I found this brilliant video on YouTube the other day. It takes me back to The Smith's on Top Of The Pops and how Morrissey would dance with flowers in the air. Enjoy.
No doubt walking in seedy London neighbourhoods and meeting rally life characters like Fagin for his books. Some of which are still in print. A Christmas Carol comes to mind.
I took a few photos of one of his houses when I visited Broadstairs in Kent a few years ago if you remember kind readers? Just put Broadstairs in my blog search.
He was a social reformer . One thing I love about Ireland is that there is no social class.
Can you think of any modern day social reformer writer who champions ordinary folk?
Where are the George Orwells of today?
I didn't realise he died so young.
ReplyDeleteNor did I JayCee. The money he made was staggering when converted to modern times. Perhaps the pen is mightier than the sword?
DeleteAt the time Dickens died that was the average life expectancy.
DeleteGosh. Thanks for the info Rachel.
DeleteThey don't seek publicity so their names are not known. That is my experience. I know of good works that are being done right now and good people but they would not wish it to be known. You are perhaps more likely to find out after they are dead. Thanks Dave.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if he would have had a blog like we do Rachel? You make some very good points. Not everyone wants the bright lights and fame. He was a remarkable person.
ReplyDeleteI prefer 1984 and Animal Farm rather than Dickens, whose birthplace is in Portsmouth, local to us.
ReplyDeleteThe Road To Wigan Pier and Down and Out In London and Paris Chronicles working class people in the nineteen thirties Marlene. He really did paint word pictures of the coal face and life, warts and all.
ReplyDeleteBernie Sanders. There are a lot of local social activists who are not well known at all, which is a pity, because they really make powerful ripples in their little ponds.
ReplyDeleteThanks Debby. I know of him but know little about him. I Googled him and see he once lived on a kibbutz. That must have been really interesting. Working with people from different backgrounds and growing vegetables together. Thanks Debby.
ReplyDeleteCharles Dickens was an insomniac and often tramped the streets of London in the dead of night or very early in the morning. He knew the city in a way that politicians never would. As for modern "social novelists" who continuously speak for the disadvantaged and downtrodden - I am afraid I cannot think of any but you do see elements of sympathy, protest and anger in many novels. At university, I found a lot of that in African Literature.
ReplyDeleteGood observations YP. I wonder many of Dickens fictional characters were real people who he met on his walks? Orwell certainly lived and worked with very poor people and recorded their often very miserable lives.
ReplyDeleteLife expectancy in Victorian England was as low as it was because of the high infant mortality. A person reaching adulthood could expect to live to a decent age, if they were relatively well off.
ReplyDeleteSo true Traveller. I think if you worked at a big house in the countryside you would be fit, well fed and would probably live longer than someone in a big polluted city like London. The Winters and Summers would be hard work. Especially on the farms and in the walled gardens.
ReplyDeleteWe watched The Brontes Lived Here on BBC 4 last night. Made in 1973 and narrated by the wonderful Margaret Drabble. She explained their literary genius, rural isolation and very short lived lives. Remarkable how a C of E West Riding of Yorkshire vicars daughters could write such literary classics. Thanks Traveller.
I was very surprised to read that Charles Dickens kept a woman on the side, and that he probably had that stroke at her home, but was quietly trundled back home (where he died) to avoid scandal. Imagine living in such a time that your husband's behavior would cause you to lose your own place in your social circle? I just read a book about the Johnstown Flood. It talked of how exciting it was to have Charles Dickens come to their town to talk.
ReplyDeleteYes I read about his lady friend on the old Tinternet Debby. I also read about his tours to America. He must have been a great orator and very loud speaker to read out loud his books to packed theatres with no public address systems. You have sent me down a literary rabbit hole with the Johnstown Flood. That's tonight's surfing. His best selling A Christmas Carol is still in print today.
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