la figura del carcelero de guardia. Confuso por los sueños, salta del camastro dudando por un instante. Pero solo es un instante. Todos y cada uno de los objetos de la estrecha celda son demasiado terriblemente reales como para dar lugar a duda o error. Vuelve a ser el reo condenado de nuevo, culpable y desesperado; y en dos horas más estará muerto.”
Todo ello acompañado, además, por los magníficos grabados de la época de George CruikShank, que componen una indisoluble unión de mucha calidad.
Los textos provienen de la traducción y edición de Miguel Ángel Martínez-Cabeza para Abada Editores.
Bis Dickensiano: “La navidad cuando dejamos de ser niños” es una recopilación de cuentos navideños, o que se relacionan con lo navideño y que el mismo Dickens escribió entre 1851 y 1853, ya alejado de sus cuentos más conocidos. Tanto el cuento homónimo como los otros cuatro guardan una calidad media que nos retrotraen a esa época a la que tanto valor daba el británico. Especialmente hermoso resulta “El cuento del pariente pobre” donde juega nuevamente con la imaginación como elemento alienador a la hora de sobrevivir:
“Ese es mi castillo, y esas son las circunstancias reales de vida allí. A veces llevo al pequeño Frank conmigo. Mis nietos lo reciben con alegría, y juegan juntos. En esta época del año, Navidad y Año Nuevo, rara vez salgo de mi Castillo. Pues los recuerdos de estos días parecen retenerme allí, y sus preceptos parecen enseñarme que es bueno estar en él.
-Y el castillo está… -empezó a decir la voz grave y armoniosa de uno de los presentes. […]
-¡Mi castillo está en el aire! He llegado al final. ¿Tendría la amabilidad de contar su historia el siguiente?”
El verdadero valor de la Navidad tal y como entendía Dickens tenía que ver con lo social, con el amor fraterno, sobre todo de los que no están en buenas relaciones:
“Nuestra marcha, la de los más orgullosos lleva el camino polvoriento por el que ellos avanzan. ¡Ay! Acordémonos de ellos este año al calor del fuego navideño, y no los olvidemos cuando este se extinga.”
cover silverman.cdrTextos de la traducción de Marta Salís de “La Navidad cuando dejamos de ser niños” para Alba Brevis
Segundo Bis Dickensiano: “La declaración de George Silverman”, cuento corto de un Dickens ya en su madurez que nos trae la curiosa historia de uno de esos pequeños inadaptados, un relato de formación que comienza en la nada más absoluta:
“Hasta entonces no había tenido la más ligera idea de lo que era el deber. Tampoco había tenido conocimiento de que existiera nada hermoso en esta vida. Cuando en alguna ocasión había trepado por las escaleras del sótano hasta la calle y había mirado los escaparates, lo había hecho sin un ánimo superior al que le suponemos a un cachorro sarnoso o a un lobezno. Igual que nunca había estado a solas, en el sentido de mantener una conversación altruista conmigo mismo. Muy a menudo estaba solo, pero nada más.”
Y que avanza a través de la vida eclesiástica:
“Al saberme incapacitado para la ruidosa agitación de la vida social, pero creyéndome cualificado para cumplir mi deber de una forma ponderada, aunque con esfuerzo, en el caso de obtener algún nombramiento poco importante en la Iglesia, me dediqué a la carrera eclesiástica.”
Descubriendo igualmente lo malo que puede ser todo, pero encontrando también amor en un camino lleno de dolor; una pequeña gran historia aderezada con las iconoclastas y vivaces ilustraciones de Ricardo Cavolo.
Los textos son de la traducción de Elena García Paredes para esta edición de Periférica
“Escenas de la vida de Londres” por “Boz” de Charles Dickens. Lo cotidiano como expresión de grandeza literaria
La lectura de “Escenas de la vida de Londres por “Boz” de Charles Dickens me lleva a este post que escribí hace poco tiempo sobre el Dickens primerizo; bien podría haber aparecido en ese momento ya que, en esta recopilación de Abada Editores, nos encontramos veinticinco esbozos que puede ser la recopilación más completa traducida por estos lares. En el prólogo de esta fantástica edición de Miguel Ángel Martínez-Cabeza queda bien claro lo que nos podemos encontrar:
“El Londres de los Esbozos es el de los aprendices y oficinistas, de los juzgados y los periódicos, de las crónicas parlamentarias y las cenas benéficas, de los teatros, la feria de Greenwich y el circo de Astley, de los jardines públicos y de las licorerías, de los viejos coches de punto y los nuevos ómnibus. Los cinco primeros esbozos urbanos, “Los ómnibus”, “Las tiendas y los comerciantes”, “Los tribunales de justicia”, “Las casas de empeño y las tiendas de efectos navales” y “Los caballeros venidos a menos”, representarían algo nuevo en las descripciones de Londres. Ensayistas como Charles Lamb, Leigh Hunt y Washington Irving habían escrito con espíritu romántico sobre los rincones pintorescos de la ciudad; Pierce Egan en su popular Life in London (1820) había llevado a los lectores por los locales nocturnos de una forma estilizada; pero serían las dotes de observación y atención al detalle lo que permitiría a Boz reflejar las escenas de la vida diaria londinense y los hábitos de las clases menos favorecidas con asombrosa fidelidad.”
Es más que patente el reflejo de lo cotidiano gracias al realismo de descripciones, más cercano gracias a la reproducción del habla de la calle, ese cockney que causa quebraderos de cabeza en la traducción; pero lo mejor de todo es que nos encontramos al Dickens más creativo sin perder de vista las características que le harán grande, bien lo dice Miguel Ángel:
“En los Esbozos es fácil encontrar elementos que más tarde definirían el sello “dickensiano”: las situaciones absurdas, la disparidad entre los pensamientos y las acciones, o el conflicto entre la conducta natural y las convenciones sociales. Sin embargo el material del que parten –excluyendo los cuentos- viene dado por la realidad.”
En una descripción de una escena diaria podemos comprobar el estilo del escritor inglés, en plena efervescencia; tiene la maravillosa virtud de hacernos partícipe del momento; como si estuviéramos viendo la acción, cargada de elementos que suceden habitualmente, todos los días:
“Chicos de los recados con sombreros más grandes que ellos, convertidos en hombres antes de ser niños, pasan de prisa en parejas con su primer frac bien cepillado y los pantalones blancos del domingo pasado profundamente manchados de polvo y tinta. Por supuesto requiere un considerable esfuerzo mental evitar invertir parte del dinero para la comida del día en la compra de tartas rancias expuestas tentadoramente en latas empolvadas a las puertas de las pastelerías; sin embargo, la conciencia de sentirse importantes y la paga de siete chelines a la semana con la expectativa de un rápido aumento a ocho viene en su auxilio y en consecuencia inclinan sus sombreros un poco más hacia un lado y miran bajo las tocas de todas las modistillas de los sombrereros y fabricantes de corsés -¡pobres chicas!- a quienes mientras más trabajan peor les pagan, y que muy a menudo son la clase más explotada de la sociedad.” (“Las calles de día”).
Cada momento tiene su magia inherente, a pesar de estar describiendo acciones que no pasan de ser el día a día de una gran ciudad, con su aparente monotonía, hasta se puede escribir sobre el transporte público sin ser aburrido; los coches de día y los ómnibus se vuelven familiares gracias al humor de Dickens:
“Generalmente se admite que el transporte público proporciona un vasto campo para la observación y el entretenimiento. De todos los transportes públicos que se han inventado desde los tiempos del Arca de Noé –pensamos que ese es el más antiguo del que se tiene constancia- hasta la actualidad, me quedo con el ómnibus.” (“Los ómnibus”).
Buena cuenta de su capacidad humorística se pone de relieve en algo tan aparentemente falto de interés como una crónica parlamentaria; así en “Un esbozo parlamentario” el prólogo es muy sintomático de esta virtud, además de utilizar la exhortación directa al lector como recurso para aumentar la involucración:
“Esperamos que nuestros lectores no se alarmen por lo ominoso del título. Les aseguramos que no vamos a tratar de política ni tenemos la más ligera intención de ser más aburridos que de costumbre –si podemos evitarlo-. Se nos ha ocurrido que un esbozo superficial del aspecto general de “la Cámara” y las multitudes que acuden a ella la noche de un debate importante daría lugar a algún entretenimiento.”
Según avanzamos en su lectura comprobamos que, en efecto, su sátira es aún más ejemplarizante y cómica al mismo tiempo:
“El espacio principal de la Cámara y las galerías laterales están llenos de parlamentarios, unos con las piernas sobre el asiento de delante, otros con las piernas estiradas por completo en el suelo, unos saliendo, otros entrando, todos hablando, riendo, ganduleando, tosiendo, gritando de asombro preguntando o gruñendo, presentando un conglomerado de ruido y confusión imposible de encontrar en ningún otro lugar, ni tan siquiera con las excepciones de Smithfield en día de mercado o una pelea de gallos en su apogeo.”
Solamente por el proverbial esbozo “Una visita a Newgate” esta recopilación valdría la pena; prodigio de estilo y manejo de la estructura más arriesgada a medio camino del realismo más lírico sin dejar de ser social:
“La chica pertenecía a una clase –por desgracia tan extendida- cuya misma existencia debería hacer sangrar los corazones. Apenas pasada la infancia, no hacía falta más que una ojeada para descubrir que era una de esas criaturas nacidas y criadas en el abandono y el vicio, que jamás han conocido lo que es la niñez, a las que nunca se les ha enseñado a amar ni buscar la sonrisa de los padres, o temer su ceño fruncido. Los mil cariños de la infancia, su alegría e inocencia les son todos desconocidos. Han entrado en seguida en las duras responsabilidades y penurias de la vida, y después es casi inútil apelar a su mejor naturaleza con las referencias que despiertan, aunque sea solo durante un instante, algún buen sentimiento en el pecho de cualquiera, por más corrupto que haya llegado a estar.”
Red Christmas giftEntrando por momentos en el territorio del sueño para volver a la crónica:
“Sigue un periodo de inconsciencia. Se despierta, aterido y consternado. La mortecina luz gris de la mañana se cuela en la celda y cae sobre la figura del carcelero de guardia. Confuso por los sueños, salta del camastro dudando por un instante. Pero solo es un instante. Todos y cada uno de los objetos de la estrecha celda son demasiado terriblemente reales como para dar lugar a duda o error. Vuelve a ser el reo condenado de nuevo, culpable y desesperado; y en dos horas más estará muerto.”
Todo ello acompañado, además, por los magníficos grabados de la época de George CruikShank, que componen una indisoluble unión de mucha calidad.
Los textos provienen de la traducción y edición de Miguel Ángel Martínez-Cabeza para Abada Editores.
Bis Dickensiano: “La navidad cuando dejamos de ser niños” es una recopilación de cuentos navideños, o que se relacionan con lo navideño y que el mismo Dickens escribió entre 1851 y 1853, ya alejado de sus cuentos más conocidos. Tanto el cuento homónimo como los otros cuatro guardan una calidad media que nos retrotraen a esa época a la que tanto valor daba el británico. Especialmente hermoso resulta “El cuento del pariente pobre” donde juega nuevamente con la imaginación como elemento alienador a la hora de sobrevivir:
“Ese es mi castillo, y esas son las circunstancias reales de vida allí. A veces llevo al pequeño Frank conmigo. Mis nietos lo reciben con alegría, y juegan juntos. En esta época del año, Navidad y Año Nuevo, rara vez salgo de mi Castillo. Pues los recuerdos de estos días parecen retenerme allí, y sus preceptos parecen enseñarme que es bueno estar en él.
-Y el castillo está… -empezó a decir la voz grave y armoniosa de uno de los presentes. […]
-¡Mi castillo está en el aire! He llegado al final. ¿Tendría la amabilidad de contar su historia el siguiente?”
El verdadero valor de la Navidad tal y como entendía Dickens tenía que ver con lo social, con el amor fraterno, sobre todo de los que no están en buenas relaciones:
“Nuestra marcha, la de los más orgullosos lleva el camino polvoriento por el que ellos avanzan. ¡Ay! Acordémonos de ellos este año al calor del fuego navideño, y no los olvidemos cuando este se extinga.”
cover silverman.cdrTextos de la traducción de Marta Salís de “La Navidad cuando dejamos de ser niños” para Alba Brevis
Segundo Bis Dickensiano: “La declaración de George Silverman”, cuento corto de un Dickens ya en su madurez que nos trae la curiosa historia de uno de esos pequeños inadaptados, un relato de formación que comienza en la nada más absoluta:
“Hasta entonces no había tenido la más ligera idea de lo que era el deber. Tampoco había tenido conocimiento de que existiera nada hermoso en esta vida. Cuando en alguna ocasión había trepado por las escaleras del sótano hasta la calle y había mirado los escaparates, lo había hecho sin un ánimo superior al que le suponemos a un cachorro sarnoso o a un lobezno. Igual que nunca había estado a solas, en el sentido de mantener una conversación altruista conmigo mismo. Muy a menudo estaba solo, pero nada más.”
Y que avanza a través de la vida eclesiástica:
“Al saberme incapacitado para la ruidosa agitación de la vida social, pero creyéndome cualificado para cumplir mi deber de una forma ponderada, aunque con esfuerzo, en el caso de obtener algún nombramiento poco importante en la Iglesia, me dediqué a la carrera eclesiástica.”
Descubriendo igualmente lo malo que puede ser todo, pero encontrando también amor en un camino lleno de dolor; una pequeña gran historia aderezada con las iconoclastas y vivaces ilustraciones de Ricardo Cavolo.
Los textos son de la traducción de Elena García Paredes para esta edición de Periférica
March 23, 2025
Es una novela realmente corta, donde aparecen también el típico huérfano al que sus padres maltratan, personajes dudosos que solo tratan de sacar algún partido y un final desesperanzador.
George es un niño pobre al que sus padres dejan encerrado todo el día en un sótano frío y húmedo mientras están fuera de casa. Sus padres mueren de forma repentina por una fiebres y el se queda encerrado en el sótano sin comida ni bebida. Cuando lo encuentran, el se comporta casi como una bestia que lo único que quiere comer y beber.
De ahí en adelante vemos como es acogido por un siniestro personaje, que tan sólo quiere aprovecharse de él por una posible herencia de un abuelo al que no conoce, pero del que siempre hablaba su madre, aunque al menos pudo asistir al colegio, educarse y vivir en sociedad.
En la parte final del libro asistimos al amor que surge entre el y una joven de la que hace de tutor. Guapa, inteligente, encantadora y rica. Es ahí donde reside el problema ya que él no tiene nada que ofrecerle, por lo que renuncia al amor y se lo entrega en bandeja a otro joven discípulo suyo.
George es un niño pobre al que sus padres dejan encerrado todo el día en un sótano frío y húmedo mientras están fuera de casa. Sus padres mueren de forma repentina por una fiebres y el se queda encerrado en el sótano sin comida ni bebida. Cuando lo encuentran, el se comporta casi como una bestia que lo único que quiere comer y beber.
De ahí en adelante vemos como es acogido por un siniestro personaje, que tan sólo quiere aprovecharse de él por una posible herencia de un abuelo al que no conoce, pero del que siempre hablaba su madre, aunque al menos pudo asistir al colegio, educarse y vivir en sociedad.
En la parte final del libro asistimos al amor que surge entre el y una joven de la que hace de tutor. Guapa, inteligente, encantadora y rica. Es ahí donde reside el problema ya que él no tiene nada que ofrecerle, por lo que renuncia al amor y se lo entrega en bandeja a otro joven discípulo suyo.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 25, 2022
La principal razón por la que a muchos lectores nos gusta Dickens es porque, en mundos grises y tormentosos, sus novelas suelen terminar con un rayo de luz y esperanza que se va haciendo camino entre las nubes hasta abrirse a un cielo despejado y futuros inciertos pero felices. La Declaración de George Silverman es todo lo contrario. Casi pareciera, más bien una novela de John Steinbeck, donde el protagonista, a pesar de sus buenas intenciones, de sus capacidades y sus pocas ambiciones, nunca tuvo oportunidad contra el mundo que lo hizo. No conocía esta novela corta de Dickens, y tarde mucho en leerla porque, la verdad, el inicio me pareció muy pesado y difícil de seguir; pero, una vez que he encontrado la personalidad de George, me he dejado llevar y me ha gustado.
No es mi trabajo favorito de Charles Dickens, pero definitivamente es interesante ver este otro lado un tanto pesimista, muy social (como siempre) del autor.
No es mi trabajo favorito de Charles Dickens, pero definitivamente es interesante ver este otro lado un tanto pesimista, muy social (como siempre) del autor.
January 24, 2025
Another little novella as my pursuit of the conquest of Dickens continues! Not his most engaging but it follows the protagonist as he works his way into the ministry, despite the hypocrisy of church leaders. Finally awarded a decent job by a rich woman who expects him to follow her orders, he accidentally falls afoul of her when he sets her daughter up with a young worker man. She does her best to destroy his reputation by spreading the rumor that he was paid to snare the girl's money for her new husband. But his friends protect him and he ends more or less happily if a little bitter. Dickens's overarching point that rich folks expect to be able to control the world through their wealth but that their reach can be limited comes shining through. Silverman is not well fleshed out, but is sympathetic and engaging.
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