Why read Charles Dickens?
The recent awarding of the 2007 Commonwealth Writers Prize to Lloyd Jones for his novel Mister Pip prompted me to wonder about the relevance of Charles Dickens’ writing to school students today. I’ve never forgotten the response of one boy in my high school English Literature class to Great Expectations.
Ian was not doing English Lit. because of his love for books. He had chosen the subject because it was likely to get him higher marks than English for his TAE (Tertiary Admissions Exams). I was doing physics for the same reason, so whilst Ian occassionally helped me out with the more abstruse laws of physics, to him I illuminated some of the subtleties of Shakespeare. However, when Ian read Great Expectations his face lit up without any help from me – something, and I’m not sure what, struck a chord. Ian was hooked.
It would seem the novel made a similarly lasting impression on some of today’s best writers. Peter Carey based his Miles Franklin award winning novel Jack Maggs on the convict Magwitch from Great Expectations. He explains in this interview why he felt a strong connection with that novel.
Lloyd Jones’ winning novel is about a white man on war torn Bougainville during the 1990’s, who transforms the lives of his students by reading to them from the same novel.
One reason, then, to read Dickens and other great authors from the past is so that you won’t miss the myriad of allusions to their work in contemporary novels. Sure, you can still enjoy the recent novels without this knowledge, but it’s a bit like enjoying a delicious sticky date pudding without cream or ice-cream.
???
What is it about Great Expectations that captures the imagination and holds on to it? Have you read it? Was that because it was a set school text?Did you like it? Did you find it dated? Were you tempted to read more of Dickens’ work?
Have you read any other contemporary novels that refer to, or are partly based upon novels from the past?
Mrs Sweeney
