Tag Archives: unexpected Dickens
Novelist of life
My daughter Meg and I watched American Public Television’s “Dickens’ Secret Lover.” Probably not the most exalted way to mark the bicentennial, but Dickens’ escapades with the (very) young actress Nell Ternan were a part of his life, as much … Continue reading
Filed under Dickens novels
Dickens vs. the playwright Marc Connelly
The birthday of playwright Marc Connelly is noted in the Dec. 13 edition of The Writer’s Almanac. I’d never heard of him, although I’m vaguely familiar with his collaborator George S. Kaufman. (Both were members of the Algonquin Round Table.) … Continue reading
Filed under Dickens in unexpected places
Another Atkinson reference
In Started Early, Took My Dog, Kate Atkinson’s private investigator Jackson Brodie examines the folder he’s just stolen from social worker Linda Pallister’s desk and remembers: the Dickensian piles of papers and files in her messy office. You could hide … Continue reading
Filed under Dickens in unexpected places
Who really wrote Dickens?
From “Who Really Wrote Shakepeare?” a piece by Eric Idle in The New Yorker: …two men and a cat wrote most of Charles Dickens, with the exception of “A Tale of Two Cities,” which Napoleon wrote while visiting St. Helena… … Continue reading
Filed under Dickens in unexpected places, Dickens novels
Dickens in Atkinson
Just read this in When Will There Be Good News, by Kate Atkinson: Reggie’s block of flats showed no sign of either up or coming. The close always smelled unpleasant, and Reggie was the only one who ever cleaned the … Continue reading
Filed under Dickens in unexpected places
Dickens Fair
Did I mention I’m going to the Dickens Fair in San Francisco, after all? http://www.dickensfair.com/ Here’s the description: A holiday adventure into Victorian London, partying with hundreds of costumed players in over 120,000 square feet of theatrically-lit music halls, pubs, … Continue reading
State of Dickens
Dickens looms over my literary landscape like no other—even when I’m not on the hunt for him. Whenever I cast my eyes on a book or a magazine, I manage to reel in Dickens. I just finished State of Wonder … Continue reading
Filed under Dickens in unexpected places
Valentine’s Day 1842
I just read today’s Writer’s Almanac, which described New York City’s “Boz Ball,” a Valentine’s Day tribute to Dickens while on his first American tour. Part of the description: “The Boz Ball was unprecedented. Thousands of dollars were spent on … Continue reading
Filed under Dickens in unexpected places
Scrooge
Not surprisingly, one of my favorite Christmas films is Scrooge, the 1971 musical version of A Christmas Carol starring Albert Finney. I taped a VHS version from TV in the late 80s: my daughters grew up with that tape, and … Continue reading
Filed under Christmas Carol
