As a student of English literature, it was incredibly satisfying to hear someone talk about Dickens so passionately. Dickens is undoubtedly one of the greatest prose writers ever.
Agreed. Plus, as a kid, I thought much about Steerforth (the pampered villain who, in a single, reflective moment, wished he'd had the guidance of a father). I pitied him.
I'm very old. When I was at school we had to read Dickens. We tackled Great Expectations when we were aged 12-13, and David Copperfield the next year. I don't think young scholars today would have the staying power, but we loved it. As I grew up in the city where Dickens was born, we took him as a local hero.
I'm so sorry, that most young people are not into reading anymore at all. I was born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. My parents were hugely into literature and I'm so gratefull that I was raised that way. From as long as I can remember, I've been reading. And I needn't go to the library: my parents owned so many books, I'm still not done with all of them. My mother loved Dickens and read all his work. As a child, I couldn't read in English, but I read a couple of good translations of "Great Expectations" and "Oliver Twist". We got a television relatively late, in 1969 or around that time: the first landing on the moon would be broadcasted live, in the Netherlands in the middle of the night. My 7 year older brother and my dad really wanted to watch that. I'm happy to read, that you enjoyed Dickens so much. And for everybody that doesn't read, especially with the worst excuse ever: it takes time. And effort. Smooches from Amsterdamned XXX ❤
About 55+ years ago I started out with Oliver Twist as well. Then Great Expectations, A Christmas Carol, and now Bleak House. While there are many interesting characters, I find his books too wordy, too lengthy, and I often lose the plot because of all the intricacies and sub plots. Still, I recognize that Dickens was making some highly serious and illuminating disclosures of problems in his society. Obviously his was a life long quest for justice.
I finished Bleak House in 2019 having read all of his shorter books with the exception of The Mystery of Edwin Drood and some travelogues. It was not nearly as easy a read and a bit long-winded at times but the payoff was so transformative that I’m now on a journey to reading all of his books.
Bleak House has been the toughest one for me to get through. I'll tackle it again now that I'm retired and can focus some solid time daily reading it (as opposed to trying to read a chapter or two a few nights a week).
I have been a lover of Dickens for many years. Thank you, Prof. Douglas-Fairhurst! Growing up a working class kid in the 1960’s Brooklyn of stickball, kick the can, parochial school nuns (God bless them they socialized a generation of ruffians that nowadays are lost to the streets), etc. I could lose myself and my occasionally challenging circumstances with a book. I made my way eventually to Dickens and vividly recall a sense of kinship. (And challenge, I love having to read a passage a couple of times to “get it.”) More important, as with Shakespeare, I could read a passage and would recognize a thought, a feeling, a concept I had in my mind but never thought to put into words. It was at the same time both a discovery and a recognition. Amazing feeling. Great poetry can do that, but so too could Dickens or Shakespeare. I never lost my love for reading. By the time I finished college I had read everything that Melville, Hemingway, and Dickens ever wrote even though I never took a literature course. (I was a “STEM” major and should have been spending more time with that, but that’s another story.) Melville and Hemingway have faded in my estimation, but Dickens never and I still go back to reread his works. In fact, it seems to me that rereading is the wrong word, the great novels are always new to the older rereader. Thanks again, professor.
J'aime votre enthousiasme. Vous avez raison, pour moi aussi, Dickens a changé ma façon de voir le monde. J'aime beaucoup d'écrivains mais Dickens a une place à part dans mon coeur. Je l'aime depuis l'enfance, depuis que mon père m'a transmis sa passion pour son univers. J'aime tout Dickens, même si ma préférence va à David Copperfield et Great Expectations, sans oublier le merveilleux Mister Pickwick.
I need more of these Where To Start videos! An eloquent author giving wonderful summaries while featuring the beautiful cover art of the Penguin collection ❤️
What I love about his books is how the characters are very human. Even the villains have a history that has developed their character and there are reasons for who they are.
Can you make this a permanent series! This is so awesome and a great introduction to the classics! I’ll love to see Austen, Brontë Sisters, Steinbeck, and Hemingway
My interest in Dickens smoldered with A Christmas Carol, Great Expectations, and A tale of two cities but it only really caught fire with Bleak House. Such wonderful prose and what a rollercoaster ending.
Professor Douglas-Fairhurst is articulate and has interesting things to say. I was a bit surprised he didn’t include David Copperfield on his list, but I suppose that’s personal opinion. What bothered me about the video was the use of the trendy camera angle (with the speaker apparently staring vacantly off into space while speaking.) It makes the speaker seem sort of shifty, as if he is incapable of sustaining “eye contact” with his viewers. It’s a cheap gimmick, and one would think viewers could patiently watch a professor speak for twelve minutes without needing a constantly changing camera angle.
How did Google know that I've been reading Great Expectations lately even though I didn't mention anything about it in anywhere of these platforms to recommand this to me is.. beyond me. I'm subscribing though.
Good selection! I am currently reading/listening to this great novel and I am enjoying it a great deal. Who knew you could make a fortune in collecting dust?!? Regards...
@@mikesnyder1788 Ha! Who knew, right? The BBC did a pretty decent four-part series of 'Our Mutual Friend' back in the late '90s, if you're ever interested in seeing it dramatized (Timothy Spall as 'Mr. Venus' is an absolute hoot). Take care. :)
@@lisarozzz Yes! Absolutely. The river serves as metaphor and character in the book. Like the book's many human characters, the river can be benign and lovely, or dark and threatening, or leaning to the shore of either at various bends. And it literally 'flows' through the story. I really think it's Dickens' most mature work, and I just simply love the story for itself. :) (I liked the miniseries shown on PBS in 1998(?). That last scene on the river was perfect.)
Having read long ago many of the Dickens' novels, this video inspires me to once again take up Dickens. Tale of Two Cities (abridged version) was, by the way, the first English novel - English is not my mother tongue - I read in the last year of my school, as a prescribed 'text book'. The year was 1966-67. The place, a remote town in Maharashtra, India.
I’m surprised you did not mention “David Copperfield”, Dickens’ ‘favourite child’! Should that not be the next one after Pickwick Papers? I myself have been reading Dickens novels since I was a teenager. A Dutch translation of ‘Oliver Twist’ was the first one I read, soon followed by Christmas Carol and Nicholas Nickleby (inspired by the theatrical adaptation of the Royal Shakespear company broadcasted on tv). After this David Copperfield followed (still a Dutch translation) and A Tale if Two Cities and Little Dorrit in English. Not precisely the order recommended here, but since then I’m hooked and I’ve read all his novels at least once and most of them more than once.
Agreed. I remember when I first read Mme. Defarge's backstory, I had worlds of pity. That book contained the most striking images of social class conflict I've ever encountered.
Thoroughly enjoyed this video, fantastic introduction to Dickens and the way Robert described the models was so calming and interesting to watch. I bet he's a fantastic teacher and I am now going to look out for his book too!
I've read only a portion of CD's work: Carol, Oliver Twist, Bleak House. I'm now reading (just started) Nicholas Nickleby. I have lived with Bleak House for many years now. It, Joyce's Ulysses, McCarthy's Blood Meridian and The Bible are literary works I go to again and again. BH has gifts that come to the reader with each reading and I love it.
No one here has mentioned "The Chimes," which I think is greatly underrated. Fans of "It's a Wonderful Life" should appreciate it, but what I enjoy is how Dickens, rather than focusing on a rich miser this time, made the main character a working class man. Changes the perspective considerably. Similar plot as "A Christmas Carol," but very different point of view. It's my favorite of his holiday stories, obviously eclipsed by the great Ebenezer Scrooge, but well worth reading. As far as where to start, I think schools have the right idea with his shorter works, such as "Great Expectations," "Oliver Twist," and "A Tale of Two Cities." "Pickwick Papers" and "Nicholas Nickleby" have the serialization down pat, but the plots were more willy nilly than his later works, which Dickens planned out more carefully, starting with "David Copperfield." A good compromise in length and character would be "The Old Curiosity Shop." Many of the great Dickens tropes, including the picaresque journey, innocence vs. corruption, and an over-the-top cartoon villain makes this a good starting point. The length is also not intimidating.
Scholars of adolescent literacy challenge the relevance of canonical lit for youth, but Dickens is a marvelous counterargument. His sense of social justice has nothing but appeal.
I think Pickwick may, with its episodic structure and joyous energy, be a better introduction to Dickens for a modern reader than the others. Modern readers, alas, too often find Dickens prose (and others of the era) something of an acquired taste, or at least something that requires a bit of practice. Pickwick may thus be useful as a more gentle introduction. And, too, these readers may have the pleasure of recognizing a possible influence on a well-loved character of a later age, in a faithful servant named Sam…
IMHO if you're starting with The Pickwick Papers, you need to be warned that it doesn't really get good until about 100 pages in, when Sam Weller shows up.
Pickwick Papers was a total surprise for me and I absolutely love this book! Yes, the episodic structure would work well for someone just getting into Dickens! Also, the old Recorded Books audio version was totally well done!
Great talk. Engaging but not condescending. Just wondered why Oliver Twist did not get into the early sequence of recommended reading. I would put it between Christmas Carol and Great Expectations. But it is long and the final third can be hard-going.
I’ve only ever read A Christmas Carol and hesitated to read an entire novel. But hearing him talk about Dickens made me want to read them all. Funny enough, I do own a copy of Great Expectations which I intended to be my first Dickens novel, which means that I subconsciously knew I should read A Christmas Carol and then Great Expectations. I didn’t even know much about the story, but it was the prettiest cover out of them.
Just starting reading A Christmas Carol last night. Do it every year. Also regularly follow the Dickens Museum in London. Such a timely UA-cam video. :)
Excellent video. Thank you. I was thinking of this exact order for the first three as a way to introduce Dickens to my son, followed by David Copperfield. I loved these books so much when I was a teenager.
Thank you, my first Dickens was Great Expectations, which I loved! Just finished Dombey & Son, excellent! I've just also read A Christmas Carol. Just started Hard Times. And the next two novels I was thinking of reading was going to be, A Tale of Two Cities and Bleak House. And you've just made my mind up! Thank you! 😊
@@HydraulicJack Dombey and Son is the book that really got me started reading Dickens. I had read A Tale of Two Cities and Hard Times in school, and they didn't make much of an impression. Years later I picked up Dombey and after that read pretty much everything. If I had to pick a second favorite it would be Bleak House.
@@HydraulicJack I really enjoyed Dombey & Son, I listened on audiable and the narrator was David Timson, he was absolutely brilliant with the characters voices, it made it such an enjoyable experience. The main story is about the relationship of father (Mr Dombey) with his son and daughter, and how parents can have such an effect on their children's happiness. But even though a serious subject, Dicken's humour made so much of the story and characters hilarious. And there was was so many side stories that interlinked. I highly recommend, and think it will be one of my favourite Dicken's! 😊
Thank you for this informative guide of how to approach reading Dickens, my goal is to revisit 19th Century writers once thrust upon me at school, which was viewed by me as work, rather than enjoyment. Some decades later, I find that rereading opens a new world and appreciation of the words used , the subtle satire, the delite of a new discovery. Thanks again, 8 on my TBR list by summer. 2022. PBH
This is a project for 2022 😀 Sad to say I have only read Great Expectations, although I know the others from films and good BBC adaptions (I missed Our Mutual Friend and Hard Times, I have the book of the latter). People of a certain age will remember James Hayter as Mr Pickwick who became the voice of the original Mr Kipling. Pity that the Prof didn't mention that certainly the early novels were published episodically in magazines and I believe that is a factor in their readability & pacing of the stories. That also make them good for adaption as they can fit into the weekly episodes.
This is so helpful and motivating, thank you! I read A Christmas Carol for the first time this holiday and, just like you said, was surprised and delighted by /how/ the tale was told. The narrative voice was so witty, and I felt so included by it as the reader. He'a got so many books I wasn't sure where to go next, but now I'm looking forward to Great Expectations.
I am a huge fan of Dickens and have grown to appreciate him more and more the older I get. I am also a fan of a lot of his "lesser" known works-- love Barnaby Rudge, Little Dorrit, Old Curiosity Shop. I'm still working up the nerve to tackle Our Mutual Friend.
This video has made me want to finish off the Dickens novels I haven’t yet finished: David copperfield and a tale of two cities. Thanks a lot for this, very informative
Great Expectations is short? Well that's where I'm starting. I've read Christmas Carol and watched all the Dickens movies. I'm excited to start down the Dicken's road of literature.....relatively new to reading in a regular way. Thanks for this video!!
Thanks for this video! One of my reading goals this year is to read Charles Dickens other works - I read “A Christmas Carol” every year in December- so this video is a tremendous help as to how I should complete his work.
Thanks for this video. I read A Christmas Carol and loved it and would like to read more by Dickens. I’ll follow your order, love your inspiration for Dickens.
I was always a bit afraid to start reading Dickens because it's such a big name and an old story. Which isn't an easy combination when english isn't your first language. But this video really made me want to buy and read one 😇 Please make more videos like that😍
The other great thing about Dickens books? The illustrations by Phiz, they put you into that ( along with Dickens delicious and detailed prose) mid 19th century world..... perfectly.
I read “Tale of Two Cities” last year. It was a great story. Some people say that one of the key concepts of the story is “resurrection”. I’m not necessarily a Christian and I’m not sure what kind of religious beliefs Dickens had but it’s a great experience to see how each individual character thought about what is worth living for (and dying for). I found it interesting, by the way, that it’s written in 1859, the same year as Charles Darwin wrote “On the Origins of Species” (and that they shared the same initials.)
Scrooge is actually visited by four spirits, you missed out his business partner Jacob Marley who comes to warm him of the coming of the other three. I will hunt for his books all the same just from this wonderful video anyway.
It was only within the past year when a local Peterborough Cambridgeshire UK pub closed that local publicity told of Dickens association with The Wortley Arms when it had been a workhouse. I appreciate guidance of reading order so thank you. My past reading of the Pickwick papers I did find amusing and that as a first Dickens read had been a suggestion by my ex husband's divorce solicitor who was friendly with my ex and me at the time of our parting. Please Will you make a video of the order to read Shakespeare?
I don’t agree with your list…but your presentation is top class. Did Dickens really hero worship the police. He seem very aware how unjust the law could be and they are instruments of the law.
![Charles Dickens Home - [Room by Room Tour] of Dickens Museum London](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/2htpOD8DI4M/mqdefault.jpg)
“Where to Start with…” should be a series. Please, sir, I’d like some more.
So true!
Really, love from India
I thought it was ;-;; I really hope they consider making it a series
💯
Yes yes yes!
1:19 A Christmas Carol
3:20 Great Expectations
5:16 A Tale of Two Cities
7:25 Bleak House
9:45 The Pickwick Papers
David Copperfield is his best work
Thank you!
A christmas Carol is his best work.
The Curiosity Shop was really good 😊
As a student of English literature, it was incredibly satisfying to hear someone talk about Dickens so passionately. Dickens is undoubtedly one of the greatest prose writers ever.
I am absolutely gobsmacked when I think about the speed he wrote. The writers I know get twisted and blocked, Dickens was a glorious fountain….
no matter what everyone says he is the greatest novelist of all time.
Is this a series? If not, it def should be! I just loved the format! Next ones could be Woolf and Shakespeare 🤩🤩🤩
I second this
100%
Where to Start: Balzac
Where to Start: Mishima
Where to Start: Toni Morrison
Yes! Do one on Yeats next!
100% agree
I have to put in a good word for David Copperfield. It’s my favorite Dickens book because the characters are so fun.
Reading it now, it’s incredible! Definitely think should be on this list.
Agreed. Plus, as a kid, I thought much about Steerforth (the pampered villain who, in a single, reflective moment, wished he'd had the guidance of a father). I pitied him.
Janet! Donkeys!!
I loved the the character miss mowcher!
I agree to that!
I'm very old. When I was at school we had to read Dickens. We tackled Great Expectations when we were aged 12-13, and David Copperfield the next year. I don't think young scholars today would have the staying power, but we loved it. As I grew up in the city where Dickens was born, we took him as a local hero.
I'm so sorry, that most young people are not into reading anymore at all. I was born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. My parents were hugely into literature and I'm so gratefull that I was raised that way. From as long as I can remember, I've been reading. And I needn't go to the library: my parents owned so many books, I'm still not done with all of them. My mother loved Dickens and read all his work. As a child, I couldn't read in English, but I read a couple of good translations of "Great Expectations" and "Oliver Twist". We got a television relatively late, in 1969 or around that time: the first landing on the moon would be broadcasted live, in the Netherlands in the middle of the night. My 7 year older brother and my dad really wanted to watch that. I'm happy to read, that you enjoyed Dickens so much.
And for everybody that doesn't read, especially with the worst excuse ever: it takes time. And effort.
Smooches from Amsterdamned XXX ❤
I agree that A Christmas Carol is a great place to start. Oliver Twist was the first Dickens I read, and I think it's a good introduction to Dickens.
I started with Oliver Twist as well. Don't regret it at all.
I’m reading Oliver Twist now.
About 55+ years ago I started out with Oliver Twist as well. Then Great Expectations, A Christmas Carol, and now Bleak House. While there are many interesting characters, I find his books too wordy, too lengthy, and I often lose the plot because of all the intricacies and sub plots. Still, I recognize that Dickens was making some highly serious and illuminating disclosures of problems in his society. Obviously his was a life long quest for justice.
Same with Oliver I think because it was on every Christmas for years. I feel like I am in Victorian London or wherever the story is.
The first one I read was A Christmas Carol. Then it was David Copperfield. I read Oliver Twist and Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations.
Great expectations and David Copperfield are my favourites. The chapter 'agnes' towards the end of DC is the most moving thing I have ever read.
Nicholas Nickleby is sooooo funny and adventurous with awesome characters, and a beautifully satisfying ending!!! So worth the read
I finished Bleak House in 2019 having read all of his shorter books with the exception of The Mystery of Edwin Drood and some travelogues. It was not nearly as easy a read and a bit long-winded at times but the payoff was so transformative that I’m now on a journey to reading all of his books.
Bleak House has been the toughest one for me to get through. I'll tackle it again now that I'm retired and can focus some solid time daily reading it (as opposed to trying to read a chapter or two a few nights a week).
I have listened to The Curiosity Shop by Audiobooks and though long, enjoyed it immensely.
I have been a lover of Dickens for many years. Thank you, Prof. Douglas-Fairhurst!
Growing up a working class kid in the 1960’s Brooklyn of stickball, kick the can, parochial school nuns (God bless them they socialized a generation of ruffians that nowadays are lost to the streets), etc. I could lose myself and my occasionally challenging circumstances with a book. I made my way eventually to Dickens and vividly recall a sense of kinship. (And challenge, I love having to read a passage a couple of times to “get it.”) More important, as with Shakespeare, I could read a passage and would recognize a thought, a feeling, a concept I had in my mind but never thought to put into words. It was at the same time both a discovery and a recognition. Amazing feeling. Great poetry can do that, but so too could Dickens or Shakespeare.
I never lost my love for reading. By the time I finished college I had read everything that Melville, Hemingway, and Dickens ever wrote even though I never took a literature course. (I was a “STEM” major and should have been spending more time with that, but that’s another story.) Melville and Hemingway have faded in my estimation, but Dickens never and I still go back to reread his works. In fact, it seems to me that rereading is the wrong word, the great novels are always new to the older rereader.
Thanks again, professor.
Ps. I just ordered your book, Professor, and look forward to its delivery when published in America in March.
Its always amazed me how he crammed so much into his life…author, journalist, performer, editor etc etc etc
J'aime votre enthousiasme. Vous avez raison, pour moi aussi, Dickens a changé ma façon de voir le monde. J'aime beaucoup d'écrivains mais Dickens a une place à part dans mon coeur. Je l'aime depuis l'enfance, depuis que mon père m'a transmis sa passion pour son univers. J'aime tout Dickens, même si ma préférence va à David Copperfield et Great Expectations, sans oublier le merveilleux Mister Pickwick.
I need more of these Where To Start videos! An eloquent author giving wonderful summaries while featuring the beautiful cover art of the Penguin collection ❤️
What I love about his books is how the characters are very human. Even the villains have a history that has developed their character and there are reasons for who they are.
Can you make this a permanent series! This is so awesome and a great introduction to the classics! I’ll love to see Austen, Brontë Sisters, Steinbeck, and Hemingway
Thomas Hardy
My interest in Dickens smoldered with A Christmas Carol, Great Expectations, and A tale of two cities but it only really caught fire with Bleak House. Such wonderful prose and what a rollercoaster ending.
I never knew where to start with classic authors like Dickens, so thanks for sharing!
Professor Douglas-Fairhurst is articulate and has interesting things to say. I was a bit surprised he didn’t include David Copperfield on his list, but I suppose that’s personal opinion. What bothered me about the video was the use of the trendy camera angle (with the speaker apparently staring vacantly off into space while speaking.) It makes the speaker seem sort of shifty, as if he is incapable of sustaining “eye contact” with his viewers. It’s a cheap gimmick, and one would think viewers could patiently watch a professor speak for twelve minutes without needing a constantly changing camera angle.
How did Google know that I've been reading Great Expectations lately even though I didn't mention anything about it in anywhere of these platforms to recommand this to me is.. beyond me.
I'm subscribing though.
I love Dicken's novels, and 'Our Mutual Friend' is definitely my favorite.
Good selection! I am currently reading/listening to this great novel and I am enjoying it a great deal. Who knew you could make a fortune in collecting dust?!? Regards...
@@mikesnyder1788 Ha! Who knew, right? The BBC did a pretty decent four-part series of 'Our Mutual Friend' back in the late '90s, if you're ever interested in seeing it dramatized (Timothy Spall as 'Mr. Venus' is an absolute hoot). Take care. :)
I love that book as well, the river is actually a character in that novel…
@@lisarozzz Yes! Absolutely. The river serves as metaphor and character in the book. Like the book's many human characters, the river can be benign and lovely, or dark and threatening, or leaning to the shore of either at various bends. And it literally 'flows' through the story. I really think it's Dickens' most mature work, and I just simply love the story for itself. :) (I liked the miniseries shown on PBS in 1998(?). That last scene on the river was perfect.)
What a wonderful initiative! Please continue this as a series.
Here’s sending a prayer out to the universe hoping this is the beginning of a series.
Having read long ago many of the Dickens' novels, this video inspires me to once again take up Dickens. Tale of Two Cities (abridged version) was, by the way, the first English novel - English is not my mother tongue - I read in the last year of my school, as a prescribed 'text book'. The year was 1966-67. The place, a remote town in Maharashtra, India.
I love the way that the books have been turned into films and TV series and they work really well because of the lively colorful characters.
We need this as a series.
This should be a series.
I’m surprised you did not mention “David Copperfield”, Dickens’ ‘favourite child’! Should that not be the next one after Pickwick Papers? I myself have been reading Dickens novels since I was a teenager. A Dutch translation of ‘Oliver Twist’ was the first one I read, soon followed by Christmas Carol and Nicholas Nickleby (inspired by the theatrical adaptation of the Royal Shakespear company broadcasted on tv). After this David Copperfield followed (still a Dutch translation) and A Tale if Two Cities and Little Dorrit in English. Not precisely the order recommended here, but since then I’m hooked and I’ve read all his novels at least once and most of them more than once.
Good recommendations on one of the greatest novelists of all time. I have most of Dickens' books, with A Tale of Two Cities being my favorite, so far!
Agreed. I remember when I first read Mme. Defarge's backstory, I had worlds of pity. That book contained the most striking images of social class conflict I've ever encountered.
Great Expectations is not short: it's a 160,000+ words! That is NOT a short novel. It's a beast.
It’s actually one of his shortest novels. Bleak House, Little Dorrit, and Dombey and Son are all 350k+!
@@DanielFletcherFlute Indeed might be one HIS shortest novels, but 160,000 words is not a short novel generally 😄
Loved ‘Our Mutual Friend ‘ .
Great video. Thanks for posting 😊
Thoroughly enjoyed this video, fantastic introduction to Dickens and the way Robert described the models was so calming and interesting to watch. I bet he's a fantastic teacher and I am now going to look out for his book too!
Thanks for this instructive lecture. I have read much of Dickens'. He remains my all-time favorite author.
We need more of these excellent introductions to Great Writers!
I've read only a portion of CD's work: Carol, Oliver Twist, Bleak House. I'm now reading (just started) Nicholas Nickleby. I have lived with Bleak House for many years now. It, Joyce's Ulysses, McCarthy's Blood Meridian and The Bible are literary works I go to again and again. BH has gifts that come to the reader with each reading and I love it.
I've collected and read all of Dickens' novels and my favs are A Tale of Two Cities and Oliver Twist. I reread aTale every year. 😃 I love it so much!
Daggone you make me want to run to the bookstore and buy all the books!
This should be made into a series 😍
Bleak House cannot be beaten by anyone, anywhere. Simply untouchable.
I agree fantastic book…
Great Expectations is the 1st Dickens book that everyone should read.
So glad “The Pickwick Papers” is on this list. My favourite by far.
No one here has mentioned "The Chimes," which I think is greatly underrated. Fans of "It's a Wonderful Life" should appreciate it, but what I enjoy is how Dickens, rather than focusing on a rich miser this time, made the main character a working class man. Changes the perspective considerably. Similar plot as "A Christmas Carol," but very different point of view. It's my favorite of his holiday stories, obviously eclipsed by the great Ebenezer Scrooge, but well worth reading.
As far as where to start, I think schools have the right idea with his shorter works, such as "Great Expectations," "Oliver Twist," and "A Tale of Two Cities." "Pickwick Papers" and "Nicholas Nickleby" have the serialization down pat, but the plots were more willy nilly than his later works, which Dickens planned out more carefully, starting with "David Copperfield." A good compromise in length and character would be "The Old Curiosity Shop." Many of the great Dickens tropes, including the picaresque journey, innocence vs. corruption, and an over-the-top cartoon villain makes this a good starting point. The length is also not intimidating.
An excellent account about Dickens, well done Prof.
Scholars of adolescent literacy challenge the relevance of canonical lit for youth, but Dickens is a marvelous counterargument. His sense of social justice has nothing but appeal.
A Christmas Carol is the best book i've ever read and I read it every Christmas. Thanks for the video
I think Pickwick may, with its episodic structure and joyous energy, be a better introduction to Dickens for a modern reader than the others. Modern readers, alas, too often find Dickens prose (and others of the era) something of an acquired taste, or at least something that requires a bit of practice. Pickwick may thus be useful as a more gentle introduction. And, too, these readers may have the pleasure of recognizing a possible influence on a well-loved character of a later age, in a faithful servant named Sam…
absolutely, mate. then Bleak House, then Little Dorrit, then Our Mutual Friend and Great Ex. then on to effing Eliot.
IMHO if you're starting with The Pickwick Papers, you need to be warned that it doesn't really get good until about 100 pages in, when Sam Weller shows up.
Pickwick Papers was a total surprise for me and I absolutely love this book! Yes, the episodic structure would work well for someone just getting into Dickens! Also, the old Recorded Books audio version was totally well done!
Great talk. Engaging but not condescending. Just wondered why Oliver Twist did not get into the early sequence of recommended reading. I would put it between Christmas Carol and Great Expectations. But it is long and the final third can be hard-going.
I’ve only ever read A Christmas Carol and hesitated to read an entire novel. But hearing him talk about Dickens made me want to read them all. Funny enough, I do own a copy of Great Expectations which I intended to be my first Dickens novel, which means that I subconsciously knew I should read A Christmas Carol and then Great Expectations. I didn’t even know much about the story, but it was the prettiest cover out of them.
A very interesting introduction to Dickens. I love reading his books and also seeing the Dickens movies and TV series that work so well.
Just starting reading A Christmas Carol last night. Do it every year. Also regularly follow the Dickens Museum in London. Such a timely UA-cam video. :)
It's boxing day, I'm reading A Christmas Carol, again, it's part of Christmas for me.
Excellent video. Thank you. I was thinking of this exact order for the first three as a way to introduce Dickens to my son, followed by David Copperfield. I loved these books so much when I was a teenager.
Agreed. These books were the friends of my youth and I lived a life through them. I wish my son had the patience to navigate these stories.
Thank you, my first Dickens was Great Expectations, which I loved! Just finished Dombey & Son, excellent! I've just also read A Christmas Carol. Just started Hard Times. And the next two novels I was thinking of reading was going to be, A Tale of Two Cities and Bleak House. And you've just made my mind up! Thank you! 😊
@@HydraulicJack Dombey and Son is the book that really got me started reading Dickens. I had read A Tale of Two Cities and Hard Times in school, and they didn't make much of an impression. Years later I picked up Dombey and after that read pretty much everything. If I had to pick a second favorite it would be Bleak House.
@@HydraulicJack I really enjoyed Dombey & Son, I listened on audiable and the narrator was David Timson, he was absolutely brilliant with the characters voices, it made it such an enjoyable experience. The main story is about the relationship of father (Mr Dombey) with his son and daughter, and how parents can have such an effect on their children's happiness. But even though a serious subject, Dicken's humour made so much of the story and characters hilarious. And there was was so many side stories that interlinked. I highly recommend, and think it will be one of my favourite Dicken's! 😊
Thank you for this informative guide of how to approach reading Dickens, my goal is to revisit 19th Century writers once thrust upon me at school, which was viewed by me as work, rather than enjoyment. Some decades later, I find that rereading opens a new world and appreciation of the words used , the subtle satire, the delite of a new discovery. Thanks again, 8 on my TBR list by summer. 2022. PBH
This is a project for 2022 😀 Sad to say I have only read Great Expectations, although I know the others from films and good BBC adaptions (I missed Our Mutual Friend and Hard Times, I have the book of the latter). People of a certain age will remember James Hayter as Mr Pickwick who became the voice of the original Mr Kipling. Pity that the Prof didn't mention that certainly the early novels were published episodically in magazines and I believe that is a factor in their readability & pacing of the stories. That also make them good for adaption as they can fit into the weekly episodes.
This is so helpful and motivating, thank you! I read A Christmas Carol for the first time this holiday and, just like you said, was surprised and delighted by /how/ the tale was told. The narrative voice was so witty, and I felt so included by it as the reader. He'a got so many books I wasn't sure where to go next, but now I'm looking forward to Great Expectations.
I am a huge fan of Dickens and have grown to appreciate him more and more the older I get. I am also a fan of a lot of his "lesser" known works-- love Barnaby Rudge, Little Dorrit, Old Curiosity Shop. I'm still working up the nerve to tackle Our Mutual Friend.
I've just read Little Dorrit. Amazing! I still think about Mr. Merdle!
I so love Dickens! A Christmas Carol is my favorite novel.
This video has made me want to finish off the Dickens novels I haven’t yet finished: David copperfield and a tale of two cities. Thanks a lot for this, very informative
A tale of two cities , *chef's kiss*
Great Expectations is short? Well that's where I'm starting. I've read Christmas Carol and watched all the Dickens movies. I'm excited to start down the Dicken's road of literature.....relatively new to reading in a regular way. Thanks for this video!!
Haven't read any of his books but I am going to do it now! This is super helpful and I'm definitely really interested to read all of these
I really enjoyed A Tale of Two Cities 🙂
All the dickens books should have please sir can I have some more printed on the cover
Thanks for this video! One of my reading goals this year is to read Charles Dickens other works - I read “A Christmas Carol” every year in December- so this video is a tremendous help as to how I should complete his work.
Thankyou so very much for this perfect presentation.
He's my favourite writer, Sir!
Hullo! It makes me curious to read Charles Dickens's books. . . thanks!!!
Awesome I always read one author’s works each year and 2022 is Dickens! Nice to have a suggested reading order to start with
Thanks for this video. I read A Christmas Carol and loved it and would like to read more by Dickens. I’ll follow your order, love your inspiration for Dickens.
My favourite Dickens novel is Little Dorrit, a rags to riches and back to rags again story which is well worth a read 📚
Thanks for this! Excellently explained, and immediately makes me want to read these books.
I was always a bit afraid to start reading Dickens because it's such a big name and an old story. Which isn't an easy combination when english isn't your first language.
But this video really made me want to buy and read one 😇
Please make more videos like that😍
This was wonderful! I have just started reading Dickens! Please more of these videos with this gentleman!
only read Great Expectations in a college course, would love to explore more
The other great thing about Dickens books? The illustrations by Phiz, they put you into that ( along with Dickens delicious and detailed prose) mid 19th century world..... perfectly.
I would say A Christmas Carol and Hard Times are his simplest plots. Also no scenes of corporal punishment for the squeamish!
After watching this I want to read about Charles Dickens life.
This is the exact video I was looking for thank you for the tips! I’ve read A Christmas Carol and will be following your reading order.
Thanks professor Douglas . A great review.
Delightful video! As others commented, I would love to see this made into a series!
Oliver Twist was where I started 🖤
How come, David Copperfield is not in the list? Or Oliver Twist?
Nice advices mate! Considering the fact i love horror literature i'm holding the thought about beginning on The Signalman.
i only have two dickens book, i just received them and im glad i got the christmas carol and great expectations
Well I am going to read Hard Times I think it's my first read but I am not sure
I read “Tale of Two Cities” last year. It was a great story. Some people say that one of the key concepts of the story is “resurrection”. I’m not necessarily a Christian and I’m not sure what kind of religious beliefs Dickens had but it’s a great experience to see how each individual character thought about what is worth living for (and dying for).
I found it interesting, by the way, that it’s written in 1859, the same year as Charles Darwin wrote “On the Origins of Species” (and that they shared the same initials.)
I thought it was interesting he wrote hard times where he raised poverty, then the terror of the French Revolution…
Perfect I loved this format 😍
Scrooge is actually visited by four spirits, you missed out his business partner Jacob Marley who comes to warm him of the coming of the other three. I will hunt for his books all the same just from this wonderful video anyway.
Please make this a series
Funnily enough, I started with Pickwick Papers and have not really looked back since. Am now embarking on Bleak House. Wish me luck :-)
We need more "Where to Start" videos.
Perhaps it’s not about “where”. Perhaps it’s just about “starting”.
Excellent, agree with others, this should be a series
Man these videos are top notch
It was only within the past year when a local Peterborough Cambridgeshire UK pub closed that local publicity told of Dickens association with The Wortley Arms when it had been a workhouse. I appreciate guidance of reading order so thank you. My past reading of the Pickwick papers I did find amusing and that as a first Dickens read had been a suggestion by my ex husband's divorce solicitor who was friendly with my ex and me at the time of our parting. Please Will you make a video of the order to read Shakespeare?
Please continue this serie
I don’t agree with your list…but your presentation is top class. Did Dickens really hero worship the police. He seem very aware how unjust the law could be and they are instruments of the law.
The explanation is so sweet. But I wonder what the brand of the light is. Looks so nice.
How come no one ever mentions Hard Times when they talked about Dickens? Very underrated.
Love Hard Times…
YES. More, please.
I love the penguin classics mugs, does anyone know what book title is on the mug here?
Man and Superman by George Bernard Shaw
A Christmas Carol, David Copperfield.