Movies •Books •Music •Food •Tv Shows •Technology •Politics •Video Games •Parenting •Fashion •Green Living •more >

Lunch » Tags » Untagged » Selected Short Fiction (Penguin Classics)

Selected Short Fiction (Penguin Classics)

1 rating: 3.0

A product

Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812, in Landport, Portsea, England. He died in Kent on June 9, 1870. The second of eight children of a family continually plagued by debt, the young Dickens came to know not only hunger and privation,but also … see full wiki

Add tags

1 review about Selected Short Fiction (Penguin Classics)

Showing 1-1 of 1

Sort by:

Pick your Dickens carefully

Jul 12, 2012

by TStocksl
posted in Cafe Libri: Reviewing Books & More

Exclusive to the Lunch Network

Rating:

If you are a casual reader of Dickens and want an introduction to his short fiction, this is a good edition. But if you are a serious fan and have read some of his less known works like Sketches by Boz or the Christmas stories, then you may be find that there is duplication in this collection of "short fiction."

Actually both parts of that phrase are at least in some respect deceitful. Some of the selections here are stories embedded in Dickens' earlier novels like The Pickwick Papers, lifted out here to stand alone. Others are essays of observations about London life from Sketches by Boz that while enhanced by Dickens' imaginative descriptive phrases are certainly more than fiction.

With those provisos up front, some of these selections are very good, as Dickens is freed from the constraints of long-form fiction written in months long serializations, and able to apply his powerful humor and inimitable skill to the subjects at hand. Particularly powerful are two accounts of travel, "A Flight" and "Refreshments for Travelers" that are as perfectly pertinent to the unglamorous rigors of air travel in 2012 as they were to steam ship and train travel in Dickens' day! They are laugh out loud funny with the instant shock of recognition of the situations and emotions that stressful travel present to the traveler on a regular basis.

And in condensed form, what can seem maudlin or pandering in the novels can pack a powerful emotional punch in these short pieces. Of note on that line are the two parts of "Doctor Marigold's Prescriptions," an account of an itinerant auctioneer (think 19th century Pawn Stars on wheels) who meets and adopts a deaf and dumb girl during his travels across country. These little emotional tales of love and twists of fate can stand with the best of short-story specialists like O. Henry and Poe.

But then, isn't Dickens usually the best, always the Inimitable?

What did you think of this review?

Helpful

Thought-Provoking

Fun to Read

Well-Organized