Dickens biography enlightening read
[Dickens’] incredible sense of social justice, forged from an early life working in a blackening factory, shines through in his work.
Charles Dickens by Simon Dallow. HarperCollins, $24.99, 351 pages. Reviewed by Nich Campbell.
Like many people my summer reading list is one that I look forward to all year. It is, however, always much longer than I will realistically have time to read so I usually only get past the first couple of titles on the list.
Luckily for me one of those titles was Simon Callow’s excellent biography of Charles Dickens.
Callow has had a distinguished career on British stage and screen and is most well known for his role as Gareth in the film Four Weddings and a Funeral. His own career has been dotted with a relationship with Charles Dickens and this book is the product of a passion and love affair with the work of this most talented of writers.
Dickens was a force of nature. Everything that Dickens turned his hand to was done with gusto and passion. From writing his many outstanding novels and the performances of his writing to the editing of magazines, Dickens approached every aspect of his life with the full force of his personality.
His incredible sense of social justice, forged from an early life working in a blackening factory, shines through in his work and this is where Callow really is able to draw a link between Dickens’ sociopolitical views and his writing.
This Dickens biography focuses on the theatrical aspects of Dickens’ work and there is much attention paid to the staged readings of his work and the performance tours of Britain and the United States.
It feels like, for a time, Dickens was the most famous person in the world moving from acclamation to acclamation as he toured the world reciting his work and performing his many memorable characters.
I thoroughly enjoyed this biography and as a result I have to admit that a few titles on my summer reading list have been dropped and replaced by Dickens. I feel my list is the better for it.