/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.13348333]

Does he really suck or is it just a /lit/ meme?

[Anonymous No.13348337]

Why don't you find out for yourself instead of being a drone?

[Anonymous No.13348354]

>>13348337
I want to know if it's even worth starting with him.

[Anonymous No.13348397]

Dickens is good. It's socially aware, funny, intricate and it pioneered many modern troes that keeps the read suspenseful.
There are better writers out there, but there are few that are as good, as relevant, and as accessible from that far back.

[Anonymous No.13348411]

>>13348354
It is

[JN !!vXXhA/qzhjm No.13348446]

>>13348333
He was the Netflix series of the 19th Century. Lots of dialogue to fill screen time, sparse sets to save money, and lots of pauses in the action where you can insert commercials.

Nothing wrong with Netflix obviously, but you can see why it's a /lit/ meme

[Anonymous No.13348490]

>>13348446
No, he wasnt like a Netflix show at all. Please refrain from posting retard

[Anonymous No.13348544]

There's plenty obviously 'wrong' with him, but it doesn't really matter. It's still comfy af, plenty of keks, plenty of feels, great side characters. I find once you get to about the 100 page mark it starts gripping like heroin and you just splurge through the rest.

[Anonymous No.13348633]

>>13348333
The ultimate pseud filter. While he obviously wasn't the greatest author stylistically, the fact that the domestic essence of the subjects he reflects in his works, devoid of any sort of pathos or pretense, is totally appropriate to his writing manner eliminates his inability to impress aesthetically on a higher level. In other words, his main dignity is the conformity, harmony between the reality material that his works are based on and the means of artistic expression he uses, I'd even say that in many ways he's the comedian English equivalent to Leskov, if that tells you something. So, all in all, to rephrase the anon above, you have a properly made characters with plenty of funny moments written in a quite easy-going style, which is, in my opinion, enough to give a read to at least one of his works

[Anonymous No.13348697]

According to Tolstoy he's one of the few true artists of the modern era since his literature is both religious in nature and very good at conveying feelings. I agree with him because if you're not holding back tears at the end of a Tale of Two Cities then I don't think you're human. It would mean your ability to appreciate art has been destroyed from consuming too much simulation art.

Ignore anyone who talks about one dimensional characters or black and white morality because they're too far gone.

[Anonymous No.13349247]

Christmas Carol is literally only about 100 pages, you could finish it in one sitting. Read that and decide for yourself. After that, there's always Great Expectations and the rest of it to explore, as well as more niche stuff like Pictures from Italy

[Anonymous No.13350223]

>>13348333
Donna Tartt is saving herself for a Chad Dickens

[Anonymous No.13350608]

>>13348633
Is English your first language?

[Anonymous No.13350851]

He was chesterton's favorite author

[Anonymous No.13352128]

>>13350608
Obviously no, but I did read him in English

[Anonymous No.13352162]

>>13348333
He's not terrible but a lot of his writing is tedious to a 21st century reader.

[Anonymous No.13353197]

He's English literature's greatest pseud filter. If you go into Dickens with even an ounce of pseudery about yourself, if you read for absolutely anything other than emotion and pleasure, you're instantly getting filtered. There is no gray area here, there is no middling centrist position, Dickens is a cold boolean true/false variable. Either you read for your own personal enjoyment, or you're a posturing pseud. Period. There do not exist legitimate reasons to criticize Dickens, much like there are no legitimate reasons to criticize mountains or the polarity of water. Dickens is a fact of nature; your opinions regarding this fact are irrelevant. He is one of the greatest writers in the history of the English language, and either you have the humility and sincerity to accept this, or you don't. But whether you choose to pretend to not like him or whether you choose to admit enjoyment, Dickens is still nevertheless one of the greatest writers in the history of the English language.

[Anonymous No.13353204]

>>13348446
fall can't come soon enough

[Anonymous No.13353265]

>>13348633
Shut the fuck up man

[Anonymous No.13353353]

At certain times - meaning at uncertain times, for they depended on our humour - I would say to Herbert, as if it were a remarkable discovery:

"My dear Herbert, we are getting on badly."

"My dear Handel," Herbert would say to me, in all sincerity, "if you will believe me, those very words were on my lips, by a strange coincidence."

"Then, Herbert," I would respond, "let us look into out affairs."

We always derived profound satisfaction from making an appointment for this purpose. I always thought this was business, this was the way to confront the thing, this was the way to take the foe by the throat. And I know Herbert thought so too.

We ordered something rather special for dinner, with a bottle of something similarly out of the common way, in order that our minds might be fortified for the occasion, and we might come well up to the mark. Dinner over, we produced a bundle of pens, a copious supply of ink, and a goodly show of writing and blotting paper. For, there was something very comfortable in having plenty of stationery.

I would then take a sheet of paper, and write across the top of it, in a neat hand, the heading, "Memorandum of Pip's debts;" with Barnard's Inn and the date very carefully added. Herbert would also take a sheet of paper, and write across it with similar formalities, "Memorandum of Herbert's debts."

Each of us would then refer to a confused heap of papers at his side, which had been thrown into drawers, worn into holes in Pockets, half-burnt in lighting candles, stuck for weeks into the looking-glass, and otherwise damaged. The sound of our pens going refreshed us exceedingly, insomuch that I sometimes found it difficult to distinguish between this edifying business proceeding and actually paying the money. In point of meritorious character, the two things seemed about equal.

When we had written a little while, I would ask Herbert how he got on? Herbert probably would have been scratching his head in a most rueful manner at the sight of his accumulating figures.

"They are mounting up, Handel," Herbert would say; "upon my life, they are mounting up."

"Be firm, Herbert," I would retort, plying my own pen with great assiduity. "Look the thing in the face. Look into your affairs. Stare them out of countenance."

[Anonymous No.13353804]

>>13348697
>simulation art.
What is this? Is this just gay talk for video games?

[Anonymous No.13353829]

Top five Dickens
> 1. Bleak House
> 2.Pickwick Papers
> 3. David Copperfield
> 4. Great Expectations
> 5. Tale of Two Cities

[Anonymous No.13353839]

>>13348446
lmao kys

[Anonymous No.13353844]

>>13348446
>Netflix
>commercials

[Anonymous No.13353856]

>>13353804
It means art that isn't really art. It's any sort of art created for the sake of pleasure which many people take to be good or beautiful. This is contrasted with true art which is both religious in nature and conveys a feeling or emotion.

[Anonymous No.13355048]

>>13353856
Examples of both?

[Anonymous No.13355164]

>>13355048
The Messe de Nostre Dame by Machaut vs anything by Wagner or opera in general. The one is very beautiful and easy for the common man to understand but the other is obscure and requires you to be accustomed to it. If you go to see the Grail for the first time you're not going to have any idea what the hell anything means which is why they give people little booklets to explain what the scenes and music are supposed to mean. It's easy to confuse the physiological reaction they might get from something like the Tannhäuser Overture with genuine emotion, but it's only a simulation designed to give a feeling of pleasure. It's not true art even if people enjoy it.

[Anonymous No.13355483]

>>13353353
Having not read any Dickens except maybe in middle school I can say that was comfy and good. I will have to read some of him soon

[Anonymous No.13355613]

>‘My friend Mr. Snodgrass has a strong poetic turn,’ said Mr. Pickwick.

>‘So have I,’ said the stranger. ‘Epic poem—ten thousand lines—revolution of July—composed it on the spot—Mars by day, Apollo by night—bang the field–piece, twang the lyre.’

>‘You were present at that glorious scene, sir?’ said Mr. Snodgrass.

>‘Present! think I was; fired a musket—fired with an idea—rushed into wine shop—wrote it down—back again—whiz, bang—another idea—wine shop again—pen and ink—back again—cut and slash—noble time, Sir.'