Re: Question for Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens (cdickens@RMPLC.CO.UK)
Mon, 10 Nov 1997 14:04:15 -0100
My dear Sir,
We writers of fiction are perverse creatures. Very few of us, in my day
at any rate, gave up trying to induce readers to love the central characters
in our books, but at the same time we were struggling to abandon the figure
of the hero. "Vanity Fair," Mr Thackeray's greatest work, he subtitled "A
Novel without a Hero." I admired, even envied, the boldness of that.
Pip is the hero of "Great Expectation," after a fashion. He behaves
badly, he misjudges, he appalls us from time to time, but I failed in my
task if readers don't find they want him to succeed and be happy. My guess
is that you do feel that, at the same time as being offended by Pip's
behaviour. Joe Gargery is one of the standards of goodness in the book. So
is Herbert Pocket. But I do not expect readers to follow their careers with
the same interest and anxiety as they follow Pip's. Because of that, they
cannot be heroes in any convincing sense.
I am not making it easy for you, I know, but I think you have to stop
asking the simple question, "Who is the hero?" You must instead speak of a
different kind of hero or, like Mr Thackeray, of a novel without a hero.
Faithfully yours,
Charles Dickens
________________________________________________________________________________
>Dear Mr Dickens,
>Who do you think is the real hero of 'Great Expectations'? Is it Joseph
Gargery?
>
>
======================
Charles Dickens
charles_dickens@rmplc.co.uk
Author