What was it like to be Charles Dickens? His letters are the nearest we can get to a Dickens autobiography: vivid close-up snapshots of a life lived at maximum intensity. This is the first selection to be made from the magisterial twelve-volume British Academy Pilgrim Edition of his letters. From over fourteen thousand, four hundred and fifty have been cherry-picked to give readers the best essence of 'the Sparkler of Albion'. Dickens was a man with ten times the energy of ordinary mortals. There seem to have been twice the number of hours in his day, and he threw himself into letter-writing as he did into everything else. This eagerly awaited selection takes us straight to the heart of his life, to show us Dickens at first hand. Here he is writing out of the heat of the moment: as a novelist, journalist, and magazine editor; as a social campaigner and traveller in Europe and America, and as friend, lover, husband, and father. Reading and writing letters punctuated the rhythms of Dickens's day. 'I walk about brimful of letters', he told a friend. He claimed to write 'at the least, a dozen a day'. Sometimes it was a chore but more often a pleasure: an outlet for high spirits, sparkling wit, and caustic commentary - always as seen through his highly individual and acutely observing eye. Whether you dip in or read straight through, this selection of his letters creates afresh the brilliance of being Dickens, and the sheer pleasure of being in his company.
The Selected Letters of Charles Dickens
and over 1.5 million other books are available for Amazon Kindle . Learn more
| |||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £3.51
Trade in The Selected Letters of Charles Dickens for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £3.51, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Learn more
|
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.
Product Description
Review
Glorious. This is a book for which readers have been waiting for a very long time. It takes you directly, in Dickens's own words, and with incomparable vividness, into his extraordinary life and mind. The notes and editorial matter deftly paint in the background to provide a detailed and constantly astonishing portrait of one of the most interesting men who ever lived. Simon Callow Among the dozens of Dickens publications connected with the bicentenary of the author's birth ... it is hard to imagine one more necessary than this Times Literary Supplement glorious letters reflecting every facet of Dickens's life; should not be missed The Sunday Times This is Dickens by Dickens. Whatever comes out in this bicentenary year, do not miss it. The Sunday Times (Hartley's) selection is a miracle of compression and editorial tact New Statesman Dickens lovers will all be grateful to Hartley for her skill and judgement. Literary Review Edited with unobtrusive intelligence and insight by Jenny Hartley The Independent a marvellous volume The Scotsman It's a thrilling, surprisingly fresh book. The Evening Standard An absolute gem ... reads better than any actual novel Dickens ever wrote ... Hartley would please a great many readers by producing a second volume from the same dragon-hoard ... A typically classy Oxford affair Open Letters This is the book we have all been waiting for ... Every reader has his or her favourite aspect of Dickens, and may miss a particular letter or letters - I am no exception. But I do not think anyone could have made a more balanced selection from the embrarrassment of riches in his letters, or justified her choices more persuasively. We are all in Professor Hartley's debt for her magnificent edition. Dickens Quarterly The 450 [letters] included in The Selected Letters of Charles Dickens, edited by Jenny Hartley, are more revealing and more intimate than any biography. Joyce Carol Oates, New York Review of Books
About the Author
Jenny Hartley is Professor of English Literature at Roehampton University. Her recent Charles Dickens and the House of Fallen Women was a Guardian Book of the Week and hailed as "brilliant" by Claire Tomalin.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
By Val
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
The letters illuminate, not the man, but the man Dickens was trying to present to the world and to himself. We all know enough about him to see the disparity between the character portrayed in the letters and the real life of the man. This in itself is interesting up to a point, but leaves one frustrated at not being able to know what he really thought and felt about the world he lived in as it affected him and his family. But maybe the letters of a deeply hypocritical man are not the best place in which to find him.
Format:Hardcover
Let me say that I find it quite difficult to believe I'm giving just 3 stars to one of the greatest novelists of all time, in any language.
Why did I find it a disappointment? I've given this some thought (as you would hope) and I now think the explanation is quite simple: the novels were written for public consumption, they were a commercial product and, usually, a superb one, crafted by a consummate professional. These letters are a bird of a quite different feather, personal writings intended for the addressees' eyes only. In itself that fact does not mean they are devoid of interest to the rest of us---far from it. What it does mean, for me, is that they aren't half as much fun to read. Moreover, his repeated pourings out of the heart, at heroic length, could never have hoped to grip the stranger, for example a reader in the 21st century, the way they were meant to grip the recipient and certainly gripped the writer himself.
Why did I find it a disappointment? I've given this some thought (as you would hope) and I now think the explanation is quite simple: the novels were written for public consumption, they were a commercial product and, usually, a superb one, crafted by a consummate professional. These letters are a bird of a quite different feather, personal writings intended for the addressees' eyes only. In itself that fact does not mean they are devoid of interest to the rest of us---far from it. What it does mean, for me, is that they aren't half as much fun to read. Moreover, his repeated pourings out of the heart, at heroic length, could never have hoped to grip the stranger, for example a reader in the 21st century, the way they were meant to grip the recipient and certainly gripped the writer himself.
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I bought this for the Kindle and enjoyed reading it. However, I think I would have preferred a hard copy so that I could flick back and forth more readily.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see both reviews
4.5 out of 5 stars
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good selection of letters, as well as introduction, notes,...
If you can't afford the time or money for the Pilgrim Edition of CD's letters then consider this. I have been reading it in chronological tandem with the book version of Michael... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Bright light
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Letterwriter Too
To read the letters of a great author is a great priviledge to behold. This is especially true of Charles Dickens, arguably the greatest novelist of our Isles. Read more
Published 4 months ago by John
5.0 out of 5 stars
Selected letters of Charles Dickens
This book gives an insight into the life of one of our greatest writers.we think we have busy lives yet Dickens never stopped regularly writing anywhere up to twenty letters a... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Mrs. W. And C. Alexander
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
