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/lit/ - Literature

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16734297 No.16734297 [Reply] [Original]

Why does /lit/ never talk about Dickens? Is he overrated?

>> No.16734353

>>16734297
He’s vastly underrated. Greatest English writer next to Shakes, yet lumped in with naturalist dullards like Balzac and Zola.

>> No.16734427

>>16734297
I'm a big fan of Dickens. He's massively underrated, a Christmas carol is one of the most well known pieces of media in the public eye but few people realize or just don't care that Dickens wrote it which is a real shame. My personal favorite of his is Great Expectations, it's one of my favorite books of all time, I really like the anti-materialism theme and the portrayal of Uncle Joe as a happy man living a simple life without the need for the lavish city life Pip lives. Although if I could recommend any Dickens it would probably be his short story The Signalman, it's extremely short but well written and quite a neat little spooky story

>> No.16734625

>>16734427
>He's massively underrated, a Christmas carol is one of the most well known pieces of media in the public eye but few people realize or just don't care that Dickens wrote it which is a real shame.
Are you retarded? Literally everyone in the Anglophone world knows who Dickens is exactly BECAUSE of A Christmas Carol (and also Oliver Twist). And if you're taking media adaptations as any sign of literary greatness then you could argue that fucking capeshit is greater than Homer.

>> No.16734664

>>16734625
I just meant that people who aren't even interested in literature at all know A Christmas Carol and it's generally well liked by most people regardless of whether they recognize it as a great literary work or just a fun Christmas story. I'm not saying Dickens is unknown by any means I just think he's underappreciated and not many people discuss him or his works as they do with other great writers

>> No.16734681

>>16734297
One of the most prolific writers to have existed. Every book of his is a pleasure. My personal favorite is probably Great Expectations.

>> No.16735868

>>16734297
bump

>> No.16735964

>>16734297
He's better than RLS, as good as he is, and RLS gets way more credit.

Still, even though I prefer Dickens to Tolstoy, I don't understand how people can hold "who's greater" competitions. Wouldn't Shakespeare vs Tolstoy be better, for obvious reasons?

>> No.16735999

>>16734297
Are there any modern authors who write like Dickens? Love of life, colorful characters, etc.

>> No.16736005

>>16735999
Nice trips,

And considering Carlyle influenced Dickens stylistically more than anyone else, and a fair degree thematically, that's your best bet but he's no modern author evidently. Honestly I'd probably say Carlyle > Dickens in every respect other than them doing different things.

>> No.16736014

>>16734297
Dickens didn't live a tough life

>> No.16736024
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16736024

>>16736014

>> No.16736025

im 250 pages into bleak house and while it perhaps took a little bit of time to establish all the characters and most importantly get into the groove of his prose with its highly idiomatic language i am now loving it. thinking david copperfield and grand expectations after this, then we'll see where i go afterwards. probably will do pickwick papers and tale of two cities at the very least

>> No.16736034

>>16736025
>tale of two cities
his best imo

>> No.16736398

>>16734297

He's boring as fuck and people try to claim he's underrated because they are pseuds.

I can see that literary types feel deeply sad that we no longer live in a world where books are the mass's popular entertainment, like Netflix today.

>> No.16736475

>>16735999
Pynchon

>> No.16736484

I heard he's cringe, can I get confirmation of this?

>> No.16736502

i have read many dickens' books but they don't come closer to Dostoyevsky. Their emotions are something else. I had to read paragraphs of "a tale of two cities" many to understand whats happening.

>> No.16736526

>>16734297
He's MASSIVELY overrated by "cultured" English boomers. A sentimentalist but a good one.

>>16735999
Robert Browning. People argue that Bleak House greatly influenced Ulysses.

>> No.16737440

>>16736034
I read the first couple of pages on preview and it was literally just:
>french revolution bad
>england good

>> No.16737448

>>16735964
RLS got a lot of children into reading, he had an impact. I remember going into bookstores as a kid and the only thing anyone was reading were his Goosebumps

>> No.16737573

>>16737440
Liar. The first twenty pages concern a mail coach in mud and a fog and the delivery of a cryptic message. If you're going to shitpost at least endeavour to do so with a little intelligence. Even the first paragraph asserts that times then were times much like any other times, including right now.

>> No.16737591
File: 26 KB, 262x400, buk3.1.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
16737591

>>16736014
He actually did so us Buk bros gotta respect him