The Enduring Appeal of Charles Dickens

[littlerdog.livejournal.com]

(and yes, I am still reading the Tomalin biography)

As an observer of the human scene Dickens wasn't the cosy sentimentalist to whom we were introduced at school, any more than he was just an angry protestor against Victorian injustice. As he saw it, if I read him right, human life was fickle, erratic and inherently unruly.

Comments

[littlerdog.livejournal.com]

Can't help feeling this article shows a misunderstanding of Dickens. Yes, he didn't see politics as a means to effect change, but this is possibly because, as a Commons reporter, he saw evidence-based and reasonable arguments ignored in favour of a punitive approach to the 'problem' of the indigent. He simply didn't think politics could achieve anything, so why waste his time on it? It wasn't that he didn't think change could be brought about. If he had, why would he have established a Home for the purposes of helping women off the streets, or written so fiercely about the plight of the poor and the indifference of the rich?

[littlerdog.livejournal.com]

Altho, according to the Tomalin book, he did consider becoming an MP at one time.