This afternoon I have begun another item on my “ bucket list.” I’ve begun reading (rereading in some cases) the major novels by Charles Dickens. Shown below is my first selection.
Read about Dickens and The Pickwick Papers in the following excerpt:
In his book The English Novel Walter Allen describes Charles Dickens as the "great novelist who was also the great entertainer, the greatest entertainer, probably, in the history of fiction " (Allen, 1954, p. 179). Dickens' genius as entertainer manifests itself in his first novel The Pickwick Papers. Pickwick [not really a novel at all], a loose collection of the zany adventures of Samuel Pickwick and his friends, was a departure from the traditional novel and was instantly a smash success. This success happened at a time when huge technological strides were being made in manufacturing and travel, helping Dickens' fame to spread worldwide.
Dickens' ability to capture the imagination of his audience, many of them new to fiction because of a rise in literacy during the industrial revolution, was due largely to his amazing power of observation, incredible wit, unforgettable characters, and a command of the English language probably second only to Shakespeare (Smith, 1996, p. 13). His fiction provided a voice for the causes and frustrations of the poor and working classes, helping to assure his popularity across class boundaries.
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