Litwit Lounge discussion

"Dickens' Dream" by Robert William Buss

It occurs to me that transferring all my notes on the works of Charles Dickens here will take some time! I'm doing it bit by bit, but as you'll have noticed, asked for my other thread to be left without comment, until I've finished. At the current rate, this could take a couple of months.

Now it's quite possible that people may want to comment on one of the novels (or short stories etc.,) I've made notes on; give reactions, or just generally chat about Dickens. It seems unfair of me to block conversation! So I've come up with this thread :)

Mods, if this thread is not appropriate, then please delete it. Otherwise I'll edit this first comment when it's appropriate. Thanks!

Today would have been Charles Dickens's birthday: he was born on 7 February 1812 :)



There is actually some breaking news about Charles Dickens (I'm just listening to the radio) as the "Charles Dickens Museum" in Doughty Street, London has just acquired a cache of his letters. I visited there last year, just after they had had the newly discovered portrait on loan. And I saw the oil painting which hangs opposite his desk It is "Dickens's Dream" at the top of this thread :)

LINK HERE for an article about the purchase.

The letters date from the early years of his marriage, when he and Catherine were still happy and talk of all household details, such as instructions to his butler:

“At supper, let there be a good supply of champagne all over the table" and his reception in America. Also the couple's holiday in Switzerland:

“Picture me clambering over this, with a great leaping pole, and half a dozen iron points buckled on to the soles of my shoes, and washing my face with snow, and going down to drink melted ice like chrystal [sic], and staggering and hauling myself up into places like Dreams.”

It sounds as though parts as as funny as his books! He describes too, his enormous sadness on the death of his young sister-in-law (the only time in his life when he missed a deadline for his serials) and a lot besides. Time for another trip to Doughty Street, I think :)

Apparently "Bleak House" is up for sale again! I remember it was up for sale in 2017, when the asking price was £5.2 million, but now, since they are having difficulty selling it, the current owners have dropped the price to £2.5 million. Here it is:



The house is nearly 200 years old, (built in 1801) and in the coastal town of Broadstairs, East Kent, looking across Viking Bay. It is Charles Dickens's former holiday home, where he wrote his eighth novel, David Copperfield. The study, with its ocean views, was the author's favourite spot in the house. It has no actual connection to Bleak House of the 1853 novel; it's just that it was named after it.

Still, it's a mere snip at £2,500,000. Now just let me get my piggy bank out to see if I have enough pennies ... ;)