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Dickens of a Writer 1/13/2012 8:38:25 AM
For an enjoyable afternoon, dust off a Charles Dickens novel and enter another world . . . A few weeks ago I read Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" and was enthralled, entertained, and mesmerized. Even though I knew the general story and had seen several versions on television and the big screen, I discovered what I learned in high school; Dickens is one of the best if not the best novelist ever.
Hooked, I picked up a copy of Oliver Twist and now, three quarters through, I eagerly turn each page to read the innocent's encounters with the evil Fagin and Bill Sikes, sympathetic Nancy, the Artful Dodger, and the remaining cast of sentimental and comical characters.
Who can top the following description of Fagin? "As he glided stealthily along, creeping beneath the shelter of the walls, and doorways, the hideous old man seemed like some loathsome reptile, engendered in the slime and darkness through which he moved, crawling forth, by night, in search of some rich offal for a meal."
Contrast the master thief, Fagin, with the lovely Rose: "She was not past seventeen. Cast in so slight and exquisite a mould, so mild and gentle, so pure and beautiful that earth seemed not her element, nor its rough creatures her fit companions."
After Oliver Twist I'm going to read David Copperfield and hope to learn a few more lessons in novel writing. Maybe his paragraphs seem too long or descriptions too detailed, but Dickens grabs your heart and mind, and entices you into the London of the mid 1800s. That's not an easy thing to do.
