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| Charles Dickens by David Levine |
Dickens' 200th anniversary will be marked tomorrow in ceremonies across the world.
The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall will be leading celebrations in the United Kingdom and Charles will lay a wreath on Dickens' grave at Westminster Abbey, where he was buried in 1870.
Ralph Fiennes, who will next be seen as Magwitch in a new film adaptation of Great Expectations, will read an extract from Bleak House with readings also being given by Mark Dickens, great-great-grandson of Charles Dickens.
The Schools minister Nick Gibb has said today that Great Expectations is one of the books all children should read before they leave primary school. The truth is that it may be a little too hard for eleven-year-olds to read it as Dickens wrote it. (source)
The Guardian is making it easier for us as they have published the digested read versions of three of his finest books, Great Expectations, Bleak House and David Copperfield, at guardian.co.uk/books. Who can resist Pip, Miss Havisham, Lady Dedlock, Steerforth and Dopey Dora? Over the course of the year, they will be digesting all Dickens's greatest novels. Next up this month? What better for these miserable days of austerity than Hard Times? Give them a try!The Schools minister Nick Gibb has said today that Great Expectations is one of the books all children should read before they leave primary school. The truth is that it may be a little too hard for eleven-year-olds to read it as Dickens wrote it. (source)
The following is a cartoon about the life and times of Dickens made by the BBC. Turn on (or activate) the subtitles for an easier viewing.
I'm also posting one of the most famous beginnings of a novel in English. From A Tale of Two Cities:
"The Period
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,
it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,
it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity,
it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness,
it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair,
we had everything before us, we had nothing before us,
we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct
the other way--in short, the period was so far like the present
period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its
being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree
of comparison only."
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,
it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,
it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity,
it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness,
it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair,
we had everything before us, we had nothing before us,
we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct
the other way--in short, the period was so far like the present
period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its
being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree
of comparison only."
Performed by Paul Adams for LibriVox.org from the Project Gutenberg text. From "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens, at http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/98. This video, #01, contains Book the First - Recalled to Life, Chapter I - The Period. The complete audiobook read by Paul Adams is available at http://librivox.org/a-tale-of-two-cities-by-charles-dickens-2/.
For more on Dickens:
The Complete Works of Charles Dickens
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