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Hard Times, Charles Dickens
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With my afternoon cup of tea, I have just finished reading it. Has anyone any comments about it? I have now looked it up on Wikipedia and see it has been presented by BBC twice as a radio play and once on television, all of which I missed.
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I studied it as part of an OU course about 20 years ago - I very much enjoyed it but at the same time found it educational, the usual mixture of social injustice laced with humour which seems to be a trademark of Dickens. Also not so heavy as some of his work IMO, and easier to get into as a result. I've not seen or heard the BBC versions.
Canary; After finishing the book I looked it up on Wikipedia and learnt it was not only C.D's shortest novel but also the only one set entirely outside of London. The location isn't clear but probably Manchester (my birthplace) or its surroundings.
He did visit there, and without the benefit of being able to listen to Coronation Street :0) he must have had to rely on his memory for how people spoke 'oop north'.
I thought it a great read, but had trouble with his attempts to write in the vernacular, I tried to say some of Stephen Blackpool's sentences out loud and still couldn't quite get it all. Worst was presenting the Circus manager, Mr Sleary, with an unnecessary lisp, (very un PC today!) which made it difficult to understand the meaning of what he was saying.
I discovered that the BBC production of 1977 is available for £5.99 on Amazon and have ordered a copy, it has Timothy West (Mr Bounderby, natch!) and Patrick Allen - I guess as Mr Gradgrind, also Edward Fox gets a part.
The production is studio-based and by modern TV period pieces, probably a little dated, produced by Manchester-based Granada it won awards.
Looking forward to watching its 200 minutes.
He did visit there, and without the benefit of being able to listen to Coronation Street :0) he must have had to rely on his memory for how people spoke 'oop north'.
I thought it a great read, but had trouble with his attempts to write in the vernacular, I tried to say some of Stephen Blackpool's sentences out loud and still couldn't quite get it all. Worst was presenting the Circus manager, Mr Sleary, with an unnecessary lisp, (very un PC today!) which made it difficult to understand the meaning of what he was saying.
I discovered that the BBC production of 1977 is available for £5.99 on Amazon and have ordered a copy, it has Timothy West (Mr Bounderby, natch!) and Patrick Allen - I guess as Mr Gradgrind, also Edward Fox gets a part.
The production is studio-based and by modern TV period pieces, probably a little dated, produced by Manchester-based Granada it won awards.
Looking forward to watching its 200 minutes.
For some reason, I can't recall why, I assumed it was based in the Potteries.
Yes, I agree, Sleary's and Blackpool's speech was challenging to read. It must be difficult for an author to decide where to draw the line in such circumstances, where they need to highlight a dialect or speech difficulty, but remain readable.
I'll see if I can dig out my OU notes (if I've still got them).
Yes, I agree, Sleary's and Blackpool's speech was challenging to read. It must be difficult for an author to decide where to draw the line in such circumstances, where they need to highlight a dialect or speech difficulty, but remain readable.
I'll see if I can dig out my OU notes (if I've still got them).
Confirming what Mamyalynne says, apparently Dickens visited Preston in January 1854 to get material for this book.
Google "Charles Dickens visit to Preston 1854" for several supporting links, here's one :-
https:/
Google "Charles Dickens visit to Preston 1854" for several supporting links, here's one :-
https:/
Canary; Thanks for the link.
Guardianista, Mr Austen Lynch of Preston (?) seemed concerned that Dickens didn't do a better job saying; "....... The more the shame then, that, after such first-hand experience, Dickens made so feeble an attempt to depict the life and vitality of Preston's working classes. Hard Times, though set in Preston, has all too little of Preston in it.
The fool seemed not to realise it was set in 'Coketown', a place of Dickens's imagination, not Preston. He was writing a novel, not a town guide.
Guardianista, Mr Austen Lynch of Preston (?) seemed concerned that Dickens didn't do a better job saying; "....... The more the shame then, that, after such first-hand experience, Dickens made so feeble an attempt to depict the life and vitality of Preston's working classes. Hard Times, though set in Preston, has all too little of Preston in it.
The fool seemed not to realise it was set in 'Coketown', a place of Dickens's imagination, not Preston. He was writing a novel, not a town guide.
Tilly; It's ordered already - and it's even on its way apparently!
Keep subscribed to this thread and I'll give you an appraisal, which I'm sure will be favourable.
It will take a while, I'll have to finish the two non-Dickens books I'm reading first, Jeremy Paxman's, 'The English' (bedside) and re-reading after many years the extraordinary autobiography of Wilfred Thesiger, 'The Life of my Choice', (fireside).
Keep subscribed to this thread and I'll give you an appraisal, which I'm sure will be favourable.
It will take a while, I'll have to finish the two non-Dickens books I'm reading first, Jeremy Paxman's, 'The English' (bedside) and re-reading after many years the extraordinary autobiography of Wilfred Thesiger, 'The Life of my Choice', (fireside).
*
I'm now nearly half-way through MC, He is now in America and disliking the N.Y. snobs and C.D. shows in his writing a distaste for slavery which was still rampant as he wrote it in 1843 and it not being abolished until 1866. Not sure when C.D. made his visit. His description of conditions travelling steerage is eye-watering.
I'm now nearly half-way through MC, He is now in America and disliking the N.Y. snobs and C.D. shows in his writing a distaste for slavery which was still rampant as he wrote it in 1843 and it not being abolished until 1866. Not sure when C.D. made his visit. His description of conditions travelling steerage is eye-watering.
Brief edited extract from Wiki :-
In the late 1850s Dickens began to contemplate a second visit to the United States, tempted by the money that he believed he could make by extending his reading tour there. The outbreak of the Civil War in America in 1861 delayed his plans. Over two years after the war, Dickens set sail on 9 November 1867 for his second American reading tour. In early December, the readings began. He performed 76 readings, netting £19,000, from December 1867 to April 1868.
During his travels, he saw a significant change in the people and the circumstances of America. His final appearance was at a banquet the American Press held in his honour on 18 April, when he promised never to denounce America again.
In the late 1850s Dickens began to contemplate a second visit to the United States, tempted by the money that he believed he could make by extending his reading tour there. The outbreak of the Civil War in America in 1861 delayed his plans. Over two years after the war, Dickens set sail on 9 November 1867 for his second American reading tour. In early December, the readings began. He performed 76 readings, netting £19,000, from December 1867 to April 1868.
During his travels, he saw a significant change in the people and the circumstances of America. His final appearance was at a banquet the American Press held in his honour on 18 April, when he promised never to denounce America again.
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