tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79247383501152272962023-11-16T17:37:35.243+07:00All About DickensFanda Classiclithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07642429343958941266noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7924738350115227296.post-52499855480888534982012-12-27T13:29:00.000+07:002013-02-06T14:15:49.919+07:00Pip from Great Expectations<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVRooI6uEKh5j82W_RaNkeG-cab2P9gz6dt0jxf6zwwpkeq11OJM2g965eISs72hJlfmoyoi1pvbJ74SszdP3DWwYG7LrgPSEReQqJJyIQG_4p1nJ8tQeFWj6jWBHO0f2P4hJVypgB77A/s1600/pip.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVRooI6uEKh5j82W_RaNkeG-cab2P9gz6dt0jxf6zwwpkeq11OJM2g965eISs72hJlfmoyoi1pvbJ74SszdP3DWwYG7LrgPSEReQqJJyIQG_4p1nJ8tQeFWj6jWBHO0f2P4hJVypgB77A/s320/pip.JPG" width="320" /></a>Pip is the main protagonist in <a href="http://klasikfanda.blogspot.com/2012/12/great-expectations.html">Great Expectations</a>, he was a poor child; an orphan who brought up “by hand”
by his sister, a wife of a blacksmith on a small village near a marsh. While I
understand that Pip’s sister mush have been tired of living in poor condition,
I still cannot understand how people could be that mean to an innocent child.
Anyway, despite of his sister’s bad treatment, Pip did not grow up bitterly. I
believe Joe’s lovable character has a good influence over Pip’s soul. Then a
convict run away and came across Pip’s faith…</div>
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Since his encounter with Magwitch—the convict—Pip’s soul had
been restless, he was haunted by his own conscience because he had stolen from
his sister and Joe to avoid the convict’s threat to kill him. Although Magwitch
took Pip’s deed as a great loving deed, I don’t think Pip has ever thought it
the same. I believe Pip wanted to scrap his action from his history if he
could.</div>
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After that, Pip met <a href="http://allaboutdickens.blogspot.com/search/label/Miss%20Havisham">Miss Havisham</a>, whose life’s sole purpose
was to take revenge to men. This stage brought a huge influence to young Pip,
from ordinary child, he now know the different between common and uncommon
people. He got embarrassed by his commonly manners, and along with his frequent
visits to Satis House, his dislike to his own life grew bigger to the level of
disgust. Yet, I could not blame Pip, who won’t feel that way when one was
frequently introduced to fine things? Plus, Pip had been attracted to Estella,
and it’s natural that he dreamed to have a life as a gentleman.</div>
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The trial of his character came when he got his great
expectations from a mysterious benefactor. Pip finally became a gentleman as he
dreamed of, and as what often happens to us, he became snobby. Pip began to feel
uncomfortable with Joe’s presence or other aspects from his youth. But it all
changed after he realized what his real benefactor had done for him. I think
this was the point of return of Pip’s transformation to the greater end. This
and the hard times he experienced as the result of his new lifestyle. He
finally knew that being a gentleman was not only a lifestyle or manner, it’s
also about doing honorable things.</div>
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I’m very glad that Pip could overcome his anger to Magwitch
(for forcing him to stealing) and to Miss Havisham (for using him for her
revenge plot). He forgave those two persons who had bigger influence to his
transformation. Pip even had affection to them in the end; I think Magwitch and
Miss Havisham could be regarded as Pip’s father and mother—two figures that Pip
never had. It amazes me how Pip kept visiting Satis House (other than trying to
see Estella), I think he somehow felt bound to Miss Havisham (I don’t remember
Pip ever said bad things to or about her).</div>
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Being an orphan, it’s quite remarkable that Pip could
transform to a better way. I believe that hard times would somehow build our
personalities, and when you had people who love you, or at least you have
someone you love dearly, those aspects help you to develop.</div>
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Fanda Classiclithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07642429343958941266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7924738350115227296.post-90715859326540882322012-12-20T13:17:00.000+07:002013-02-06T14:15:09.136+07:00Miss Havisham from Great Expectations<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNjjA3sK_ZyjxwLxmmEm_NIXphM5Xihqzo7DK_i_7GYFsa9_OFKHQgqiVoUA40sRwKoMa9rM_kkN0tMHaU7HaS-F8SmkM7NCukSFyJf8kEn3Hrr1C-ZfHzKlrR_uhHac3zSTWs0Lb_-Tw/s1600/miss-havisham-gillian-anderson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNjjA3sK_ZyjxwLxmmEm_NIXphM5Xihqzo7DK_i_7GYFsa9_OFKHQgqiVoUA40sRwKoMa9rM_kkN0tMHaU7HaS-F8SmkM7NCukSFyJf8kEn3Hrr1C-ZfHzKlrR_uhHac3zSTWs0Lb_-Tw/s320/miss-havisham-gillian-anderson.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gillian Anderson in 2011 BBC miniseries</td></tr>
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If I must choose, which character in <a href="http://klasikfanda.blogspot.com/2012/12/great-expectations.html">Great Expectations</a> who
had experienced the most extreme transformation, I’d choose Miss
Havisham—instead of the main protagonist <a href="http://allaboutdickens.blogspot.com/search/label/Pip">Pip</a> (I’d feature him for next week).
Miss Havisham was born in a rich family; she must have grown up very
comfortably, used to get anything she wanted, that when her fiancée left her on
the wedding day, she could not accept that reality. So big her resistance was,
she stopped living at the same minute as she received the rejection letter. All
the clocks were set on the time she received the letter, she dressed like when
the letter came (in wedding gown and only one shoes on), and the reception
party was left as it was for years (I wonder whether Dickens had the idea from
the famous tale Sleeping Beauty?...).</div>
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The fact that she wanted to stop dead everything in the
house, indifferent of anything else outside her own life, only reflected Miss
Havisham’s severe egotism. Egotism usually leads to narrow-mindedness. Miss
Havisham did not want to think about anything else other than her own revenge.
She could not or refused to see that being left by a man was not the end of the
world for a girl, and she was not the first nor the only nor the last girl in
the world who suffered for it. She just closed her mind and soul, and only had
a sole object in her mind: to revenge!</div>
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As she could not take revenge to the man concerned, Miss
Havisham adopted and raised a little girl for that sole purpose: revenge. But
what happened when the girl had grown up to be the lady-like young woman with iron
heart as Miss Havisham had wanted? Estella left her just like that. Although
she had raised Estella for revenge only, I think Miss Havisham
unconsciously—deep in her heart—loved her. The fact that Estella left her and
didn’t care about her, really hurt Miss Havisham. Perhaps there was still a
little affection left in Miss Havisham’s heart despite of her selfish anger.
And I believe Pip had something to do with that. Despite of Miss Havisham’s
taking advantage of Pip’s soul, Pip never hated her, he even forgave her. He
kept visiting Miss Havisham even after he knew his real benefactor. I think
there was kind of sympathy grew between Pip and Miss Havisham, that Miss
Havisham regretted what she had done to Pip, which caused him terribly
suffering the anguish of love, just as Miss Havisham’s.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Helena Bonham Carter in 2012's movie</td></tr>
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In the end—instead of having her revenge—Miss Havisham
experienced what her victims had felt. Her iron heart melt away, and she asked
for forgiveness from Pip and granted what Pip asked from her—as if she wanted
to repentant her sin of taken a life from an innocent boy by giving a life to
other man. Wasn’t it nice to see a cold-hearted lady finally realized that love
was about give and take, not only take?</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anne Bancroft in 1998 modernized movie</td></tr>
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<o:p>A little about who's playing the best Miss Havisham on screen. I have only watched two version: the 1998 movie (with modern setting) where Miss Havisham played by Anne Bancroft. She could make out Miss Havisham's eccentric quality very well, but I think she was too old for the role (assuming that when Pip met her, Miss Havisham was about 37-40 years old).</o:p></div>
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<o:p>The second one I watched very recently was the<a href="http://klasikfanda.blogspot.com/2012/12/classics-movie-great-expectations.html"> 2011 BBC's miniseries</a>, where Gillian Anderson took Miss Havisham's role. She fit more to the age, but maybe she was rather too soft for the cold hearted woman such as Miss Havisham.</o:p></div>
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I haven't watched the newest version of Great Expectations, where Helena Bonham Carter played Miss Havisham, so I can't give her any judgement, but from the trailer and from what I know about Helena, I think Miss Havisham here would be more grotesque than the predecessors.</div>
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I can only give my fair judgement after I watch the 2012 movie, but for you who have seen all, which one is your favorite?</div>
Fanda Classiclithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07642429343958941266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7924738350115227296.post-89485983154866631782012-12-14T13:47:00.000+07:002013-02-06T13:48:18.798+07:00[Movie Adaptation] Great Expectations<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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First of all
I must thank <a href="http://surgabukuku.wordpress.com/">Melisa</a> for copying this miniseries of Great Expectations for me
(come with it also Dorian Gray and Importance of Being Earnest which I haven’t yet
watched). This three-part miniseries was produced by BBC in 2011, an adaptation
work of Sarah Phelps.</div>
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As I like to
compare the movie with the original book, I watched this miniseries only
several days after I have finished reading the book (when the story and the
emotion were still quite fresh in my memory). So, here’s my review:</div>
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<b><i>Castings<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
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Overall it’s
okay, I had only two objections. First, the cast for Joe which I think was too
old and less innocent. Joe in this miniseries didn’t look like a hopeless
husband under his wife’s domination. In fact once or twice Joe bravely grasped
Pip from his wife’s beating; while in book Joe did not even dare to confront
his wife, afraid that he too would be beaten by his wife. Joe was also supposed
to be a shy guy, that when he must meet Miss Havisham, he kept directing his
words to Pip instead of talking directly to Miss Havisham. The Joe in the
miniseries seemed to have more confidence. And I’m just wondering, why Joe did
not look older at all at the later part, while all others did. :) My same
complaint goes for Wemmick’s cast. He’s much too old, almost as if he’s in the
same age as Mr. Jaggers! About Mr. Jaggers, I think he had played in Agatha
Christie’s movies as Hercule Poirot!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Is Gillian Anderson too pretty to be Miss Havisham?</td></tr>
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But the
worst, I think, is Estella’s cast. I’m so disappointed that she was far from “very
pretty” that made many men attracted to her. When Miss Havisham presented the
grown up Estella to Pip; when Estella stood next to her mother, well….Miss
Havisham was even prettier than her, despite of Miss Havisham’s pale face
(Gillian Anderson played as Miss Havisham). Estella in this miniseries looked
too boyish with her skinny and bony body (especially when she wore strapless
gown that seemed to hang loosely and rather un-proportionately on her body,
ugh!). Young Estella reflected much better Estella's original character from book.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grown-up Estella</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Young Estella</td></tr>
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<o:p></o:p><br />
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<b><i>Story
and Plot<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
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Overall the plot
followed the original one, only simplified here and there as we could expect in
movie adaptations. However, there are few things I did not agree with. First of
all, Biddy never showed up. This perhaps will make the plot more complex, but I
think Biddy has also some influences in Pip’s development. The second one was
how Pip resisted to Magwitch for—for me—too long; it only made Pip looked like
an ungrateful person—which I don’t think so. In the book Pip involved in the runaway
preparation, and Pip was tortured badly in the waiting of the event.</div>
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The last one
was the relationship of Pip and Estella; I know that movies tend to make
everything smooth. As if without at least one kissing scene—and it happened always
on romantic places which involving water (sea shores, by the lakeside…)—you won’t
be able to attract audiences. Perhaps it’s right, but watching how Estella
seemed to suddenly and quite easily loosen her resistance against Pip right
after leaving Satis House was ridiculous to me. </div>
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<b><i>Setting
and Costumes<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
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Now, while
the castings and plot might be slightly disappointing, the settings and the
costumes were really an entertainment! The misty marshes was fabulous, the
forge and Pip’s home were everything I always imagine them to be. Satis House
with the dusty and gloomy atmosphere, and the room with cobwebbed party
left-over was also cool. So pity we can’t see Wemmick’s country house, that
would be very interesting! :)</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoX0XnaR55X11wy2VVlZ03H7gVSANo8DdwlEks9U1O4y_neKdxrIi8nrjWGOQe7af5QHO44xFaG2nJ2gWtelROqY33mwmODtGALk_F6mSPMi8JLavwCK6qGjF5oda9-mO7ISQegGpnJfY/s1600/ge-miniseries-wedding-hall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoX0XnaR55X11wy2VVlZ03H7gVSANo8DdwlEks9U1O4y_neKdxrIi8nrjWGOQe7af5QHO44xFaG2nJ2gWtelROqY33mwmODtGALk_F6mSPMi8JLavwCK6qGjF5oda9-mO7ISQegGpnJfY/s320/ge-miniseries-wedding-hall.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wedding hall at Satis House</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCPB8pVn1mA2cwUwPATA4Fx34zj_vPk5osX4r6o3eTJ2m7f_qqkhHknNx_YXZ2HLS10nqYd7IPONeaaqSrU0qISjCm4fmSigRZaXr1mtVkeqGqLsPj9V4sIYh4_CdHsIsFj2-w16HSlvM/s1600/ge-miniseries-miss-havisham-weeding-gown.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCPB8pVn1mA2cwUwPATA4Fx34zj_vPk5osX4r6o3eTJ2m7f_qqkhHknNx_YXZ2HLS10nqYd7IPONeaaqSrU0qISjCm4fmSigRZaXr1mtVkeqGqLsPj9V4sIYh4_CdHsIsFj2-w16HSlvM/s320/ge-miniseries-miss-havisham-weeding-gown.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I like the
gentleman’s costumes here, especially Pip’s. Gillian Anderson looked elegant in
Miss Havisham’s old wedding gown, but I hate the choice for Estella’s costumes,
they were too plain—considering that Miss Havisham did everything she could to
make Estella shinning with beautiful jewelries. The jewelries had never appeared
in the miniseries, and compared to other ladies in the ball—for example—Estella
seemed too pale and ordinary, that if I had been one of the gentlemen there, I
would have not regarded her at all.</div>
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<br /></div>
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One thing
that was also interesting is the opening credits. I like the idea of the
transformation of a cocoon to a beautiful butterfly; it represents Pip’s
transformation so beautifully. He must get through hard times before finally
become a true gentleman (not only in outer appearance, but also in heart).</div>
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<br /></div>
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All in all, it
is quite enjoyable, especially if you have never read the book, or you have
read it long time ago that you have forgotten most of the details. 7 to 10 is
the best I can give for this miniseries.</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<o:p>...and this is the trailer:</o:p></div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZlR1ll0exBg" width="420"></iframe><br />
<br /></div>
</div>
Fanda Classiclithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07642429343958941266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7924738350115227296.post-77328758353887472512012-12-08T13:58:00.000+07:002013-02-06T13:58:28.585+07:00What Estella Meant to Pip in Great Expectations<br />
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This is a
passage of what Pip said to Estella, a reflection of his desperation in his
everlasting love to Estella…</div>
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<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirkbon1tjznaMSPpCWK21NUktAWZJ4Ws09aerWmdvORaHzCXo_ze2pt2AmR8fiXbHa9IavMUnTUl1pX8Sm_KsG8QNpyNC9Gt1ozdgRI21zU5aepiUOyoH8FQBKXgsxwONQpEpKsu9IGwI/s1600/estella-pip.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirkbon1tjznaMSPpCWK21NUktAWZJ4Ws09aerWmdvORaHzCXo_ze2pt2AmR8fiXbHa9IavMUnTUl1pX8Sm_KsG8QNpyNC9Gt1ozdgRI21zU5aepiUOyoH8FQBKXgsxwONQpEpKsu9IGwI/s320/estella-pip.jpg" width="194" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: large;"><i>You are part of my existence, part of
myself. You have been in every line I have ever read, since I first came here,
the rough common boy whose poor heart you wounded even then</i>.</span></blockquote>
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What makes
it more tragic is that it was so true, that Pip’s strong determination to be a
gentleman was mostly to melt Estella’s cold iron heart. It can be said that Pip’s
life changed after he had seen Estella for the first time. What a love! And
when I thought at first it’s only a childish love, it lasted until Pip grown up
to become a gentleman. Once again, what a love that someone you love can be
part of your existence!</div>
</div>
Fanda Classiclithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07642429343958941266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7924738350115227296.post-26943369780758242372012-12-07T13:10:00.000+07:002013-03-08T10:14:45.279+07:00[Review] Great Expectations<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWH-aW3wmFRGYbz0SiTtqxgVeE-8605rTKG1XBFTMrfPz2sQJ8TJM5uX8Xy5Ygk0YBopjNhddcqwUXHMDMBb3gT2tjtIQmPzC_jgblV-lX73QVfFKNLPRT8VOmjt-IIZONAm7bYmXJG0E/s1600/great-expectations.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWH-aW3wmFRGYbz0SiTtqxgVeE-8605rTKG1XBFTMrfPz2sQJ8TJM5uX8Xy5Ygk0YBopjNhddcqwUXHMDMBb3gT2tjtIQmPzC_jgblV-lX73QVfFKNLPRT8VOmjt-IIZONAm7bYmXJG0E/s320/great-expectations.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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I don’t
think one would be worthy to be called a Dickensian before reading Charles
Dickens’ masterpiece: Great Expectations. I have just done it, so I’m now
proudly calling myself a Dickensian! :) I don’t know why it took me rather long
before I come to Great Expectations; maybe because I had long time ago watched its
modern-setting movie adaptations—1998 version with Ethan Hawke and Gwyneth
Paltrow— which was rather weird to me and I didn’t like at all (bookish lesson
#1: do not watch a movie before you read the book!). Anyway, I have read it at
last, and I admit now that enjoyed Great Expectations very much from the first
to the last page.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Great
Expectations was written as an autobiography of a fictional character: Pip. It
was started when Pip was very young (around seven years old)—an orphan boy who
was brought ‘by hand’ by his sister, wife of a kind-hearted blacksmith named
Joe. In the real life, Pip might have grown up as a simple and humble
blacksmith in a small village, marrying a simple and smart girl like Biddy,
have kids, and would have finally buried in the church’ cemetery, just like his
father. However, faith brought him to another scenario of life. I don’t know
which one between the runaway convict and the eccentric Miss Havisham who had
the most effect in shaping Pip’s life into its new mold. I believe both of them
had an equal share, just like our lives molded by so many circumstances.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsDVhoCZfDPy_mz_CWtMFEutQSLSPN_aYslVlZycjqQn9JuTIP_Yv6HI-pPMfB3m8y-UfdvpxJgxeKWUteBP6i9ASqnCSv8deTddGbvWCLLeEpn-uO4_laCF11Yvjk_j8kvkSznPnBoT0/s1600/great-expectations-convict.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsDVhoCZfDPy_mz_CWtMFEutQSLSPN_aYslVlZycjqQn9JuTIP_Yv6HI-pPMfB3m8y-UfdvpxJgxeKWUteBP6i9ASqnCSv8deTddGbvWCLLeEpn-uO4_laCF11Yvjk_j8kvkSznPnBoT0/s320/great-expectations-convict.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pip and the convict</td></tr>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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If little
Pip had never been to Satis House, he would never had realized that he was a coarse
and common boy, he would have never wanted more than life had been providing
him up to that moment. And with that realization, come the need to have more. I’ve
been reflecting, if Pip had never been granted with the great expectations,
would he be happier then—as a poor boy who longed to have more but didn’t have
the power to reach it? I think Pip would always be tormented by his own dream,
he would always feel unworthy to love Estella, yet he loved her still.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The great
expectations molded Pip’s life even beyond his own dream, from a coarse poor
boy, he became a gentleman. He could now live the life he has always wanted.
Yet, happier was he? At first everything was so fantastic, but after that Pip
went through a lot of hard times that in the end he missed his old time again,
and wished he’d never have met either Miss Havisham or Magwitch the convict.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK4IbvJztBJlozJsfPoz8ZosdbmEGJKKRTmeAUMScCgC3UMYZQQV_0f9mdKXiucXIM11QPPZwyGyZxcHxo3YQKKv9YTKSkOon9hK-2oMcFYBhR_NWBE8-_OmztcDAcIacTzGJ90-aY2e4/s1600/great-expectations-miss-havisham.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK4IbvJztBJlozJsfPoz8ZosdbmEGJKKRTmeAUMScCgC3UMYZQQV_0f9mdKXiucXIM11QPPZwyGyZxcHxo3YQKKv9YTKSkOon9hK-2oMcFYBhR_NWBE8-_OmztcDAcIacTzGJ90-aY2e4/s320/great-expectations-miss-havisham.jpg" width="232" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pip met Miss Havisham & Estella</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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Back to my
reflection again, which one would be better for Pip? I believe the later one.
The hardship opened Pip’s realization of what were true and what were abstract
in life. Through the prosperity, and through Estella’s cruel and cold respond
towards his love, Pip learned so many things in his journey to be a grown up
man, that he finally knew by himself what he really wanted and what was the
most important and valuable in life for him. The great expectations have built
Pip’s personality much greater than if he lived as a blacksmith all his life.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
To me, Pip
is representing our own lives. He was not perfect, he made a big mistake as a
matter of fact by being snob at Joe and Biddy, but he endured all his hard
times very well, and he could learn from his mistake. I am happy because Pip was
forgiveness and grateful to his benefactor, despite of all the negative
consequences they had brought him. I think Pip know that people could bring you
their influences, but at the end, it’s you who must make the final decision.
Pip had made his own decision, wrong it was, but he learned, he regretted, he
asked for forgiveness, he learned for the good.</div>
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<br />
[<span style="font-size: x-small;">might contain spoiler</span>] The copy I
read (Penguin English Library) contains George Bernard Shaw’s analysis of Great
Expectations and other Dickens’ works, and from it I know what kind of ending
Dickens had originally put for this book—but being asked to discard by
Bulwer-Lytton. What we read now was the second ending Dickens wrote, but I
somehow felt that it was still not a perfect ending after all. I would have
preferred Dickens to end Pip and Estella’s love story for good, than being hung
with: “<i>I saw the shadow of no parting
from her</i>”. I felt that Dickens was forced to put a happier ending, but
somehow did not want to explicitly make it a ‘they-lived-happily ever-after” tale-kind
of ending. [<span style="font-size: x-small;">spoiler ends</span>]</div>
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<br /></div>
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Anyhow, I
grant five stars for Great Expectations, it was a great moral lesson in a great
story telling with aspects you can hope from a Victorian novel: romances,
mystery, action, the gothic atmosphere of Miss Havisham's Satis House, and criticism to hypocrite society who over-praised wealth and gentlemanship.</div>
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Fanda Classiclithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07642429343958941266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7924738350115227296.post-56228401440915377082012-07-19T09:23:00.000+07:002012-08-02T09:27:14.892+07:00Dick Swiveller from The Old Curiosity Shop<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8imtyepNuPTtLFZTCI6Fd9LISrE67oBr-1sSUlrpGxV9B_gzVu4DevhfmnS6P177uPfljKTHiU6IaRZH2JqV0ZiLUi9eGouu845NcQVcnyVk1WZqHbSErTUk_IK1Su_0mqIlI-ngMK3M/s1600/dick-swiveller1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8imtyepNuPTtLFZTCI6Fd9LISrE67oBr-1sSUlrpGxV9B_gzVu4DevhfmnS6P177uPfljKTHiU6IaRZH2JqV0ZiLUi9eGouu845NcQVcnyVk1WZqHbSErTUk_IK1Su_0mqIlI-ngMK3M/s1600/dick-swiveller1.jpg" /></a></div>
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Dick appeared at earlier chapters only as a comical
accessories to the main characters. He was brought to the scene by Fred Trent,
Nell’s big brother who suspected that their grandfather was actually a very
rich man, and all those times had hidden his treasure to be given to Nell when
she has grown up. Fred was a bad boy, and in order to persuade his grandfather,
he brought his flamboyant and poetical friend, Dick Swiveller. So, we can
assume Dick to be one of antagonists, as besides Fred, Dick also worked
together with Quilp, the main antagonist of this story.</div>
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</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Dick’s personality is quite a unique and unforgettable one,
he is not as perfect as Nell and Kit—I personally never like perfect characters
too much, they are only in tales, not in real life—but Dick is not a totally wicked
person too as Quilp, he’s just a person who praised pleasure and wealth, not a
hard-worker, an opportunist, and was quite indifferent to others or to the
world. Dick liked to imagine himself as a rich person, he used to mention his apartment
as ‘apartments’, and imagined his bed as a bookcase. He depended his life on
his rich aunt’s mercy, and although was not holding any pence in his pocket, he
would fulfill his expensive appetite with a luxury dining from different
restaurants (and left a lot of debt traces in almost every dining place in
London). </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
As an easy-going person, Dick was very easy to be tempted. When
Fred offered him to marry Little Nell to gain her inheritance, Dick—without many
considerations—decided to break up his present relationship with Sophie Wackles. Quilp
has also used him for his own plan, by getting Dick a job in Sampson Brass’ law
office. The indifference in Dick’s character was clearly stated in his own
expression:</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
“<i>There are some people
who can be merry and can’t be wise, and some who can be wise (or think thy can)
and can’t be merry. I’m one of the first sort.</i>”</div>
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<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixd2YnxOqCztKNOHyAWN4uj_4j7YkwW4MOhQ-rmw_G211senxxffcDb1VVfQIv7qELRKq_tG3iqZUvgHTNNpUWdOpJ6BARAWaBS9cYc1HIp2iWu8LkhRiMwKCkrBL9qGhV2zH3YX8IZAA/s1600/dick-swiveller-sophie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixd2YnxOqCztKNOHyAWN4uj_4j7YkwW4MOhQ-rmw_G211senxxffcDb1VVfQIv7qELRKq_tG3iqZUvgHTNNpUWdOpJ6BARAWaBS9cYc1HIp2iWu8LkhRiMwKCkrBL9qGhV2zH3YX8IZAA/s320/dick-swiveller-sophie.jpg" width="228" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dick Swiveller & Sophie Wackles</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I have thought Dick Swiveller as and would be the little
villain, someone who would execute the plan to get Kit to his downfall, however
something then happened. One night Dick met the little servant of Brass family,
a dirty poor-nameless-abused-and-neglected girl who used to live downstairs.
His involvement with the Marchioness—a nick name Dick had given the servant
girl—was later on proved to be the turning point of Dick’s character development,
from an indifferent person, to become someone with more affection for others.
He was the one who took the responsibility to take care of Kit’s mother and
family when Kit must went to jail. And I think, somehow, Dick felt that Kit was
actually innocent, and that there was something wrong with his bosses. Dick
also sent a cheerful present for Kit in jail. He was now a kind-hearted person
with care for others. His heroic action, however, did not occurred until he suffered
a sever fever that almost took his life, if the poor and sweet Marchioness did
not take care of him like a mother and nurse. In his sorrow, all his concerns
were on the falsely accused Kit. He—along with the Marchioness of course—was the
key actor of Kit’s release.</div>
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<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmV7OFttPwBW7x2jqmScWrK4Ix0G-OWra-3IPYbrDFb1iSat7_1Q0d0t2lhcxWAAtkS2jTsMtTK5vM1eE3CjOvbfKWKkzANM-eTsKhWXOwa-_dSjIuBUo7JMMhPCv7hH-j4nGdGAqzh-A/s1600/dick-swiveller.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmV7OFttPwBW7x2jqmScWrK4Ix0G-OWra-3IPYbrDFb1iSat7_1Q0d0t2lhcxWAAtkS2jTsMtTK5vM1eE3CjOvbfKWKkzANM-eTsKhWXOwa-_dSjIuBUo7JMMhPCv7hH-j4nGdGAqzh-A/s320/dick-swiveller.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dick Swiveller in the movie</td></tr>
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I was wondering, what was the cause of Dick Swiveller’s
change? I guess the poor life of the Marchioness was the trigger. Dick—I think—was
quite deeply touched by the injustice and abuses that the Marchioness had lived
her life with. And from there, Dick must have changed his mind about the Brass
family, and thus saw things with a different point of view, and lead him to
doubt that Kit was guilty. After Marchioness scene, Dick’s heart was easier to
be moved by a helplessness situation, such as happened to Kit and his mother.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX7pGEQkT5L-3fEh3RENw7z9tVblpDAIEU2384r3ptZHpI8WppQMkGvKpRsW1Ln0MNtM83wnTFZX889MGePPDGpRjR8c0rS7Lrgw4pEmkaQ67dDWzEWjVYua7dJk-hI9lk943BnhIniR0/s1600/old-curiosity-shop-dick-swiveller.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX7pGEQkT5L-3fEh3RENw7z9tVblpDAIEU2384r3ptZHpI8WppQMkGvKpRsW1Ln0MNtM83wnTFZX889MGePPDGpRjR8c0rS7Lrgw4pEmkaQ67dDWzEWjVYua7dJk-hI9lk943BnhIniR0/s320/old-curiosity-shop-dick-swiveller.jpg" width="203" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dick Swiveller & the Marchioness</td></tr>
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So, here was Richard ‘Dick’ Swiveller, from zero to hero,
and although his change was not so drastically as Sydney Carton in A Tale of
Two Cities, but still, he deserves to be praised as a hero in this story. And I’m
glad that in the end Dickens gave him a woman to love and love him in return,
someone who shared his eccentricity and interests. I must admit that I would
miss Mr. Swiveller’s character, he’s someone who had given this story more
color and more cheerfulness within the gloomy atmosphere we felt with poor
Little Nell and the grotesque wickedness of Quilp. Dick Swiveller was indeed
the savior of The Old Curiosity Shop, to make us love it more! </div>
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<br /></div>Fanda Classiclithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07642429343958941266noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7924738350115227296.post-20465987525464310882012-07-16T08:36:00.000+07:002012-09-14T10:06:07.840+07:00[Review] The Old Curiosity Shop<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiBE-RR8Q975XV-5gbuO2ovnI8rL66hAswks1fZ8cbFjX9X2IXtwqImYUAfPds2L_wEl8VZ-c0_iKorm1qguuuhrIp6ZMkkzQfwWJDLotv4cywHS9SwjbN_RrEJ03UOjefKD2f5CE29ok/s1600/the-old-curiosity-shop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiBE-RR8Q975XV-5gbuO2ovnI8rL66hAswks1fZ8cbFjX9X2IXtwqImYUAfPds2L_wEl8VZ-c0_iKorm1qguuuhrIp6ZMkkzQfwWJDLotv4cywHS9SwjbN_RrEJ03UOjefKD2f5CE29ok/s320/the-old-curiosity-shop.jpg" width="206" /></a></div>
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<span style="text-align: justify;">This is my
fifth Dickens, and I can say that The Old Curiosity Shop has just become my new
favorite. Usually I don’t quite like tales, where there were only black and
white, the good ones must be perfect: handsome, kind-hearted, yet weak and
poor; while the bad ones were always imperfect: ugly, wicked, heartless and
powerful. Can you see </span><a href="http://klasikfanda.blogspot.com/2012/07/little-nell-on-old-curiosity-shop.html" style="text-align: justify;">Little Nell</a><span style="text-align: justify;"> and Quilp in those two opposite frames? Like I
said, if I don’t like tales, then I should have disliked The Old Curiosity
Shop. However, it turned out that I really enjoyed reading this book. One of
the reasons perhaps, because this book spoiled me with many adventures scenes
during Nell and grandfather’s pilgrimage, which made the plot went quite fast.
Other reason is the appearance of comical characters like the funny-eccentric Dick
Swiveller or the street entertainers Nell met within her pilgrimage. Mrs.
Javier’s waxwork company and Whisker the funny pony of Mr. Garland were also
highly entertaining!</span></div>
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Besides the
entertaining aspects, I also found satisfaction in Dickens’ concerns of
injustice—especially to children—which became this book’s main theme. For your
information, I always love to read novels that bring concerns for injustice as
the main theme! Here we got two cases, one was Little Nell and the other was
Kit. Both were innocent and kind-hearted children who must suffered from adult’s
faults, crime and greediness. Dickens interestingly crafted these two cases in
two separate frames of story with Quilp being one of the main red-thread that
related them both to be concluded in the last chapters.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtvaNQMkYXTTmJfuhZORyQCReWp8bG3220LjGy2UYysXC0kbEkAODtnMOu7FWJZn6bRiuJotUhyphenhyphenBAjeDtPOJEDCbBRTUUAOm77LQW9oVtBcGqWprFiWb1bVM4JNbYg9mYbDPEVC9mpenM/s1600/old-curiosity-shop-mrs-jarleys-caravan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtvaNQMkYXTTmJfuhZORyQCReWp8bG3220LjGy2UYysXC0kbEkAODtnMOu7FWJZn6bRiuJotUhyphenhyphenBAjeDtPOJEDCbBRTUUAOm77LQW9oVtBcGqWprFiWb1bVM4JNbYg9mYbDPEVC9mpenM/s320/old-curiosity-shop-mrs-jarleys-caravan.jpg" width="223" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nell & grandfather in Mrs. Jarley's caravan</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Speaking of
the last chapters, they were very emotional, and this aspect is the one I like the
most from this book. <span style="color: #cc0000;">**spoiler**</span> I can feel that Dickens had poured out his own
emotion into these last chapters—the scene of Nell’s death, that he wrote them
while remembering and memorizing the death of Mary Hogarth—her sister-in-law—in
her seventeenth age, almost as youth as Nell was. You might have read on his
biographies, that Dickens have an affection towards Mary, and was quite shocked
when Mary died from heart failure in his arm. “<i>Mary’s death affected him grievously and the shock never seemed
completely to dissipate</i>.” [from <a href="http://klasikfanda.blogspot.com/2012/06/charles-dickens-dickens-bicentenary.html">Dickens’ Bicentenary 1802-2012</a> by
Lucinda Dickens Hawksley]. I can’t but share Dickens’ grief when he wrote about
Nell’s burial, and how his grandfather and others felt about it, feel how Dickens
must have felt on Mary’s sudden death, and the consolation he must have seek at
that time, just as what he wrote here...</div>
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<i>“Oh! It is hard to take to heart the lesson
that such deaths will teach, but let no man reject it, for it is one that all
must learn, and is a mighty universal Truth.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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And from the
same book too—Dickens’ Bicentenary—I learned that writing about Nell’s death
had re-opened Dickens’ old wound of Mary Hogarth: “<i>I am ….nearly dead with work—and grief for the loss of my child.</i>”
<span style="color: #cc0000;">**spoiler ends**</span></div>
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And last but
not least, I also like how Dickens concluded every piece of fragments nicely. I
am a reader who judges a book from its ending, not about happy or sad ending,
but more on whether it was cleanly closed or not. I don’t like it when there
were still one or few things unfinished or unclear, it will make me keep asking
questions like why that should happened, or what caused this or that, etc. In
this book, one concern raised in my mind near the ending. I noticed that Kit—after
his release from jail—had met and thanked everyone except the biggest heroes:
Dick Swiveller and the Marchioness, whom Kit never mentioned nor made initiative
to come to thank personally. You might think I’m being absurd to think of such
small things like that, but as I said, I am a perfectionist when it comes to
story ending, everything must be cleared up before I closed the book (most
likely) forever. However, thanks to Dickens, I was rewarded by the final page
where Kit and Barbara named one of their children as Dick <i>“whom Mr. Swiveller did especially favour”</i> (p. 544). And so…this
story becomes one of my favorites of Dickens so far, and I rewarded him with
five stars!</div>
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Title: The
Old Curiosity Shop</div>
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Author:
Charles Dickens</div>
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Publisher:
Wordsworth Classics</div>
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Published:
1995</div>
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Pages: 544 +
notes</div>
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Fanda Classiclithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07642429343958941266noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7924738350115227296.post-76712757477040954822012-07-12T08:45:00.000+07:002012-08-02T08:46:33.092+07:00Nell’s Grandfather from The Old Curiosity Shop<br />
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Talking about <a href="http://klasikfanda.blogspot.com/2012/07/little-nell-on-old-curiosity-shop.html">Little Nell</a> from The Old Curiosity Shop, is
impossible without talking about her grandfather, for everything that happened
to poor Nell throughout the book must have been related to her grandfather, the
owner of an old curiosity shop in the suburb of London, with whom the orphan
Nell lived and the only one Nell ever loved. After Nell’s parents died, her
grandfather took over the responsibility to take care of her. I can see that he
loved Nell very much.</div>
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<i>“Do I love thee, Nell,”
said he (the grandfather). “Say, I do love thee, Nell, or no?”</i><i>The child only answered
by her caresses, and laid her head upon his breast.</i><i>“Why dost thou sob,”
said the grandfather pressing her closer to him. “Is it because thou know’st I
love thee, and dost not like that I should seem to doubt it by my question?
Well, well—then let us say I love thee dearly.”</i><i>“Indeed, indeed you
do,” replied the child with great earnestness.</i></blockquote>
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Basically Nell’s grandfather was a good man, he was just an
old man who loved his grandchild, and tried to do something to give her a
bright future. Unfortunately, he had chosen the wrong way to gain it. Couldn’t
be patient to run his old curiosity shop business properly, he tried a faster
way to earn money, by gambling. I don’t know which one comes first in Nell’s
grandfather’s case, the gambling-addict or the greediness. However I can say
one thing about him, that in spite of his kind heart, Nell’s grandfather has an
obvious weakness, he could not resist the temptation of gambling though he knew
deep in his heart that what he did was wrong and that it would make Nell sad. </div>
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I was torn between love and hate with the old grandfather at
first, but reading along this book I’d rather think that he used Nell’s future
to be his reason for gambling. Perhaps at first he was really a good
grandfather who earnestly loved his grandchild, but having tried gambling as a
desperate way to enrich himself—in his obsession to fight the poverty, and to
make Nell become a lady or a woman who have a better place in society—he became
addicted to gambling. It seems from the book that Nell’s grandfather has never
won, but I think it’s hardly possible that a man should lose again and again. I
think he sometimes won, but he used the money he won to raise his bet, until he
lost all his money. And the same as a drunkard, an addicted gambling would do
anything to get money, robbing if he must!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwF5WxhacH6XwYmpnMkKwf5hHPNAmuwYzBaCfJzQMUGuPy5jXjgCqb_AlrMGTfZsyKKgfrJxbO0Ah6CRUitwfbA9imhyphenhyphen8MhzznJE04_EIVlDprkxAwveSoRo3zceaVDiMgJwjxhUZkmU4/s1600/old-curiosity-shop-nell-n-grandpa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwF5WxhacH6XwYmpnMkKwf5hHPNAmuwYzBaCfJzQMUGuPy5jXjgCqb_AlrMGTfZsyKKgfrJxbO0Ah6CRUitwfbA9imhyphenhyphen8MhzznJE04_EIVlDprkxAwveSoRo3zceaVDiMgJwjxhUZkmU4/s320/old-curiosity-shop-nell-n-grandpa.jpg" width="242" /></a></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
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Although I felt pity to Nell’s grandfather—and all other men
with same problem—I can’t sympathize with him. I do believe that men have their
weaknesses, and must try to improve all their lives, but deceiving himself that
he is doing it for the sake of the one he loves, well…it’s unacceptable for me.
So, old and pitying Nell’s grandfather is, I can never love him, especially
that he had been in many times disappointing Nell—and had been reminded by the
little child—but kept doing it and deceiving himself and his grandchild. No, I
can’t but blame him for all the sorrows that Little Nell must have endured.</div>
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The moral lesson from this character is obvious, that
gambling could destroy—not only the gambler’s own life—but also his family and
people he loves. And, the only way to stop is to stay away from the temptation.
Nell has done the best thing for her grandfather by bringing her grandfather
away from the temptation, no matter high the risk was.</div>Fanda Classiclithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07642429343958941266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7924738350115227296.post-52581439901281761122012-07-05T09:09:00.000+07:002012-08-02T09:10:32.526+07:00Little Nell from The Old Curiosity Shop<center>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Little Nell aka Nelly Trent</span></b></div>
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The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens</div>
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Little Nell is a fourteen years old girl who lived in
poverty with her grandfather, the owner of a small curiosity shop in London.
She was described as a very beautiful little girl, polite and kind hearted
child. Nell was an orphan, and thus only has her grandfather who loved her and whom
she loved very much. As a child and then teenager, Nell had to go through many
hard times. His grandfather often went at night for a mysterious work which—he said—was
for Nell’s future good, leaving Little Nell at home, lonely, without anyone to
protect her, always felt anxious that something bad might happened to his
grandfather. Maybe, all these hard times strengthened her character, so that
Nell—despite of her innocent appearance—could think as an adult. </div>
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She was often wiser than her grandfather, and it was more often
than not, that it was Nell who took the role of leader and protector of the
family, instead of the grandfather. Nell was soon alarmed when their new friend
acted strangely, an intuition that only a grown up woman can own. During their escape
from some bad people, Nell was so brave and resilient that though she was
scared and worried, she could always encourage her grandfather. <br />
<br />
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Although she was used to live in poverty, the most important
thing for Nell was not wealth or comfort, but love and affection. I have
written about <a href="http://klasikfanda.blogspot.com/2012/07/togetherness-my-reflections-on-old.html">how Nell would prefer to beg</a> on the road if that means she could
be together with her grandfather, than to live in their dark and melancholy
house. </div>
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As usual, Dickens always created a perfect-too-good-to-be-true
character such as Little Nell in his books. I have met Oliver Twist before, and
so am not surprised to meet Little Nell. Yes, it’s seems unreal, yet we can
still learn a lot of things and values from lovely Little Nell.</div>
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</center>Fanda Classiclithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07642429343958941266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7924738350115227296.post-59313535540916818692012-06-18T08:34:00.000+07:002012-09-14T10:08:15.311+07:00[Review] Sketches by Boz<br />
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Being his
earliest work, <a href="http://klasikfanda.blogspot.com/search/label/Sketches%20by%20Boz">Sketches by Boz</a> has already shown Dickens’ witticisms and
satires that we would find later in most of his works. Consisting of 60 short
stories, Boz is a combination of literary journalisms and fictional stories, as
the result of Dickens’ thorough observation of his surroundings. Sketches by
Boz was first published as installments in The Monthly Magazine from 1833 to
1836. Later on, the sketches were sorted and categorized under four big parts: <i>Our Parish, Scenes, Characters</i>, and <i>Tales</i>, to be made into a book. Outside
the four parts, there are three more collections of sketches, and the book is
finally closed with <i>Familiar Epistle From
A Parent To A Child,</i> which is—no doubt—something Dickens wrote for one of
his children. So far, the epistle is one of my favorites from all sketches.</div>
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The tale of <i>The Black Veil</i>—which is the most
touching of all stories—is also one of my favorites. It depicted the faith of a
widow after her son hanged for a crime he committed. The touching part is when
the young surgeon who attained the case, being a generous and kind hearted
fellow, was willingly to take care of the widow now and then, despite of his
unfruitful business. The widow on the other hand, always prayed heartily for
her young supporter, that at the end her prayers was heard by the Heaven and
resulting a good business for the young surgeon in return. A tale of love
always touches my heart!</div>
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The most
intriguing tale is perhaps <i>The Drunkard’s
Death</i>. It’s about a drunkard who neglected everything in his life for
drinking. Dickens wanted to speak about the risk of alcohol which can lead men
and women into poverty and death. This tale is very similar to Emile Zola’s
<a href="http://klasikfanda.blogspot.com/search/label/L%27Assommoir">L’Assommoir</a>, although Dickens wrote it more on the melancholy aspect, rather
than its brutality as depicted by Zola. It’s interesting to see two different
ways of writing, from two great authors, for the same topic at the same era.
But of course, in this case, my winner is Zola.</div>
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I think the
main strong point of this book is Dickens’ thorough observation, especially on
human’s character. I am only imagining, if I was being in a dinner party where
Dickens was also invited; would I become his observation object too? And if I
happened to subscribe The Monthly Magazine, would I find myself illustrated on
one of his sketches few days after the party? What would he write of me? That’d
be interested! But of course I wouldn’t know whether Dickens was going to write
good things or bad things about me. Anyhow, I think, people cannot get angry
with him for writing about them. In worst cases, I think they would only put
sour smiles on their lips. Or it is most likely that they would laugh heartily
on their own sketches. Like Dickens said in ‘The Pantomime of Life<i>’</i>: “<i>A
pantomime is to us a mirror of life; nay more, we maintain that it is so to
audiences generally, although they are not aware of it, and that this very
circumstance is the secret cause of their amusement and delight</i>.” For
people who lived at that certain time, Sketches by Boz is also a mirror of
their own everyday life, either they were aware of it or—most likely—not. Boz
was like a pantomime, where people can see and laugh at themselves. And that’s why
they love Boz. Boz was something new and different than any other Victorian
readings when it is first published. And the success of Boz then brought
further success for Charles Dickens, until today!</div>
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Three and a
half stars for Boz, as although it’s a unique work, Sketches by Boz is
sometimes boring. Anthologies have not been my favorite, so maybe this is why I
cannot put a high appreciation on Boz. It is good but unfortunately flat…</div>
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<br /></div>
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Title:
Sketches by Boz</div>
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Author:
Charles Dickens</div>
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Publisher:
Oxford University Press</div>
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Published:
1987</div>
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Pages: 688</div>
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<br /></div>
Fanda Classiclithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07642429343958941266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7924738350115227296.post-30283705904167143422012-06-14T08:58:00.000+07:002012-08-02T08:58:44.049+07:00Miss Martin from Sketches by Boz<center>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Miss Amelia Martin</span></b></div>
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Sketches by Boz by Charles Dickens</div>
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I’m still engaged with <a href="http://klasikfanda.blogspot.com/search/label/Sketches%20by%20Boz">Sketches by Boz</a> when I wrote this
meme, and this time I bring up an interesting character in which Dickens would
like to illustrate the danger of pursuing an instant ambition. </div>
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The young Miss Amelia Martin is a respectable milliner and
dressmaker in London, to whom great many young ladies had given their trust for
their fashionable dresses and hats. And not only skilful, Miss Martin had also
been a professional who knew what her customers need, both in fashion term and
in social daily conversation. If Miss Martin kept focusing in her business, I
believe she would achieve success in the future. However something unexpected
happened…</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9LAoG764-bdH-xweX1lArfZA0S8t_b4S0zecSXOpDzMtWz9Q0UNvdEWZzQTh4KGbcUfK73nHE5MLtbiUzBSj2y1sGX5GkSZqmnSZ8y8ez6_P6W8D-qOXoNGuahyphenhyphenu1P6cjzqG-PC9c09o/s1600/boz-milliner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9LAoG764-bdH-xweX1lArfZA0S8t_b4S0zecSXOpDzMtWz9Q0UNvdEWZzQTh4KGbcUfK73nHE5MLtbiUzBSj2y1sGX5GkSZqmnSZ8y8ez6_P6W8D-qOXoNGuahyphenhyphenu1P6cjzqG-PC9c09o/s320/boz-milliner.jpg" width="315" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">illustration of a milliner</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Miss Martin had been invited to her friend’s wedding party.
And that night our Miss Martin got to know—among the guests—the Jennings
Rodolph couple, the owner of a music institution called White Conduit. With
much encouragement from Mr. Jennings Rodolph, Miss Martin showed her voice that
night, and received appreciation from everyone. The Jennings Rodolph couple
soon encouraged Miss Martin to “come out” without delay, meaning to join the
entertainment industry and become a singer. So, Miss Martin prepared herself
and studied hard for her opening act on the White Conduit’s orchestra, with the
consequence, of course, that Miss Martin must neglect her millinery and
dressmaking business. Maybe she thought that millinery and dressmaking is only
an ordinary job, while being a singer should give her a more glamorous life,
fame and fortune.</div>
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Then at the night of the orchestra, the excited Miss Martin
was gracefully led on to the stage for her performance. The symphony began,
but…where was the singer’s voice?... Seemed that Miss Martin had started to
sing, however “a faint kind of ventriloquial chirping” was all she could
produce despite of her great effort. You can imagine what happened next. The
performance was a great failure and brought quite a humiliation for Miss
Martin, which I think should end her instant ambition of glamorous life.</div>
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Don’t you think this happens quite often in our real world
too? Leaving behind something fruitful and promising that was already in our
hand, to pursue something that was still vague. Miss Martin didn’t even look
for second opinion or at least found a teacher to take singing lesson more
thoroughly. She just trusted her future in the hand of Jennings Rodolph couple.
I mean, who were they actually? They were just the owner of a music club, maybe
they often searched for new talents, but that didn’t mean they knew everything
about singing career. Oh Miss Martin…maybe you were just so naïve.. there isn’t
such an instant success. What you have been doing with your millinery and dressmaking
business was already great, you just have to keep developing it!</div>
</div>
</div>
</center>Fanda Classiclithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07642429343958941266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7924738350115227296.post-89046748262339773272012-06-09T08:31:00.000+07:002012-08-02T08:32:30.086+07:00[Biography] Charles Dickens: Dickens’ Bicentenary 1812 – 2012<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWNw9LJBXRXMvWOEbK23Bhc_HMvHskqdeaEzkGFLLITsaof4zy6ckJfVvHUUDbxOdqxWS8rewJ05IWGMWXrhbeufiZ05myzmXeP9Wg-wzxPeaYZv9SnuPBxB1urXBtChXitydwMHwVnL8/s1600/dickens-cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWNw9LJBXRXMvWOEbK23Bhc_HMvHskqdeaEzkGFLLITsaof4zy6ckJfVvHUUDbxOdqxWS8rewJ05IWGMWXrhbeufiZ05myzmXeP9Wg-wzxPeaYZv9SnuPBxB1urXBtChXitydwMHwVnL8/s320/dickens-cover.jpg" width="285" /></a></div>
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[conclusion
in English is in the bottom of this post]</div>
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<br /></div>
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Dalam rangka
perayaan 200 tahun kelahiran Charles Dickens 7 Februari tahun ini, Lucinda
Dickens Hawksley—seorang keturunan Dickens—bekerja sama dengan Charles Dickens
Museum, London, menerbitkan sebuah biografi sang penulis besar Inggris ini.
Jika sebelumnya telah banyak biografi Dickens yang telah diterbitkan, apa yang
membuat biografi yang satu ini berbeda? Tak lain dan tak bukan adalah ciri
khasnya yang menjadikannya layak (atau ‘wajib’) dimiliki para Dickensian
(penggemar dan pecinta Dickens) di seluruh dunia. Biografi ini bukan hanya
mengisahkan kehidupan sang penulis, namun juga karya-karyanya, bagaimana mereka
ditulis, dan apa yang melatarbelakangi tema mereka, juga bagaimana kondisi
psikologis Dickens saat itu memberikan pengaruh pada novel yang ditulisnya. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Namun yang
paling menarik, mungkin, adalah koleksi imitasi relik-relik yang berhubungan
dengan kehidupan Dickens dan karya-karyanya yang disisipkan dalam buku ini. Aku
sudah pernah <u>‘</u><a href="http://klasikfanda.blogspot.com/2012/03/book-about-author-charles-dickens.html">memamerkan’ isi buku ini</a> sebelumnya, dan kurasa
relik-relik itulah yang membuatku bertekad memiliki (dan membaca) buku ini. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Biografinya
sendiri diawali dengan kelahiran Dickens serta sedikit latar belakang kedua
orang tuanya, John dan Elizabeth Dickens, dalam chapter Early Years. Kemudian
sedikit demi sedikit alurnya maju ke masa kecil Dickens yang pahit saat bekerja
sebagai child laborer di blacking factory, cinta pertama Dickens,
perkawinannya, dan seterusnya hingga ke saat kematian Dickens. Selain itu, buku
ini juga mencantumkan kisah singkat ke-sepuluh anak-anak Dickens. Dan di
sela-sela kronologis kehidupan Dickens itu, terselip kisah tentang novel-novel
Dickens sesuai dengan waktu penulisannya. Dengan demikian kita jadi mengetahui
pada tahap mana dari kehidupan Dickens sebuah novel ditulis, sehingga kita akan
memahami latar belakang penulisan dan temanya. Bagian tentang novel-novel ini
mengungkap banyak hal menarik yang akan membantu kita memahami kisah dalam
novel-novel itu. Maka, biografi ini perlu dibaca untuk melengkapi pemahaman
anda akan novel-novel Dickens, apa yang ingin dikatakan Dickens di dalamnya.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Bagian yang
paling menarik bagiku, selain tentang karyanya, adalah tentang Ellen
Ternan—kekasih Dickens selama 13 tahun terakhir kehidupannya, dan pengalaman
Dickens dalam kecelakaan kereta api yang mengubah lima tahun terakhir hidupnya.
Dari cerita tentang perceraiannya dengan istrinya Catherine, membuatku mengenal
sisi lain kepribadian Dickens yang negatif. Memiliki affair dengan wanita lain
mungkin tak mengherankan bagi sosok se-populer Dickens, namun sikapnya yang
mencampakkan Catherine begitu saja memang sulit untuk dimaafkan. Bagaimana pun
juga, Dickens tetaplah seorang manusia yang memiliki kekurangan, dan hal ini
tak menyurutkan kekagumanku pada kejeniusan Dickens dalam menulis, dan
perhatiannya yang besar terhadap ketidakadilan di dunia yang ia tuangkan dalam
tulisan-tulisannya.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Conclusion:</span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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This is not
an ordinary biography. Like all biographies, you will find the complete story
of Dickens’ life—from his early years, child laboring, first love, children,
marriage, love affair, his fond of theatre, his journeys to other countries, to
his final years and at last..his death. But besides that, this book also contains
<u><a href="http://klasikfanda.blogspot.com/2012/03/book-about-author-charles-dickens.html">facsimile items from Dickens personal clippings</a></u>, from his handwriting in
manuscripts, his marriage certificate, his photographs, to the newspapers which
Dickens edited. These items are attached within the pages, and would certainly
become valuable collectible items for all Dickensians. Through these items, I
feel very close to Dickens himself, as if I was visiting him in his writing
room, where he’d showed me his clipping. Looking at the facsimile item of Oliver
Twist reading material, for instance, I feel like Dickens was showing me how to
read it, adding scribble notes in the margin to emphasize certain parts, and
then asked me to read it loud for him (which I actually did! <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span>).</div>
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This book is
written in a chronological style, including the writing process of his novels.
From this part, I get to learn how much Dickens’ personal life affected his
writings. As I planned to read all Dickens novels, this book provides me a
study of theme and background of each novel, which gives me a better
understanding for my readings. I found several interesting facts about his
novels, for instance, the ending alteration of Great Expectations. How many of
you know, that the first edition of Great Expectation had a different ending
than what we read now? It was Dickens’ fellow novelist Edward Bulwer Lytton who
had persuaded Dickens to change it to be more acceptable to the readers. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Other
interesting fact I find in this book is about Dickens’ love life. Dickens ended
his marriage with Catherine soon after he fell in love with Ellen Ternan—who
become Dickens’ lover in his last thirteen years of life. One of Dickens’
negative personal characters is, perhaps, his selfish idea about women’s
youthfulness. One of the reasons Dickens dump his wife was because Catherine
become fat and lazy after giving birth to ten children. The same feeling
Dickens had for his first lover, Maria Beadnell. After finding out that Maria
wasn’t as pretty and slim-waisted as he remembered from her youth, Dickens dumped
her. No wonder, that Dickens’ female main characters in most of his books are always
young, tender, and beautiful. More about his separation with Catherine, I don’t
agree with his abandoning Catherine after their separation. He didn’t even
consult Catherine when their boys were planned to study abroad. I think it’s
rather funny, that Dickens had big concerns on child and women injustice, but
he just dumped his own wife who—as a woman—didn’t have any power to fight at
that time.</div>
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Anyway, I
realized that Dickens is only a human—an eccentric one perhaps—however his writings
and legacies keep inspiring us today and many years ahead. There are still many
other interesting aspects of Dickens, including his journey to America, France
and Italy, as well as his connection to many famous artists and writers (do you
know that Wilkie Collins, Elizabeth Gaskell, George Elliot and William
Makepeace Thackeray had appeared as debutants in Dickens’ magazine: ‘All The
Year Round’?). All I can say is, that this book would be a perfect companion
for your Dickens reading.</div>
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To close this
review, I will quote an article of Charles Eliot Norton, an American academic
and writer, about Dickens (published on 1868):</div>
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“<i>No one thinks first of Mr. Dickens as a
writer. He is at once, through his books, a friend. He belongs among the
intimates of every pleasant-tempered and large-hearted person. He is not so
much the guest as the intimate of our houses. He…helps us to celebrate
Christmas with heartier cheer, he shares at every New Year in our good wishes:
for, indeed, it is not in his purely literary character that he has done most
for us, it is as a man of the largest humanity, who has simply used literature
as the means by which to bring himself into relations with his fellow men.</i>”</div>
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<br /></div>
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Note:</div>
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This review
is published for memorizing the death of Charles Dickens, 142 years ago, on 9<sup>th</sup>
of June 1870. </div>
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<br /></div>Fanda Classiclithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07642429343958941266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7924738350115227296.post-24981512383807089142012-06-07T08:42:00.000+07:002012-08-02T08:42:39.698+07:00Simon Tuggs from Sketches by Boz<center>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Simon Tuggs</span></b></div>
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Sketches by Boz by Charles Dickens</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbaItxzRcqYD00dc5Smg1LcaSXX4Pl0JPoRXZhJMDz-dHzSHDyLgZusXIPcmGKw7tEy9Nl0bEvoCVNezYQMIUc3M-3Hsl6T0j1TtW5yoOokagqBPXpYTr3coC-aBH6QL1g24c4idss6GU/s1600/sketches-by-boz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbaItxzRcqYD00dc5Smg1LcaSXX4Pl0JPoRXZhJMDz-dHzSHDyLgZusXIPcmGKw7tEy9Nl0bEvoCVNezYQMIUc3M-3Hsl6T0j1TtW5yoOokagqBPXpYTr3coC-aBH6QL1g24c4idss6GU/s320/sketches-by-boz.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
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Being some kind of short stories collection, it is difficult
to pick an interesting character from this Sketches By Boz. I usually like
characters that are experiencing character switch within the story, which is
impossible to find in a short story. However, I’ll try to discuss about a
character which appeared in 20 pages of chapter IV in ‘Tales’ section.</div>
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This is what Dickens described about a young man named Mr.
Simon Tuggs:</div>
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“<i>He was as differently
formed in body, as he was differently constituted in mind, of the remainder of
his family. There was that elongation in his thoughtful face, and that tendency
to weakness in his interesting legs, which tell so forcibly of a great mind and
romantic disposition.</i>”</div>
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Frankly speaking, I didn’t quite get in the plot very well,
but from what I gathered, Simon is a son of a grocer who had just possessed
twenty thousand pounds from a will. The family didn’t take any longer to close
the grocery and moved to Ramsgate. On the ship to Ramsgate, the family got acquainted
with a couple: Captain Masters and Mrs. Belinda Masters. Shortly enough, Simon
found himself attracted to Belinda, who seemed to return the feeling, despite
of her marriage with Captain Masters. And after six week being together, Simon
fell in love with Belinda, a feeling that they both called “platonic love”. </div>
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From Dickens’ description, I can see that Simon is
physically weak and emotionally romantic. When the solicitor announced that the
Tuggs had won the will, Simon fainted twice (the sign of weakness). And seeing
how quickly he became attached to Belinda, only showed that he is a romantic
person. It seems from this story, that weakness and romanticism are not a
perfect combination, actually it’s a dangerous combination. Add a large sum of
money (remember what the Tuggses just got from the will?) in it, and bad people
can use someone like Simon.</div>
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</center>Fanda Classiclithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07642429343958941266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7924738350115227296.post-58255067498352078722012-03-13T15:02:00.000+07:002012-03-13T15:03:17.626+07:00[Review] A Christmas Carol<div style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwzRq8EYDghtHqv7MQsF6zYCcwyt1IWU3f80LKDejUgBPfi3FL8DXv4XmP8mcbTHEMYC0f5Ss-zF48prs7IYmi9qE2GRKemJfT1uzHuMuy97C3UyZ6BJCtGK_PT_FDNHtao8Le9jAC-4g/s1600/christmas-carol.jpg" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; " onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwzRq8EYDghtHqv7MQsF6zYCcwyt1IWU3f80LKDejUgBPfi3FL8DXv4XmP8mcbTHEMYC0f5Ss-zF48prs7IYmi9qE2GRKemJfT1uzHuMuy97C3UyZ6BJCtGK_PT_FDNHtao8Le9jAC-4g/s320/christmas-carol.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5689473707272980226" border="0" /></a><span ><span>I think you would agree with me, that Christmas is the most festive days in a year—whether you celebrate it or not. Christmas is identical with sparkling of lights, thus representing a season full of laughter and joy. It’s hard to not being happy during Christmas, why, with all the cakes, ornaments, gifts…and holiday of course! But, it does not work out the same for a sour and stingy man named Scrooge. Well, sometimes name does speak of everything about a man, right?</span><br /><br /><span>Scrooge dedicates his life solely for his business. He doesn’t care about Christmas; he even hates Christmas because it is a time when he cannot make much money. So, on that day before Christmas he rejected his nephew’s invitation for a family Christmas dinner, then rejected a man who asked for donation and sent him away. He also scowled at his clerk who asked for a half day off, and instead asked him to come earlier on Christmas day! What a miserly man...scrooge!</span><br /><br /><span>But on that eve of Christmas, Scrooge got a surprise. His late business partner who has passed away seven years ago—Marley, ‘came’ visiting Scrooge at his apartment. When approaching his room, Scrooge saw a shadowy image of Marley’s face on his door knocker… It’s a phantom! Marley’s ghost! At first Scrooge got scared, and all he would have said is: “Humbug!”, meaning ‘nonsense’, which seems being one of Scrooge’s favorite word! However, it did not take too long before the phantom made Scrooge believe in it. But why did Marley haunt his ex-partner?</span><br /><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><div style="text-align: center;"><span ><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfgm4MK6yJcFCG198L7UKLH6ozduUV3wSDiimC-ZUx7jjqonLPwy8ZhXM0UAa4YJgQR4zLaVADZhntAD-5h-h1UBHbZw4Q5ywRmdjVogOB77tvb8E4yqNgSUV8WInimY4rKBBeTSbxyYI/s1600/christmas-carol-marley.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 195px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfgm4MK6yJcFCG198L7UKLH6ozduUV3wSDiimC-ZUx7jjqonLPwy8ZhXM0UAa4YJgQR4zLaVADZhntAD-5h-h1UBHbZw4Q5ywRmdjVogOB77tvb8E4yqNgSUV8WInimY4rKBBeTSbxyYI/s320/christmas-carol-marley.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5689473334714531698" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">the illustration of Marley's ghost and Scrooge</span></span></span></div><span style="font-size:85%;" > </span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span ><br /><span>Apparently, Marley wanted to tell his friend that he regretted what he had not done during his short life, years ago. Marley did not realize then, that the most important thing in life was not business and wealth, and that he had misused his opportunity of life given to him. Now it is too late for him to reconcile them, not when he is only a ghost. So, Marley came to tell Scrooge that, in order to give him a second chance of life, Three Spirits would haunt him starting from the next night when the bell tolled One. It will be followed by the second and third visits the following consecutive nights at the same hour. And then...Marley's ghost faded...</span><br /><br /><span>In no time Scrooge fell a sleep, only to woke up abruptly when the bell tolled. Oops, it’s one o’clock already! And there it came, the first ghost who called itself <span style="font-style: italic;">The Ghost of Christmas Past</span>. As promised by Marley, this ghost was followed by two more, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Ghost of Christmas Present</span> and…. (can you guess from the pattern?)...<span style="font-style: italic;">The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come</span>! Each of them took Scrooge to different time sets of his life.</span><br /><br /><span>First, The Ghost of Christmas Past took Scrooge to his past life, three past Christmases. From these scenes, you will have clues to what might have changed Scrooge from once a lovable boy to the bitter man he is now. I think sometimes we ought also to review our own life like Scrooge did. That way we can see how far we have transformed from the kind and lovable child we used to be, to what we are at present. Then we will know what was going wrong with our life, so that we will be able to resolve it.</span><br /><br /><span>The second turn, The Ghost of Christmas Present took Scrooge to the lives of people surround him. First they visited Bob Cratchit's (the clerk) poor house. On that Christmas, Bob's son--Tiny Tim, was cripple and ill, and he might not be able to see the next Christmas, because his father cannot afford to buy the required medicament from his little salary. Nevertheless, they all live happily, love each other, and especially that night, they had a merry Christmas with what they can afford. The ghost also took Scrooge to his nephew Fred's Christmas party. The party Scrooge had rejected the invitation earlier that day. The party which turned out to be very entertaining, that Scrooge himself enjoyed the games and the singing. Of course, out of the sights of the others!</span><br /><br /><span>The most terrifying part of this book is, perhaps, the visit of The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come. Taking the form of a black hooded spirit, The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come showed Scrooge things that were going to happen in the future. Things that scared Scrooge enough to promise that he will change his life. What scenes had Scrooge seen this time? And did those Three Spirits succeeded in convincing Scrooge to resolve his life? And how will he do that? Will he still get a chance to have a very merry Christmas?</span><br /><br /><span>This story is really simple. Dickens wants to remind us about love, passion, warmth, and kindness that are the true value of Christmas. But above that, Dickens also wants to show us that Christmas is not just about prosperity (expensive gifts, luxury hotels, fine foods), but more on the charity, acceptance and forgiveness. On the other hand, a party will bring joy only when you enjoy it among your loved ones. The atmosphere of British traditional Christmas in 19h century has been beautifully described with all the details in this book.</span> <span>This book is also included in the <span style="font-style: italic;">50 Books That Changed The World</span> (by Andrew Taylor), for creating the basic of Christmas tradition that is continuing until now. </span><br /><br /><span>So in conclusion, there's nothing wrong with being a serious and responsible adult. But, don't be too carried away--like Scrooge, that you forget the love and tenderness in you. It’s OK to be childish sometimes! Especially on a special day like Christmas....</span><br /><br /><span>Four stars for Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.</span><br /><br /><span>-----</span><br /><br /><span>This time I read an e-book version (no translation is available yet). I like it, but unfortunately it doesn't come with an attractive cover (the one I put here is the color version). I searched through Goodreads and found two lovely covers that I think would be most suitable for this book. Here they are..</span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEQ2J2qtSAqf-J7YSISNNP4K24DrH6gHEURo6RFFdpnK7bhHS4HL9Ub2QxdSfHgJuCDOw4pVt_5aUE9woo0Q0zH9JuJV_YE-B5SkBq-idzjfftrVITHD7qrw9xCl88s56iRT3LoGMC1qA/s1600/christmas-carol-cover1.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 210px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEQ2J2qtSAqf-J7YSISNNP4K24DrH6gHEURo6RFFdpnK7bhHS4HL9Ub2QxdSfHgJuCDOw4pVt_5aUE9woo0Q0zH9JuJV_YE-B5SkBq-idzjfftrVITHD7qrw9xCl88s56iRT3LoGMC1qA/s320/christmas-carol-cover1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5689472475969770786" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit78ZVY3oJ-wQy3BYvLtKHXwt0NUFUjGM0-bmRvstulxhF2JzA9JD7dhQCNxIPn-c0YAWd4xrfF9kDhuVa4x9xOoLYwrS4MbtpxgjGsYtP9ts3-21hQzi1I55lqpsUAHawSEzJhKB2Ico/s1600/christmas-carol-cover2.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"> <img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 194px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit78ZVY3oJ-wQy3BYvLtKHXwt0NUFUjGM0-bmRvstulxhF2JzA9JD7dhQCNxIPn-c0YAWd4xrfF9kDhuVa4x9xOoLYwrS4MbtpxgjGsYtP9ts3-21hQzi1I55lqpsUAHawSEzJhKB2Ico/s320/christmas-carol-cover2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5689472806102407746" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit78ZVY3oJ-wQy3BYvLtKHXwt0NUFUjGM0-bmRvstulxhF2JzA9JD7dhQCNxIPn-c0YAWd4xrfF9kDhuVa4x9xOoLYwrS4MbtpxgjGsYtP9ts3-21hQzi1I55lqpsUAHawSEzJhKB2Ico/s1600/christmas-carol-cover2.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"> </a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit78ZVY3oJ-wQy3BYvLtKHXwt0NUFUjGM0-bmRvstulxhF2JzA9JD7dhQCNxIPn-c0YAWd4xrfF9kDhuVa4x9xOoLYwrS4MbtpxgjGsYtP9ts3-21hQzi1I55lqpsUAHawSEzJhKB2Ico/s1600/christmas-carol-cover2.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"> </a><br /><span>Hopefully one of our publishers will publish the translated version of this book in one of these covers!</span><br /><br /><span>Finally, have a merry Christmas for you who celebrate it, and a happy new and prosperous year of 2012!</span><br /><br /><span>Title: A Christmas Carol</span><br /><span>Author: Charles Dickens</span><br /><span>Publisher: Sony Connect Inc.</span><br /><span>e-book source: The Pennsylvania State University, 1998</span><br /><span>Published: 2007</span><br /><span>e-pages: 100</span></span></div>Fanda Classiclithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07642429343958941266noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7924738350115227296.post-36319809946909492512012-03-12T12:17:00.006+07:002012-09-14T10:12:07.418+07:00Dickens' Love Life<div style="text-align: justify;">
Love Life
here is reviewing Charles Dickens’ love story with women other than his wife (Catherine), while the Marriage will tell you all about his marriage with Catherine.</div>
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<b>Maria
Beadnell</b></div>
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Dickens's
first love occurred when he was 17 years old with a girl named Maria Beadnell.
Maria is the daughter of a wealthy banker. She was two years older than
Dickens. Their romance was not sanctioned by her parents because at the time
Dickens was "nobody", and did not have any connections with wealthy
families. Dickens secretly showered her with flowery love letters, though she never
quite returned Dickens’ feeling.</div>
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<span style="font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>Maria Beadnell</i></span></span></div>
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In 1832 her parents sent her to Paris, and after returning a few months later, Dickens broke their relationship after realizing that the effort to make her love him was fruitless. The unrequited love is apparently incised a very deep wound in Dickens’ heart, that when he wrote <a href="http://allaboutdickens.blogspot.com/search/label/David%20Copperfield">David Copperfield</a>, Dickens put Maria into the character of Dora.</div>
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In 1855 when Dickens and his wife Catherine realized that their marriage was cooling down, suddenly came a letter from Maria who had now become Mrs. Winter. Dickens then told her to read a specific section in David Copperfield. Young David is said to be in love with the character of Dora which had been widely criticized as "unrealistic", but is ridiculed by Dickens because he obviously knew the truth ...</div>
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After exchanging several letters, the two decided to meet. But Maria has been now totally changed; she was no longer the beautiful slim Maria who had made Dickens crazy in love. Dickens’ impression towards Mary was revealed in a quote in <a href="http://allaboutdickens.blogspot.com/2012/03/switching-character-of-flora-in-little.html">Little Dorrit</a>. Maria used to be "better" in everything than Dickens. She was richer, higher in social class, and her life was more sparkling. Then in 1855, the situation was reversed. The young man who had been insulted and rejected by her father, and who had been seduced and then rejected by Maria has become much richer and more famous than the father and Maria’s husband. And now it’s Dickens’ turn to reject Maria, and Maria was the one who suffered the harassment.</div>
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<b style="font-size: 100%;">Mary Hogarth</b></div>
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<span style="text-align: justify;">Mary is the
younger sister of Catherine--Dickens’ wife. Mary was 4 years younger than
Catherine, and 7 years younger of Dickens. Immediately after Dickens and
Catherine had married in 1836, Mary who was 17 years old came to live with the
young couple. One Saturday night on May 6, 1837 Dickens, Catherine and Mary has
just returned from the theater to watch opera written by Dickens. Then, not
long after Mary came into her room, they heard a strange sound. Dickens and
Catherine rushed in and found Mary was seriously ill. Doctor was called
immediately, but the next afternoon Mary died of a heart attack in Dickens’
arms.</span><span style="font-size: 100%;"></span><br />
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<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5718882632267804722" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKAn-tHSYr74oUqRSMbCW_5CjTp-GxnOHh33hOYwWj7-9icNbNjitdeHmQWXa2F-rLfk50GXP4PpLDvYXWHAoupLW8uPMlwYeE9U97YjFWInaY5ZZlHNOxfIT481bkE2qJXo38yMiiC30/s320/mary-hogarth.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify; width: 185px;" /></div>
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<i>Mary Hogarth</i></div>
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Surprisingly,
for many years later Dickens kept insisting to be buried in the same grave with
Mary when he died. Besides, Dickens always wore Mary’s ring on his little
finger all his life. Those were two strange things which were assumed as a sign
of "love affair" between Dickens and Mary. Mary's death greatly
affected Dickens, he grieved deeply for her. Later in his novels, Dickens wrote
quite often of young women of around 17-year of ages. It is most likely that
this is a manifestation of Dickens’ memories towards Mary.</div>
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One of those
17-year-old characters was Little Nell in The Old Curiosity Shop. When it comes
to Dickens to "kill" Little Nell, the wound at his heart from the
death of Mary Hogarth bleed again. Dickens wrote to his illustrator: <span style="font-size: 100%;">"</span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><i>I am breaking my heart over this story.</i></span><span style="font-size: 100%;">" and "</span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><i>I am.....nearly dead with work - and g</i></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><i>rief for the lost of my child.</i>"</span></div>
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<b style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: 100%;">Georgina Hogarth</b></div>
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Several
years after Mary’s death, Georgina Hogarth—Catherine’s sister who was 12 years
younger—filled Mary’s place at the Dickens’ residence. Georgina closely befriended
Dickens, and many believed that they were lovers. The issue of "love
affair" continued to resonate until today. It was clearly that Georgina
loved Dickens. Dickens himself admired Georgina’s ability to manage household affairs
and took care of Dickens’ children, not like Catherine who was kept busying
herself with pregnancy, childbirth and post-birth trauma. This fact only worsened
the Hogarth sisters’ relationship.</div>
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<span style="font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;"><i>Georgina Hogarth</i></span></div>
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Later, when
Dickens had separated from Catherine, Georgina stayed with Dickens and helped him
raising the children. When the Hogarth family accused Georgina as Dickens’
mistress, Dickens was so angry that he arranged for Georgina to undergo a
virginity test, in which she was eventually declared a virgin. This had been a
humiliating experience for Georgina that she could never forgive her family.
Georgina may have lost their parents and siblings, but she got the love and
respect from Dickens and his children. In Dickens eyes, Georgina was <span style="font-size: 100%;">"<i>the best and truest friend [a] man ever had</i>".</span></div>
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Fanda Classiclithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07642429343958941266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7924738350115227296.post-77041436261007321612012-03-12T12:07:00.003+07:002012-08-16T15:56:34.274+07:00Dickens' Family<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 100%; text-align: left;">Dickens was the second of eight children.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;"><b>Augustus Dickens</b></span></div>
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"Moses" (Augustus’ nickname) was 15 years younger than
Dickens, and he grew up idolizing his eldest brother. During his adolescence
and youth, Moses became errand boy for his father for things that are not
really concerned with the business. Dickens was very concerned about Moses’
future, that he found a place to live and a good job for Moses so that he could
finish school. But unfortunately, Moses decided to resign from the job and
began to help his father (again).</div>
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<br /><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5718874693089839714" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizSCaG1sE6g0kZ07cHslerLCujJcu4u1-uTw7hz-IutI4KtBEDyZDmmL-YwbQpI3e68u7nZI6Zq0hlts2NobPgXJwApqoFgbSkOoVbzzVYj00yVTWh-GOSeoklY9dSTV6JNMuOvDU-U6M/s320/augustus.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 320px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 134px;" /></div>
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<i>Augustus Dickens' cemetery</i></div>
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Fanda Classiclithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07642429343958941266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7924738350115227296.post-13178612581049978732012-03-12T12:03:00.003+07:002012-08-16T15:26:19.718+07:00Dickens' Writing Career<div style="text-align: justify;">
Of course
Dickens did not enjoy his job as a clerk. In 1829 he studied shorthand and
worked as a freelance court reporter. His experience in covering court cases
for the paper gave him inspiration for one of his books: The Bleak House.
Additionally Dickens became sensitive to social issues and injustices.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
In about 1832
Dickens began to write his first work of fiction, a series of short stories
titled: <b><i>A Dinner At Poplar Walk</i></b>. It began when Dickens hesitantly dropped his
writing to the office mailbox of Monthly Magazine. Without his knowledge, the
editor liked the story, and when opening the next issue of the magazine, Dickens
was very excited to find his writings there in print ...</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The editors
commissioned Dickens to write eight stories of "sketches of everyday
life". Critics judged Dickens as "He has infinite skill in giving
importance to the commonplace scenes of everyday occurrence”; a skill that has appeared
at the time, and which later catapulted the name of Dickens. Dickens then met the
subeditor of Morning Chronicles, and in 1834 he moved to work at it as a young
journalist. This was where Dickens was assigned to concentrate on writing sketches
of daily lives of Londoners, which Dickens wrote under the pseudonym
"Boz". Having appeared in various magazines, a publisher named John
Macrone proposed the idea to record these works, then became "<b><a href="http://allaboutdickens.blogspot.com/search/label/Sketches%20by%20Boz">Sketches by Boz</a></b>" as Charles Dickens's first novel published.</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5718872410455948034" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJgDEtC4orhpxfIe5p9_Vf2fGEHI9E4MbShGBjOzo4bDN8h2Fc8-0xOLczBnAroUXIVfvnLKYkNKoUASZMYxsD_I3tmrETr75lX6nc_aS8Xq05kdgL3nVIA2TZaQwkhrNsqbru7Im2h08/s320/sketches-by-boz.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 289px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center; width: 174px;" /><br />
<div style="font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<i>Sketches by Boz when first published</i></div>
</div>
<div style="font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
Fanda Classiclithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07642429343958941266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7924738350115227296.post-89249712209509643552012-03-12T11:53:00.004+07:002012-08-16T14:37:31.414+07:00Dickens's Child Labouring<div style="text-align: justify;">
In 1824 <a href="http://allaboutdickens.blogspot.com/search/label/father">John Dickens</a>’(Charles Dickens's father) financial condition was very severe, so like
it or not Dickens was forced to start working shortly after the age of 12 years.
One of his cousins who works at the Warren Blacking Factory helped Dickens to
be accepted there. Shortly after Dickens began to work his father and all the
family (except Fanny) had to enter the Marshalsea debtor's prison Prison in Southwark
because John Dickens could not pay his debts. The system at that time required
that people detained in the debtor's Prison must pay the imprisonment cost, in
exchange for safety the prison could offer from the pursuit of angry creditors.
That means that it was Charles Dickens who must pay for this family.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Dickens had
to work 10 hours a day, six days a week, wrapping the blacking bottles and put labels
on it. While working, two friends who sat next to Dickens were Poll Green and
Bob Fagin. Since Dickens’ family residence was far from the prison, Dickens
parents arranged for him to move to a new residence in Lant Street, Southwark.
Lant Street was later used as the residence Bob Sawyer, the character from The
Pickwick Papers.</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5718870439113669202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLli1_0TkLEEMOwlJ2yH4MO4LqGsKig8Nzvi-d_oY1JWhRctraTDfMLFswauQX3jlxJVbqr86wu64aXwP-050yIvalbRXLYvx-MpAgCTfl4Ko-sC2-Do_Uhn_n0rjF1Uwp0k-SA4Esqbw/s320/working-at-warren.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 270px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify; width: 187px;" /><br />
<div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>illustration of Charles Dickens slept from exhaustion on his working table near the window</i></div>
<span style="font-size: 100%;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Later as an
adult, his experience working in the blacking factory will continue to haunt
Dickens. No wonder the child labouring theme appears in many of his novels, especially
<a href="http://allaboutdickens.blogspot.com/2012/03/book-quotes-david-copperfield-dickens.html">David Copperfield</a>. Even the "blacking bottles" will often appear in
various parts of the book, though not too obvious.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Although in
May 1824 John was released from prison, and Dickens’s mother knew how much his
son must have suffered, yet Mrs. Dickens told him to keep working hard on the
table near the window in the blacking factory, in order to generate income for
the family.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Dickens
suffered from his job, and later he expressed his disappointment at his mother
in his unfinished autobiography.</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote style="font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<i>"I do not write resentfully or angrily: for I know all these things have worked together to make me what I am: but I never afterwards forgot, I never shall forget, I never can forget, that my mother was warm for my being sent back."</i></blockquote>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Dickens had confessed
to his friend, John Forster, about his disappointment that he had to work at a
young age so that he must leave school. John Forster later published it in
"Life of Charles Dickens' around the year of 1872-1874. This is the confession:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote style="font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<i>"It is wonderful to me how I could have been so easily cast away at such an age. It is wonderful to me, that, even after my descent into the poor little drudge I had been since we came to London, no one had compassion enough on me--a child of singular abilities, quick, eager, delicate, and soon hurt, bodily or mentally--to suggest that something might have been spared, as certainly it might have been, to place me at any common school. Our friends, I take it, were tired out. No one made any sign. My father and mother were quite satisfied. They could hardly have been more so, if I had been twenty years of age, distinguished at a grammar-school, and going to Cambridge."</i></blockquote>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Fortunately for
Dickens, after that he could return to school at Wellington House Academy,
although - again - before he graduated, Dickens had to drop out (again) at age
15 because his family - yet again – suffered from another financial crisis.
This time he got out of school forever.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
In 1827
Charles Dickens began to work as a legal clerk at a law firm.</div>
</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
Fanda Classiclithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07642429343958941266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7924738350115227296.post-60627839687345701492012-03-12T11:49:00.002+07:002013-02-07T09:42:19.450+07:00Dickens' Education<div style="text-align: justify;">
From his
childhood Dickens was educated by his mother in reading, writing and Latin.
However, at the age of six years - along with Fanny - Dickens went to a sort of
private school called the "Dame School". At that time there were many
of these small schools run by several women; they did not have a background in
education, but can read and write. They drew very little tuition, and taught their
students up to age 14 years.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
In 1821 when
Dickens was 9 years old, he and Fanny went back to school run by a nice man
named William Gilles. At that time Dickens began writing his first tragic play
titled "Miznar, The Sultan of India". Unfortunately, though Dickens
is liked the school very much, he had to drop out because her father began to
heavily drown into debt as he could not manage his finances. Dickens was sad
and angry when he was forced to leave school and his friends.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Later, after
not having to work again, Dickens went to another school at Wellington House
Academy, although before he could finish it, his family financial difficulties came
back again, that he had to drop out once more.</div>
</div>
<div style="font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5718868443389571330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYlA24o6GTkR0IpsyoBLC2YUe7dPk8BdzfDPsIqnZJCMV6VokfeMGT8bLZXm20aea6K5gWiksHNZBjxjzBF6qHkZ32MkLMQWi8uV2mDtYyvqPF3Z3i8Mkypvgk3MnXJIGShoZd_kNVa40/s320/dickens-Wellington-House-Academy.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; font-size: medium; height: 237px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>Wellington House Academy, taken from <a href="http://literature11.pbworks.com/">here</a>.</i></div>
<div style="font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
Fanda Classiclithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07642429343958941266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7924738350115227296.post-43893902154539156762012-03-12T10:49:00.005+07:002012-08-16T13:27:42.725+07:00Dickens' Early Years<div style="font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;">In 1809 John
Dickens and Elizabeth Barrow arrived in Portsmouth, Hampshire, soon after they
married. John Dickens was in the Navy Pay Office staff at that time. They lived
at 387 Mile End Terrace. Elizabeth gave birth to their first daughter who was named
Frances (Fanny) Elizabeth Barrow in 1810. Two years later a son was born and
named Charles John Huffam Dickens, on February 7, 1812. After Charles, there were
still six more children, but for Charles, Fanny was always his closest sibling.</span></div>
<div style="font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 100%; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 100%; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 100%; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5718863429701874786" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5ky6FeoPjoT0UOqShGFtihXG8esMJ-mBxQ0wk372om5gr_36ub9_yT1afUaeifc3m-rEzP5eLp1Kb989trD4AZLTdB6n6X_qAPzl0wYWeHTTEvmjUD3kDUfXugteJZohaRIMuEF69EtE/s320/dickens-house-mileendterrace.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 265px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 190px;" /></span><br />
<div>
<div style="font-style: normal; text-align: center;">
<i>The house at 387 Mile End Terrace, Portsmouth, taken from <a href="http://warlight.tripod.com/">here</a></i></div>
<div style="font-size: 100%; font-style: normal;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-size: 100%; font-style: normal;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;">After moving
to London in 1815, John was transferred by the Navy Pay Office to Kent, in the city’s Chatham Dockyard. Charles Dickens loved the Kent countryside
atmosphere, which would later inspire a lot of landscapes in his novels.</span></div>
<div style="font-size: 100%; font-style: normal;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-size: 100%; font-style: normal;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-size: 100%; font-style: normal;">
<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5718863959962817170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj61Qtn5MOE_qClJSyeTDmYsJPjK4SgIfE7sdCykSIPHy6-2xzguODJwTT0DxQFRjPO_sfL4dDpVOg5yctszyLjg9nuNz7DhP_57962STARmaf5W74_BJ6cDDeL_qaN0Dm3pNSMc1x_C1g/s320/dickens-house-kent.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /><br />
<div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; text-align: center;">
<i>Dickens' home in Kent which now become a museum, taken from <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/">here</a></i></div>
<div style="font-size: 100%; font-style: normal;">
<br /></div>
Fanda Classiclithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07642429343958941266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7924738350115227296.post-87567412533855585002012-03-11T16:10:00.003+07:002012-03-11T17:01:09.635+07:00[The Writing of] Sketches by Boz<div style="text-align: justify;"><span ><span style="text-align: left; "><span style="font-size: 100%; "><b>Sketches by Boz</b> awalnya adalah serial fiksi-sketsa mengenai kehidupan sehari-hari warga London yang diterbitkan di harian Morning Chronicles. Suatu hari seorang penerbit bernama John Macrone berinisiatif untuk menerbitkannya sebagai novel. Edisi pertama buku ini yang terbit Februari 1836 menggunakan ilustrasi garapan George Cruikshank. Empatbelas bulan kemudian Chapman & Hall membeli copyright Sketches by Boz dari Macrone senilai GBP 2.000,- lalu menerbitkannya sebagai kisah bersambun</span></span><span style="text-align: left; "><span style="font-size: 100%;">g yang terbit tiap bulan.</span></span></span></div><div><span ><br /></span></div><div><span ><br /></span><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ_fc73006rNYFJjcTTsbcYPsJmQ8H0nNhjT7e3gPsepqF8Y5CJaAEVzbaF0zfwTCKifxPThCB7BmuGcqv0mpx7U1BUhnVqTyZIaHGRDPQf_5yB5m1WuBvHxlUhaWKxBJtvJ6f69ZnYzs/s320/sketches-by-boz.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5718576940135466546" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 174px; height: 289px; " /><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span ><i>cover asli Sketches by Boz yg terbit 1836</i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%; text-align: left; "><span >Awalnya sulit bagi pembaca modern jaman itu untuk menikmati dan menghargai nilai-nilai penting dalam Sketches by Boz. Saat itu adalah akhir era Georgian, mulai memasuki era Victorian, di mana orang biasa membaca horor gothic, percintaan ala bangsawan dan polemik politik. Kisah keseharian orang-orang kelas menengah London jarang dibicarakan. Alih-alih kisah aristokrasi di mansion-mansion, Sketches by Boz bercerita tentang orang-orang biasa yang melakukan hal-hal biasa, dengan humor-humor mengenai kesalahpahaman kecil dalam hidup sehari-hari--seperti "The Bloomsbury Christening", namun ada juga yang serius seperti "The Drunkard's Death".</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 100%; "><span >Boz adalah nama samaran/nama pena yang dipakai Dickens waktu awal menulis serial ini. Nama itu berasal dari adik laki-laki bungsunya, Augustus Dickens, yang biasa dipanggil Moses oleh keluarganya. Namun mereka melafalkan "Moses" dengan suara sengau sehingga terdengar sebagai "Boses", yang lalu menjadi "Boz" di tangan Dickens.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 100%; "><br /></span></div></div></div>Fanda Classiclithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07642429343958941266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7924738350115227296.post-25810803453124625532012-03-11T15:48:00.002+07:002012-09-14T11:17:26.240+07:00Meet Mrs & Mr. Tibbs from Sketches by Boz<div style="text-align: justify;">
One of the
short stories in Sketches By Boz is "Boarding House" which tells about
Mrs. Tibbs, a dominant wife, and Mr. Tibbs, her poor husband ... This is one
funny quote that describes them both:</div>
<div>
<br />
<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5718560981592475026" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhInUo-HC53d6JKLEQAGALaceTm-qGAVyPTHGTRLuqJ3IfiHFYZboIqvj5p0VAqOjS6vZJPJ5lXYe-koeORIslXB6awxLHjE3F11rNhmtm0W5_4ZrvG-dpByG8rfiQbKeuIlecx2WCWnkU/s320/mrstibbs.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 320px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 262px;" /><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><i>George Cruikshank's illustration</i></span></div>
<br /><br /><span style="font-size: 100%;"></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><i>"Mrs. Tibbs was, beyond all dispute, the most tidy, fidgety, thrifty little personage that ever inhaled the smoke of London; and the house of Mrs. Tibbs was, decidedly the neatest in all Great Coram-street... Mr. Tibbs was by no means a large man. He had, moreover, very short legs, but, by way of indemnification, his face was peculiarly long. He was to his wife what the 0 is in 90 - he was of some importance WITH her--he was nothing without her."</i></span></blockquote>
<br /></div>
Fanda Classiclithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07642429343958941266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7924738350115227296.post-69732290328064033112012-03-10T12:11:00.006+07:002012-09-14T11:56:32.029+07:00The Switching Character of Flora in Little Dorrit<div style="font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
An excerpt
from Little Dorrit about how Flora’s character changed. This refers to Dickens’
own feelings toward the woman who became his first love in real life: Maria
Beadnell (Dickens embodied the young Maria
Beadnell in Dora). What was once Dickens adored so much in Mary, later changed
when they met again as adults.</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<blockquote style="font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<i>"Flora, always tall, had grown to be very broad too and short of breath; but that was not much. Flora, whom he had left a lily, had become a peony; ut that was not much. Flora, who had seemed enchanting in all she said and thought, was diffuse and silly. That was much. Flora, who had been spoiled and artless long ago, was determined to be spoiled and artless now. That was a fatal blow."</i></blockquote>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;">For Dickens, "</span><i style="font-size: 100%;">Maria's flirtatious manner in young age became silly and irritating in middle aged...</i><span style="font-size: 100%;">"</span></div>
<span style="font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span></div>
</span>Fanda Classiclithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07642429343958941266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7924738350115227296.post-64376620547252848462012-03-10T09:40:00.005+07:002012-09-14T11:42:33.695+07:00Mr. Micawber's Advice in David Copperfield<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
An excerpt
from David Copperfield about the unfortunate Mr. Micawber, who was entangled in
debt. Mr. Micawber’s character was inspired by <a href="http://allaboutdickens.blogspot.com/search/label/father">Charles Dickens’ father</a> who was
also heavily in debt and was jailed for it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5718101831724736210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrKCExc2oYcH6ndU5McRM4mH2d4KEiF6HQ1cygeJ0L37V_TwHsjnP4aSAJ0dbkk4UJs-RDAk-7j59OruZvqu_JLF8KuQUCljSIXqiNXUpW7e-8pARyK8jUR6gZzuvELKDkoETj0B_gaxA/s320/mr.micawber.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 266px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 189px;" /></div>
<div style="font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<i>Mr. Micawber</i></div>
<div style="font-size: 100%; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-size: 100%;">"</span><i>My other piece of advice, Copperfield," said Mr. Micawber, "you know. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds ought and six, result misery. The blossom is blighted, the leaf is withered, the god of day goes down upon the dreary scene, and--and in short you are for ever floored. As I am!</i><span style="font-size: 100%;">"</span></blockquote>
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Fanda Classiclithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07642429343958941266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7924738350115227296.post-60431850071620250162012-03-09T14:12:00.005+07:002012-03-09T14:50:40.868+07:00Ditemukan: Film Tertua Adaptasi Buku Dickens<div style="font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 100%; text-align: left; " >Seorang periset film sedang mencari-cari di antara arsip film-film lama di British Film Institute, ketika matanya tertumbuk pada sebuah judul: "The Death of Poor Joe" yang dibuat tahun 1901. Benaknya langsung menghubungkan judul itu dengan salah satu karakter di buku Charles Dickens yang berjudul Bleak House. Mungkinkah?...</span></div><div style="font-style: normal; font-size: 100%; "><span ><span style="font-style: normal; "><br /></span><span style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; "><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 182px; height: 277px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicIkOpfuMXodgxmFF7iRYtoUFfKbY_S-Zs5gwlY9n0-naZC3WnWwG1_RC88z1wZ081H8R7sZSC-Q7kPNoaY1vYvWwPihnT1rOAmjM48VV6zbB_4ofOKHw2GM60n-ol3uAoKp6tin6SwFI/s320/jo.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5717795861565946866" /></span></span><div style="font-style: normal; text-align: center; "><i><span >ilustrasi Jo si tukang sapu</span></i></div><div style="font-style: normal; text-align: center; "><span ><br /></span></div><div style="font-style: normal; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 100%; " >Ternyata instingnya tidak salah. Film berdurasi satu menit itu ternyata memang film tertua yang masih ada yang mengangkat salah satu tokoh ciptaan Dickens di Bleak House, yaitu Jo. Film yang masih dalam keadaan baik itu diproduksi oleh G.A. Smith, seorang pioner perfilman di Inggris. Diperkirakan film itu dibuat pada Maret 1901 dengan mengambil Brighton sebagai settingnya.</span></div><div><span ><span style="font-style: normal; "><br /></span><span style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCW9zl6FmsXOPkI-REiJUm71UVQ-fhhqw7ABKOayWtfaVBLeLNavNwhJ_zy8NBDDu24mMt4gI7EztHbwGLVOEDUds9r2H4FZKy_OL24_ryg_9vy6c6HxzlimvwbCL78O2gUIyOT6NDIlA/s320/bleakhouse1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5717795461137131266" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 182px; height: 278px; " /></span></span><div><div style="font-style: normal; text-align: center; "><i><span >salah satu cover buku Bleak House </span></i></div><div style="font-style: normal; text-align: center; "><span ><br /></span></div><div style="font-style: normal; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 100%; " >Inilah sekilas sinopsis film tersebut, seperti dikutip dari Reuters:</span></div><div style="font-style: normal; text-align: justify; "><span ><br /></span></div><div style="font-style: normal; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 100%; " ></span></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 100%; " ><i>It depicts Dickens' Jo, a poor street sweeper in Bleak House, at night against a churchyard wall freezing in the winter snow with his broom.</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><i><span ><br /></span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 100%; " ><i>A watchman comes along and catches Jo just as he falls to the ground dying. The watchman tries to help but it is too late, and Jo puts his hands together in prayer, taking the lamp for heavenly light as he dies.</i></span></div></blockquote><div style="font-style: normal; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 100%; " ></span></div><div style="font-style: normal; text-align: justify; "><span ><br /></span></div><div style="font-style: normal; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 100%; " >Selain terinspirasi dari buku Dickens, kemungkinan film itu juga diinspirasi oleh kisah Gadis Korek Api, dongeng karya Hans Christian Andersen. Istri G.A. Smith, Laura Bayley, memerankan tokoh Jo dalam film itu.</span></div></div></div></div><div style="font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 100%; " ><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span ><i>Sumber: thejakartaglobe.com</i></span></div>Fanda Classiclithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07642429343958941266noreply@blogger.com0