Dickens Notizen

January 25, 2012
-Joseph Cambell...professor of comparative mythology...hero's journey permiates in all countries...there's so much circular in life...Dickens is a Victorian hero...John Forrester is CD's close companion & writes his biography...there's a hero's change throughout the journey...you have obstacles & you have to overcome...there is a transformation...CD was not a methodical writer..

-OMF: Veneering wedding scene...written much like a reporter...short descriptions...

-ED: Jasper drugged Edwin & Neville...Cylan is now Sri Lanka...Rosa is such a child & is loved by ALL the males...she handled the break up maturely...Mrs. Crisparkle described as Dresden china (Meissen china)...very fragile...Cloisterham, Gothic...Cathedrals...dark, enclosed...Jasper is the choir & music master for the Cathedral & nun's house...
fog

-ED imagery:
Vision: eye ball in the name plate, vision between the twins and Mrs. Crisparkle being to read without glasses, when they're drugged they cannot see clearly, Princess Puffer has certain visions, Mr. Crisparkle sees the watch

Rooks: birds and swindlers, the bird has a terrible sound, the "bird's eye view" as they watch what happens below them

Drugs

Cathedral: the soul source of employment

Tombs:

-OMF imagery:
Drugs: Veneering's company

Bodies:

The River and Dust:

Social gathering spaces (interior):

Fire:

Text: texts are being created within the texts, Lizzie can't read so she creates text out of the fire, Wegg makes up his own story as he reads to Boffin, Veneerings create their own story, the Lammle's story are created

January 18, 2012
-Stapple Hurst crash of 1865...he & his girlfriend were on the train...he is now dating an actress who was 19 & he was in his 50's...he was traumatized by the screams but then remembered his OMF manuscript was on the train so he had to go back to find it...this accident had an effect on him...he died 5 years later


-1865 he wants to go back to America cause they pay lots of money for his readings...he made 19,000 lbs...he has a lot of folks to take care of, his wife, his girlfriend, girlfriend's mother, 10 kids, other family...he wanted actress to go with him but she chose not to...this trip wore him out due to the dramatic readings...he never missed or was late to a show...he was always at 100% in his readings...he was an actor so he did not only a reading but also an acting of the play...when he comes back from US he wants to do a tour of readings in England but he's sick so he has to take a doc with him...everyone tries to talk him out of the tour but he is driven to do it...he begins writing Drood on this tour but dies at the half way point...the novel is not finished


-he was a sad man and was extremely tired at the end of his life...worked like a dog from age of 12...he had failures and a lot of pressure to make a life...he didn't want to work himself to death like scott...he was a good man who was always looking to help others...worked against social evils...Nickelby helped reform schools...Oliver Twist helped reform working class...helped set up houses for women to get off the street and get an education...he gained criticism after his death...considered vulgar...many fought to get Dickens out of the canon but that soon changed...


-OMF...crazy cause I'm reading about folks I don't know names yet but...


-Mystery of Edwin Drood...mystery...a little different...only half the novel completed...Dickens died at the half way point...

February 8, 2012
A Tale of Two Cities:
-1776: the US break away and the rest of the world starts to think they can do it too...French notice...Fr want to support us because they just dislike the English that much!
-1789: stormed the Bastille in France...chop of the King's head which concerns the surrounding monarchs
-1799: Napolean I came to power and totally controls the revolution...mirrors Roman law...with this he negated most of the laws the Revolution was fighting...no freedom of speech, women were possesions...centralized government all over Europe...Europe became scared of Nap. I...England chose to have a more "civalized" massacre...Brits defeated Nap. I
-1812: Brits understand we will not be colonized and a shout out for Fr...Dickens born this year and into a culture that hates Fr. but dig the Fr. fashion...he grows up in a country who only talks about Fr. coming to steal and loot
-1832: Dickens is 20 and is employed...seen riots, starvation, death in his 20 years...
-1837: Carlyle wrote the French Revolution...sent it to a friend whose maid thought it was trash & burned..wrote the manuscript again & it was a huge success...
-1848: year of revolutions all across Europe...not in England...they maintain national control...France (Napolean's nephew campaigns for presidency), Italy, German states
-1851: 47 years to the date of Napolean 1st declaring himself emporer, Napolean 3rd declares himself in control of France...England is nervous...Tennyson and friends call for a rifle movement to defend themselves of French...Napolean III used plebicite to be "voted" into office 
-1859: Napolean III is invading Italy the same time Nap I invaded Italy...Brits were nervous again...another riffle movement...Dickens is publishing a story about the duality between London and Paris...Brit foreign policy is hands off & take care of one's own...let Nap III march because he's heading in the opposite direction...
-always tension between past and present

February 22, 2012

ATOTC:
-not Dickensian, not English-y, not comic, not so so so long, not as character-y, not as many characters, not as deft in descriptions of cities, not as many names, not a romance (in the traditional sense)
-a "grand sweep of historical events that bears [characters] along helplessly" (Epstein 322)
-"the most vivid character is the swarming mob" (322)
-"novel moves from one extreme to another...novel seems to run along parallel tracks" until the end (323)
-Dickens haunted by sacrifice for love - in a role he'd played in The Frozen Deep
-Book titles: recalled to life (resurrection), the golden thread (weaving), the track of a storm (redemption)
-Bonds, chains: aristocracy puts restrictions on the poor, Lucie's past, Darnay's secret
-What's the tale? sacrifice for someone else, Brits vs. French, London vs. Paris, aristocracy vs. anarchist, truth vs. secrecy

February 29, 2012

-OMF: "smelly book"...death, dirty, money, inheritance...no happy families but there is some humor...Headstone vs. Wrayburn...lots of doubles...repitition...Bella vs. Lizzie...Veneerings vs. Podsnap...river vs. dust...wealth vs. poverty...Boffins vs. Wilfers...Bella vs. Mr. Boffin...Our Mutual Friend: greed? death? Rokesmith? ... Is the word Friend ironic?

March 21, 2012

-Bobby's name of police officers of early 19th century because Robert Peel got the funding for the force...baby farmers: in Oliver Twist, women who said you've misbehaved and you're pregnant so you give me money and baby and we'll take care of your baby, they realized they could make a profit because many of babies "died", Amelia Dyer was called the baby butcher and had a 20 year career...she would strangle her babies, wrap them in the something and throw them in the Thames...when she was hung 20,000 people came to see the hanging...it was rumored that she killed 400 babies but she was prosecuted for 2, connection to the disposable lives in the works of Dickens

-Lord Stanhope: beginning of 19th century was so pro new stuff that he created a new printing press...his was actually mobile and could be broken down and taken away if they bobby's were on your trail...he gave his blueprints to world for free...the revolution of printing is amazing...from 1 page print to digital


April 25, 2012

Barnaby Rudge:
1841; prior to trip to America; so famous that he's being mobbed; why did he write at this point about riots that happened 60 some odd years ago? he could finally afford it (maybe); fear of the American Revolution b/c we sided with France, Spain, Dutch (Joe lost his arm in the revolution); George loses his power & stinks; England is spread thin b/c they had their hands in a lot of cookie jars; Catholics began to "cause problems"; Victoria comes to the throne; 1930s industrial revolution booming; maybe he chose to go back that far to speak about the mob & a country out of control; while the riots were 60 years ago, the people of the time would feel connected b/c they heard of it or grew up during the time; he had a raven named Grip & he put the raven the book for his kids b/c his they said he never wrote characters they knew; has some gothic qualities

Barnaby at the end:
his character is minimized throughout the work; is he a cautionary tale for us to not be caught up in false "advertisement"; forever a child

BR:
Ends so tighty; is it a happy ending or...;

Women in BR:
Miggs; Emma; Barnaby's mother; Dolly: they don't really rise above the men like Dickens' other women

Innocents in Dickens:
Mr. Riah, Lizzie, Jenny, Barnaby's mother, Ned, Edwin,

FINAL EXAM INFO:
-Talk about the overarching themes, even if you lean toward your research it's ok, look at someone else's research & know that really well (What impact did it have on your reading, learning or understanding of Dickens?  What did they do that made me stop & think?)

-Tell me about the moment in this class when you were surprised by Dickens.  Doesn't have to be a specific novel or character but could simply be a moment about the Victorians or England etc.

-Get a sense of the books we read and your reactions to some of them.  Character, plot, relationship, or setting you really loved or hated and why?