The Selected Letters of Charles DickensFrom Oxford University Press
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The Selected Letters of Charles DickensFrom Oxford University Press
Ebook PDF The Selected Letters of Charles DickensFrom Oxford University Press
What was it like to be Charles Dickens? His letters are the nearest we can get to a Dickens autobiography: vivid close-up snapshots of a life lived at maximum intensity. This is the first selection to be made from the magisterial twelve-volume British Academy Pilgrim Edition of his letters. From over fourteen thousand, four hundred and fifty have been cherry-picked to give readers the best essence of 'the Sparkler of Albion'. Dickens was a man with ten times the energy of ordinary mortals. There seem to have been twice the number of hours in his day, and he threw himself into letter-writing as he did into everything else. This eagerly awaited selection takes us straight to the heart of his life, to show us Dickens at first hand. Here he is writing out of the heat of the moment: as a novelist, journalist, and magazine editor; as a social campaigner and traveller in Europe and America, and as friend, lover, husband, and father. Reading and writing letters punctuated the rhythms of Dickens's day. 'I walk about brimful of letters', he told a friend. He claimed to write 'at the least, a dozen a day'. Sometimes it was a chore but more often a pleasure: an outlet for high spirits, sparkling wit, and caustic commentary - always as seen through his highly individual and acutely observing eye. Whether you dip in or read straight through, this selection of his letters creates afresh the brilliance of being Dickens, and the sheer pleasure of being in his company.
The Selected Letters of Charles DickensFrom Oxford University Press- Amazon Sales Rank: #801329 in Books
- Published on: 2015-09-30
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 6.00" h x 1.10" w x 9.10" l, .0 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 496 pages
From Booklist These 450 letters, drawn from a total of 14,000, are well chosen and annotated, but the print is very small. Dickens is not one of the great confessional correspondents. In his energetic, often hasty responses to ideas and people, projects and places, debts and death, his tone varies from chummy to fawning. He describes the genesis of his novels, creation of characters, choice of titles; his editing of periodicals and performing in amateur theatricals. He attends a public hanging: “I stand astounded and appalled by the wickedness it exhibits.” He writes that “invention seems the easiest thing in the world. But the difficulty of going at what I call a rapid pace is prodigious.” He exclaims that he’s breaking his heart over the death of Little Nell “and cannot bear to finish it.” A near-fatal railway accident throws him into shock: “I was in the carriage that did not go over the bridge, but which caught on one side and hung suspended over the ruined parapet.” Essential for those interested in Dickens but not riveting for the casual reader. --Jeffrey Meyers
Review Review from previous edition: "Glorious. This is a book for which readers have been waiting for a very long time. It takes you directly, in Dickens's own words, and with incomparable vividness, into his extraordinary life and mind. The notes and editorial matter deftly paint in the background to provide a detailed and constantly astonishing portrait of one of the most interesting men who ever lived." --Simon Callow"Among the dozens of Dickens publications connected with the bicentenary of the author's birth ... it is hard to imagine one more necessary than this" --Times Literary Supplement 10/02/2012"glorious letters reflecting every facet of Dickens's life; should not be missed" --The Sunday Times 12/02/2012"This is Dickens by Dickens. Whatever comes out in this bicentenary year, do not miss it." --The Sunday Times 05/02/2012"(Hartley's) selection is a miracle of compression and editorial tact" --New Statesman 06/02/2012"Dickens lovers will all be grateful to Hartley for her skill and judgement." --Literary Review 01/02/2012"Edited with unobtrusive intelligence and insight by Jenny Hartley" --The Independent 03/02/2012"a marvellous volume" --The Scotsman 18/02/2012"It's a thrilling, surprisingly fresh book." --The Evening Standard 02/02/2012"An absolute gem ... reads better than any actual novel Dickens ever wrote ... Hartley would please a great many readers by producing a second volume from the same dragon-hoard ... A typically classy Oxford affair" --Open Letters 05/2012
About the Author Jenny Hartley, Professor of English Literature, Roehampton UniversityJenny Hartley is Professor of English Literature at Roehampton University. She is the author of two books on British women's writing from the Second World War, and The Reading Groups Book, a pioneering survey of reading groups. Her most recent book, Charles Dickens and the House of Fallen Women, published by Methuen in 2008, was picked Guardian 'Book of the Week' and described as 'brilliant' by Claire Tomalin. For the last ten years she has been a leading member of the Prison Reading Groups project.
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Most helpful customer reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful. Beaten with a Sledge-Hammer By Christian Schlect The sparkling letters of a great author are always well worth reading. This is especially true of Charles Dickens who was an incessant traveler, kind friend to many, and a close observer of the social issues of his age. Not to mention often funny.Here one can glean insights on writing for publication, on forms of thank you and bereavement notes, on career advice, on travel, and on direct but polite ways to say no.In these letters one often comes across the unexpected line that makes reading a joy. For example, from a letter dated November 5, 1841, "In this kind of work the object is,--not to tell everything, but to select the striking points and beat them into the page with a sledge-hammer."Those interested in obtaining a biography of Charles Dickens have many excellent options. One from last year, on his early years, that I would recommend is "Becoming Dickens" by Robert Douglas-Fairhurst.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. Poorly bound book of great letters By Nancy Kopald First, no complaints about the contents. It is a joy and a privilege to read these letters.The letters are nicely laid out on the page, though the footnotes are at the end of each letter, and thus one often has to turn a page or two to refer to them.Now for the quality of the physical book. The paper is acid-free, bright white, and the print is of a nice, uniform blackness. But the quality of the paper seems to be one step above construction paper. The binding is a disgrace. It is disheartening for the future of physical books that OUP would issue a hardcover so poorly bound that it will not lie open flat on a desk. The physical quality of this book is an insult to the great writing of Charles Dickens.Finally, Ms. Hartley seems to have done an admirable job of selecting and editing the letters, but she should still have had the modesty to title the book Selected Letters, not The Selected Letters.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. revealing By Russell E Shipp In Dickens novels, his favorite protagonists distinguish themselves by remaining cheerful through adversity. I thought Dickens letters would reveal if his own character mirrored that of his protagonists. Seems it does.
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