David Copperfield Dickensalong

[Piggywaspushed]

Hello All

Inspired by the Bleak House readalong, I have decided this might be the year to tackle David Copperfield.

Those of us who did BH read it obediently in Dickens' instalments ,which wasn't to everyone's taste! We had a chat at the end of each month. It took 18 months and I think we had three stalwarts left at the end.

DC was published as follows (note different months!):

• I – May 1849 (chapters 1–3);
• II – June 1849 (chapters 4–6);
• III – July 1849 (chapters 7–9);
• IV – August 1849 (chapters 10–12);
• V – September 1849 (chapters 13–15);
• VI – October 1849 (chapters 16–18);
• VII – November 1849 (chapters 19–21);
• VIII – December 1849 (chapters 22–24);
• IX – January 1850 (chapters 25–27);
• X – February 1850 (chapters 28–31);
• XI – March 1850 (chapters 32–34);
• XII – April 1850 (chapters 35–37);
• XIII – May 1850 (chapters 38–40);
• XIV – June 1850 (chapters 41–43);
• XV – July 1850 (chapters 44–46);
• XVI – August 1850 (chapters 47–50);
• XVII – September 1850 (chapters 51–53);
• XVIII – October 1850 (chapters 54–57);
• XIX-XX – November 1850 (chapters 58–64).

I am happy to negotiate reading faster so that we tackle three instalments at a time? Thus , the first would be Chapter 1 -9 and we would be finished in the summer.

What does everyone think?

I'm going to say my bit about the book then disappear for a bit I think as I haven't seen the film and would prefer to avoid spoilers.

Firstly thank you to Piggy for being our virtuous guiding light and angel of our better natures on this thread :)

I liked the quiet, low-key ending, the small wedding, the domesticity of Peggoty and Aunt Betsey, Mr Dick flying his kite with the baby Copperfields... It all seemed fitting and right after a book with a lot of heartache and loss.

I was very pleased to see Mr Mell pop up with a happy ending as he was one loose thread who had been bothering me (and I suspected that Dickens would not leave it dangling!). I am finding it hard, though, to be resigned to the ending given to the Murdstones, who, far from getting their come-uppance, have moved on to another unhappy victim. You cant help thinking surely David might have tried to help her in some way (I know, I know, I am overthinking).

Uriah and Littimer seemed entirely unrepentant and ready to break free of their Daily-Mail-editorial-style prison where the meals are excellent and the prisoners all communicate freely, and return to a life of crime. Again, I can't help wishing that they had been more effectively vanquished and wonder why Dickens decided to leave their ending so ambiguous.

I read an interesting review on Goodreads (www.goodreads.com/review/show/674375084?utm_medium=email&utm_source=rating) which talks about some of the real life sources for the characters in this semi-autobiographical novel. Traddles is, apparently, based on one of Dickens' closest friends, Thomas Talfourd, Dickens explaining in a letter that Traddles shared his real life friend's "personal diligence, gentle disposition, and journalistic output".

Mrs Mowcher was based on a real life person, Jane Seymour Hill, who threatened to sue Dickens - meaning that her appearances in the book had to be edited to make them more flattering.

Mr Dick was apparently inspired by the painted Richard Dadd, who had killed his father and spent the rest of his life in psychiatric institutions. I don't know how established this idea is, that Mr Dick is based on Dadd, or how well Dickens knew about Dadd and his illness (modern commentators seem to agree it was probably paranoid schizophrenia) - the murder took place near Rochester and apparently Dickens would take friends on walks to the spot where it happened. Certainly he portrays Mr Dick in a very sympathetic light in DC. It's something that I'd like to read more about.

According to Jean, Betsey Trotwood is based on a real woman who was Dickens's landlady at one point, and who fought a real life war against donkeys :) :)

I really liked the film - obviously they had to cut bits out but that’s inevitable with a book that size! I was pleased to see that they managed to get Mealy Potatoes and the donkeys in. The multi racial casting didn’t matter at all to me. Agree with Piggy that Mr Dick was more eccentric than innocent, but still good.

Lots of really interesting facts there chessie and I agree about the niceness of the ending. Can't for the life of me remember about the Murdstones. I think Dickens understood that people like them, and Littimer, are life's opportunistic survivors.
I shall hang around on this thread for a while for film thoughts!

I meant keith for the facts! Whoops!

Not sure if there’ll be any more comments on the film but I did manage to rewatch it...funnily enough I didn’t enjoy it as much the second time around, having now finished the book, but I can appreciate what a mammoth challenge Armando Iannucci had trying to boil down such a hefty book with so many characters into a 2-hour film (I suppose eg merging Mrs Steerforth and Rosa Dartle was one way of streamlining things).

I felt overall that he lost his way a bit around the conflated blacking factory/school section, which seemed to drag on for a long time, but loved Miss Trotwood and Mr Dick. And the entire Dora/marriage/death had to go, too...at the end DH said he wondered what impression someone would get of the book if they’d only watched the film, which is an interesting question. I think it conveyed the general spirit well, albeit on a fairly surface level, so for me it’s a qualified thumbs up rather than down (though I notice there are an awful lot of reviewers on IMDb who absolutely hated it ).

Terpsichore I agree that anyone relying on the film only would end up with a completely different idea of the plot/characters compared to the book. Places also looked different to how I pictured them - the houseboat was much more colourful than I think it really would have been!

I think anyone watching the film would not expect a long book that's for sure!

The one character to me who seemed exactly like the book was Betsy. I often think actors have not read the original sources, so they acting via filter of what the screenwriter writes and what the director says is 'Dickensian'. Betsy aside,the female characters almost vanished (attempts to make Agnes more modern still made her dull) : I'd like to see a female director and writer do a big Dickens.

I can't remember whether I've mentioned it on the thread before but it's worth tracking down Christine Edzard's 1987 Little Dorrit which was a TV version and in several parts - it's on DVD. Because she had the time to devote to it, she really got the feel of Dickens right imho....and the costumes and design were staggeringly good.

Agree Piggy, none of the female characters except Aunt Betsy stand out.

Zombie thread reanimation.

I was on the original Bleak House thread (still my favourite Dickens) and today I finished David Copperfield. Apologies for not keeping up with your timeframe Piggy.
I haven’t been reading it for 5 years 😂

Will read through this thread during tea breaks to see if others loved it as much as I did.

Congratulations! I think we all loved this one.

I will be posting my thoughts on 31 July this month, so don't look if you want to avoid spoilers! I'm off to Skiathos on the 1st.

Wrong thread Piggy? Think that was probably meant for the Dombey thread!

Duh....