Bleak House discussion

This thread is for members to post links to supplementary readings and websites about Charles Dickens.

In Christopher Hitchen's Arguably, a review he wrote for the May 2010 Atlantic is reprinted, titled "The Dark Side of Dickens". It's a review of Michael Slater's Charles Dickens, in which Hitchens in several places compares it to Peter Ackroyd's Dickens, with the latter coming out ahead consistently.

In the review Hitchens admits to being more than a little impressed with Dickens' literary abilities. However, the "Dark Side" referred to was new to me. In just a few pages Hitchens (as is his wont) casts out quite a few negative comments about the novelist, particularly about what he sees as "the very severe constraints" concerning Dickens' "legendary compassion" that are evidenced particularly by his views on the British Empire, and by comments which he made concerning the 1857 Indian rebellion and the 1865 Jamaican revolt.

Thanks, Ted -- I'll be interested to hear what other group members have read about these issues. I read the Ackroyd biography ages ago, and have the Slater and the Tomalin bios waiting to be read at some point. Have you had a chance to delve into any of Hitchens' criticisms? If not, this could be an interesting area to explore in the group.

No I haven't, Kris.

Thanks for getting us started with a great topic to explore, Ted.

Comprehensive site on Dickens with many resources: http://charlesdickenspage.com/index.html

For a host of books, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_...

When this page opens up, move you browser above the "Further Reading" topic, to the Bibliography section.

Ted wrote: "For a host of books, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_...

When this page opens up, move you browser above the "Further Reading" topic, to the Bibliography section."

Ted, this is wonderful, thank you. I may select a few of the reference books and post them in the Group's Library.

I read the Tomalin biography recently, and got a lot out of it. Much of it was familiar territory, as I'd read the Johnson biography some years back. Interesting insight into Dickens' personal life, especially his treatment of those around him, and his children in particular. Not the first time I've been very glad not to have been related to a major artist.