Re: Dickens's literary influences and styles
Charles Dickens (cdickens@RMPLC.CO.UK)
Wed, 10 Dec 1997 10:24:29 -0100
My dear amateur novelists,
How can a man say who or what has influenced his writing most? Is
arithmetic possible in such cases? So many things have influenced me: my
family, the circumstances and events of my life, the books I have read, the
friends I have made, the great causes to which I have lent my voice. Painful
episodes in my childhood, to be sure, have affected what I have written, or
at least have been matters to which I have been able to return when strong
feelings are called for. Books I have loved, I know, have shaped my writing
- the works of Fielding, Smollett and Scott, the Arabian Nights,
Shakespeare, the Bible. Nor can too much be made of my indignation at the
sufferings of the poor. It is not for me to choose the greater influence,
but for the more careful of my readers.
The movements, if they can so be called, that I agreed with, quite simply,
were directed to single issues. I sought the abolition of imprisonment for
debt, the abolition of public execution, the closure of the Yorkshire
schools, the relocation of London's beast market, better housing for the
poor, the reformation of the Court of Chancery, and such like. I disagreed
with those who opposed such change. More broadly speaking, I found myself
in sympathy with the Radical interest, out of sympathy with the Tory
interest, but the vocabulary of agreeing and disagreeing does insufficient
justice to my responses to these movements.
Some of my ideas when writing "Hard Times," "Great Expectations," "Oliver
Twist"? Hostility to the Manchester School of political economy? Doubt
about social ambition? Antagonism towards the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act?
Greed was certainly one of the things I was concerned with in writing my
novels. I tried to place it at the heart of "Martin Chuzzlewit," but it is
rarely absent. Consider only Arthur Gride in "Nicholas Nickleby," Joey
Bagstock in "Dombey and Son," and most of Miss Havisham's relations in
"Great Expectations."
I hope these answers go some way towards satisfying you.
Faithfully yours,
Charles Dickens
____________________________________________________________________________
________
>Dear Mr. Dickens,
> We would greatly appreciate you answering ome questions for us
>and returning the answers to the e-mail address JJRPA@prodigy.net as soon
>as possible, preferably within the next 24 hours.
>1. Who and/or what influenced your writing the most?
>2. Did you agree or disagree with any particular movement?
>3. What life experiences influenced your writing?
>4. What were some of your ideas when writing Hard Times, Great
>Expectations, and Oliver Twist?
>5. How prominent of a theme was greed in your novels? Which novels
>exhibit this theme and in which ways?
>
> Thank you so much for any help that you can provide. We greatly
>enjoyed reading your novels and aspire to some day reach the greatness
>that you acquired in your lifetime.
> love ya,
> Three Miami Amateur Novelists
>
>
======================
Charles Dickens
charles_dickens@rmplc.co.uk
Author