Bleak House [A Book Review]

I feel, I feel like I stumbled upon a fantastic prose wrapped in a whirlwind of events that I cannot fathom how Dickens [called CD hereafter] planned the story. It moved at a pace which left me desperate for him to just spell it out but CD threw Jarndyce and Jarndyce in my face for so many chapters. Oh boy was I steaming mad!

How can he pulled me in with my immediate liking for Esther [ Jane Eyre long-lost sister] and that near perfect description of the scenery in the first few chapters then kill me with an ever going legal battle of a confusing will. However, CD redeemed in shining colours with a tone of humour “his whole existence was a summer joke” and mystery. Tell me, tell me now will Ana take the veil with Richard? Will Esther marry her guardian? What is Mr. Tulkinghorn up too with his manipulating ways. CD came up with the mother load of subplots which he managed to pull so artfully and sometimes confusedly into the main plot.

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1820: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex

The Sinking Of Essex (a whaling ship) via National Geographic History

On November 20, 1820, the American whaling ship Essex was rammed by a sperm whale and sunk. The incident inspired Herman Melville’s famous novel Moby Dick.

Read more here:http://education.nationalgeographic.org/thisday/nov20/tragedy-whaleship-essex/?

Charles Dickens’s Mr. Micawber

“As illustrated in a 1912 edition of the book” via en.wikipedia.org

Did You Know?

Many posit the view that one of the character of the book David Copperfield   written by Charles Dickens is a portrayal of his father, John Dickens. As a boy Charles father became a ward at a debtors prison and the character  Mr. Micawber suffers the same fate. In addition, they both fit are good-hearted people but not capable to handle the ups and downs of the world. Hence,  John Dickens seems like an inspiration for Mr. Micawber.

The End

Works Cited

BBC. (2014). Charles Dickens (1812-1870). Retrieved November 17, 2015, from BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/dickens_charles.shtml

Info, C. D. (n.d.). David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. Retrieved November 17, 2015, from Charles Dickens Info: http://www.charlesdickensinfo.com/novels/david-copperfield/

Kehe, M. ( 2012 , February 7). Charles Dickens: His 10 most memorable characters. Retrieved November 17, 2015, from The Christian Science Monitor: http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/2012/0207/Charles-Dickens-His-10-most-memorable-characters/Mr.-Micawber-of-David-Copperfield

Wikipedia. ( 2015, September 15). Wilkins Micawber. Retrieved November 17, 2015, from Wikipedia : The Free Encyclopedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilkins_Micawber

 

 

Appreciating Jane Austen

Source: http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/ zz173/ emilianozapata333/Jane_Austen.jpg

 

Since today(December 16) would be my favourite author’s birthday if she was alive, I believe it is proper to have a review of the main seven novels.

The complete set is one of my favourites read, I love me some Jane Austen.

I love her writing became of the way she merges her story with excellent scenery writing. She writes her scenes so well, I can feel and see the atmosphere at Lyme in Persuasion, I can see the beauty of the surroundings of the cottage when the Dashwoods moves in Sense and Sensibility. The landscape was so beautiful when Catherine and the Thorpes went sightseeing and the oh so lovely scene where Henry Tilney and Catherine Morland were exchanging words on novel-writing in Northanger Abbey.

The age of the writing also draws me to Austen’s world. I love reading about people in a different time period from the 20st and 21th century. The older the setting the better, 18th and 19th century is just an interesting period where society etiquettes were so class structured. It is one aspect that shows up in all her novels. The Bertrams took Fanny into the family but she was kept on a class beneath Edmund, Julia, Tom and Maria in Mansfield Park. The Elliots with excepting Anne accepted Captain W into their circles in Bath only when he amassed a fortune on the sea in Persuasion.

Austen’s characters are some of the wackiest and best in English Literature. I am glad she did not shy away from characters who would make women blush behind their fans in their morning rooms. Maria Bertram and Henry Crawford from Mansfield park, Lady Susan Vernon from Lady Susan, Willoughby from Sense and Sensibility, Lydia Bennet and George Wickham from Pride and Prejudice. I am also appreciated of the men who were so devoted and loved their women: Captain W, Colonel Brandon, Mr. Darcy. The comical ones also added laughter and fits of vexation for me: Mr. Collins were just so ridiculous, I could not help but laugh at him in P&P but I just wish Mary in Persuasion would shut up and go away.