Re: ideas for great expectations
Charles Dickens (cdickens@RMPLC.CO.UK)
Mon, 17 Nov 1997 16:16:37 -0100
My dear Miss Ball,
How does any writer of fiction get ideas for stories? The answer is from
everything and nothing. The writer plunders all his own experience and,
when that fails him, uses his imagination.
Many of my stories are closely based on my own experience, pre-eminently
"David Copperfield." At the request of my dear friend Forster, I had tried
to write an autobiography, but found certain episodes in my childhood too
painful, so I abandoned that project, and wrote a work of fiction instead,
mirroring many details of my own life.
In "Great Expectations," I suppose, I tried to look at what had happened
to me in a somewhat different light. As a child, I overcame suffering, and
prepared myself for the noble calling that became mine. David Copperfield
overcomes suffering similar to mine, and regains an honoured position in
society, of which he has been deprived. Pip simply gains an honoured
position, to which he has no natural right, and in gaining it loses
integrity and dignity.
It is never wise to represent to yourself the story of your life in one
way only. Alternative versions should be considered. Only that way may
full understanding be achieved.
Faithfully yours,
Charles Dickens
________________________________________________________________________________
>Dear Sir,
>
>I would like to know what gave you the idea of writing Great Expectations?
>
>Yours Faithfully
>
>Vicki Ball
>
>
>
======================
Charles Dickens
charles_dickens@rmplc.co.uk
Author