Tuesday 15 March 2011

Belfast remembers Dickens...

FEW WEEKS AGO, I VISITED LINEN HALL LIBRARY (Belfast) to look at the exhibitions on Charles Dickens' Literary life. It was a delight to see all Dickens first, rare and limited edition of his books, including photographs, a commemorative postage-stamp, and decorative plates featuring scenes from A Christmas Carol. I also learned that this Victorian England's greatest novelist visited Belfast in three occasions: 1858, 1867 and 1869 when he gave public readings of his work. He even described Belfast as "tremendous houses there. Curious people, too. They seem all Scotch, but quite in a state of transition." My fascination with Dickens' stories started when I read A Christmas Carol last Dec 2010 after downloading a free ebook version of the book from Manybooks.net. I also got an old hardbound book (1983) from a charity shop containing three of his popular stories: A Christmas Carol (1843), Oliver Twist (1837), and Great Expectations (1859). If you are interested to read my review about Scrooge life in A Christmas Carol, CLICK HERE. I will post a long version review about this novel very soon.

2 comments:

Darlyn (Your Move, Dickens) said...

That sounds like a wonderful event. I recently read an essay about Dickens, and it said that his public readings were almost like theatrical performances. If only they had video cameras back then...

I've read Great expectations and Oliver Twist, and I really enjoyed Dickens' writing. I hope you like them, as well. :)

Ruby E said...

Hiya :) Just read your comment on my blog. Let me know when you're going to be in MNL ^_^ Do join us in one of the book blogger meetups as well! :)