Thackery and Dickens

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Much has been written comparing the writing of Dickens and Thackery, two prolific Victorian writers.  I recently finished listening to Thackery’s Vanity Fair on Librivox (tag line: acoustical liberation of books in the public domain) while I worked in the kitchen, close to the computer.

Opening sentence of Vanity Fair: A Novel Without A Hero by William Makepeace Thackery: “While the present century was in its teens, and on one sun-shiny morning in June, there drove up to the great iron gate of Miss Pinkerton’s Academy for Young Ladies, on Cheswick Wall a large family coach, with two fat horses in blazing harness, driven by a fat coachman in a three-cornered hat and wig, at the rate of four miles per hour.”

~   ~   ~
“…but the difference between Bunyan and Thackery is simply
this, — that Bunyan made Vanity Fair a small incident
in a long journey, a place through which most of us
pass on our way to better things; while Thackery,
describing high society in his own day, makes it
a place of long sojourn, wherein his characters spend
the greater part of their lives.”  ~ William Long, English Literature

It is tempting to see Becky Sharp as the lying, conniving, manipulating female and Amelia Sedley her foil as the pure, trusting, generous female.  No, NO!!  I believe Thackery is showing us the error of both sides of the ditch.  Amelia is as wrong in her lack of discernment, idolatrous love of her son, simpering, passive, mishmash; she is certainly not a role model. 

This book was pleasant enough to listen to.  If you have a pathological liar in your life, a person who, with wide open eyes, swears she is telling you the truth that you find out later are verifiable lies, you may find yourself more than a little amused at the dialog between Becky and anyone.  A phrase or paragraph occasionally grabbed me, but mostly it was ho-hum.  I much prefer Anthony Trollope.

On walks, in the car, in the garage, and other places, I listened to Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens.

Opening of Charles Dicken’s Oliver Twist: “Among other public buildings in the town of Mudfog, it boasts of one which is common to most towns great or small, to wit, a workhouse; and in this workhouse there was born on a day and date which I need not trouble myself to repeat, inasmuch as it can be of no possible consequence to the reader, in this stage of the business of all events, the item of mortality whose name is prefixed the the head of this chapter.”

Sigh.  William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White were born a century too late.

Dickens is dark.  Dickens tends towards sentimentality.  This go around with Oliver, I found myself a cynic, questioning elements of the storyline and a little miffed that our precious Oliver was so perfect.  The good women in this story were smothering, cooing, schmaltzy, mushy pots of emotion. I have the distinct notion that I would not like an adult Oliver raised by one of these women. Yikes!

Dickens does has a way with words.  I will continue to read or listen to Dickens just for his character’s names.  One name in this book always went past me when I read it, but when I heard it I laughed out loud.  (It’s too ticklish to put on the blog; he makes his appearance in chapter 9)
I often wished I had a notebook handy to write down one of Dicken’s phrases. 

Thackery writes about high society; Dickens about low society.  I still prefer Anthony Trollope.

16 thoughts on “Thackery and Dickens”

  1. Maybe your eyes are so good, but your hearing is excellent (if you can hear this tape player above the din of homelife) and your ability to concentrate is stellar.
    Jealous in GA,Dana
    PS  If you’re wearing earplugs, then I suppose that helps.

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  2. My home has been quiet this summer with Collin working. I love the portability of the tape player though. Often it accompanies me into the garden, as I iron, etc. And…with each novel I had to look up Spark notes and get the characters straight partway through. It’s early to ask, but I’m hoping to meet my friend from GA sooner, at a wedding, than later (on my imaginary trip through the eastern seaboard visiting friends)? We could take pictures of our smiling faces together and post it on our blogs, tee hee!! Wouldn’t that be FUN??

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  4. ….but the thought of you ironing in the garden is oh, so picturesque!
    I’ve read Oliver Twist and far prefer the movie that came out when we were kids.  My sister and I can still sing almost all the songs from it!  I agree with how dark Dickens’ writing is.  Makes you wonder what his upbringing was like. 

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  5. Ironing in the garden!  Never occurred to me that you did.  Giggle.
    Well, I have to admit meeting you sounds like lots of fun.  But I cant make any promises, especially since I dont know the date.  DH  might notice, if I’m gone too long.

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  8. I’ve always thought of England during the times of Dickens or Austen as either very light – if you were wealthy – or very dark – if you were poor. Dickens is dark because most of his characters are not the wealthy. Of course, that comes from only having read a three of his books so far.
    Trollope is next on my list of classics after I finish The Man Who Was Thursday. I was considering either Barchester Towers or The Warden. Which one should I start with?
    Carrie

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  10. I like Dickens and Thackeray and Trollope. I’m just a VIctorian at heart, I suppose. I think Thackeray is much darker in a sense than Dickens, though. All of Thackeray’s characters are to some extent caught in Vanity Fair, no precious Olivers or innocent David Copperfields for Thackeray. Many of Dickens’ characters are ridiculous, fallible, perhaps vain, but have redeeming qualities.

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  13. You are right about Dickens characters who are a bit too good, and the bad ones, when they are bad are very, very horrid. Somehow, though, I think he manages to create such unique personalities and plots which are unique, too. So many authors can’t do both.I really liked Vanity Fair, and when I read it I remember thinking that Scarlett O’Hara was a thinly-veiled reincarnation of Becky Sharp (with Melanie and Amelia sharing some striking similarities). Can you believe I’ve never read Trollope? I have a couple of his books in my library and will have to tackle one soon. I echo Dana’s admiration for being able to listen to audiobooks as I have too many distractions to maintain the concentration necessary without turning into a very nasty person who insists on absolute silence whenever I try to listen. Kind of like a librarian…shhh! I have the library, but there are too many little boys here to re-create the quiet atmosphere that’s supposed to go along with it. That’s why I know the verse “where there are no oxen, the stall is clean…” so well . I’m sure it’s quiet, too.

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  14. DD#2 used some of her birthday $ to purchase a hard copy of Vanity Fair.  It’s quite long.
    I was only mildly captivated by Trollope/The Warden.  I have some disregard for the politics involved with the Church of England.  It was such a shock to realize that they are *State* employees and that sort of changed my perspective.

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  15. Wow, I’m impressed with DD #2. When I was 21 I didn’t have a clue who Thackery was. You know, the Warden is another one I listened to. I think I am more casual about books I listened to. I prefer Barchester Towers. But they are state employees in that one too.I was first captivated by Trollope with “An Old Man’s Love”http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/trollope/tsociety/oldman.htmlIt was a very sad story though.My first post about Trollope first post about Trollope was on this book.http://www.xanga.com/magistramater/499616874/whats-an-austen-reader-supposed-to-do.html

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