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Good Fathers And Bad Mothers
Aug. 2nd, 2009 02:12 pmDec 2008
Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - Oxford University Press, 2008
* * * * *
Truth be told, Dickens is not as great a writer as some critics and literary academics have made him out to be. He has an eye for character and a way with words, but his novels can be preachy, digressive and appallingly sentimental, with viewpoint characters who are thin moral ciphers rather than real people (exhibit A: The Old Curiosity Shop). These weaknesses, especially if encountered in an uninspiring educational context, must have created a legion of the Dickens-phobic, and it is possible that you, dear reader, are one of them. In which case, this review is for you.
Firstly it is important to acknowledge that your antipathy is not at all unreasonable (or unusual: a google for "I hate Dickens" returns 352,000 results). If you are intolerant of emotionalism or implausible characterisation, Dickens is always going to be a hard sell, and I am certainly not going to argue that Great Expectations is free from them. But it has a focused three-act plot structure, a flawed and therefore interesting hero, and things to say about betrayal, revenge, class, the corrupting effects of unearned rewards and the well-springs of character. So it might be worth a few hours of your time.
( Read more... )
Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - Oxford University Press, 2008
* * * * *
Truth be told, Dickens is not as great a writer as some critics and literary academics have made him out to be. He has an eye for character and a way with words, but his novels can be preachy, digressive and appallingly sentimental, with viewpoint characters who are thin moral ciphers rather than real people (exhibit A: The Old Curiosity Shop). These weaknesses, especially if encountered in an uninspiring educational context, must have created a legion of the Dickens-phobic, and it is possible that you, dear reader, are one of them. In which case, this review is for you.
Firstly it is important to acknowledge that your antipathy is not at all unreasonable (or unusual: a google for "I hate Dickens" returns 352,000 results). If you are intolerant of emotionalism or implausible characterisation, Dickens is always going to be a hard sell, and I am certainly not going to argue that Great Expectations is free from them. But it has a focused three-act plot structure, a flawed and therefore interesting hero, and things to say about betrayal, revenge, class, the corrupting effects of unearned rewards and the well-springs of character. So it might be worth a few hours of your time.
( Read more... )