Dickensalong 2023- 2024 : Nicholas Nickleby

[Piggywaspushed]

Come along and join me in the next Dickens readalong.

We have chosen Nicholas Nickleby which was originally published by Dickens in 19 instalments.

I propose condensing this to a nine month read, using Dickens shorter sections as a guide. We begin in October, as follows:

October - Chapters 1 - 7
November - Chapters 8-14
December - Chapters 15-23
January - Chapters 24-29
February - Chapters 30-36
March - Chapters 37-42
April - Chapters 43-51
May - Chapters 52-58
and finishing in
June 2024 - Chapters 59 - end

Summoning old faithfuls and newcomers, one and all!

I realised today that Lord Verisopht is Very Soft and that made me laugh.

He is certainly a dimwit!

He certainly is 😄

Just barging on to say I was lucky enough to see the RSC production and it will stay with me forever. Anyway, they televised the production and it works pretty well. (Slightly different cast to the one I saw live)

Anyway I bought the dvd of it a few years ago and just looked and there are copies available on eBay for example. It's £99 on amazon so ignore that but I saw one for £22 on eBay. I think it's worth it.

RIP to Roger Rees and Bob Peck who were terrfic in it. Bob Peck especially so different as Sir Mulberry Hawk and John Browdie.

Ooh, I do like Bob Peck.

Just a reminder to prep yourselves for the 1st if speed reading is required!

I am parking my comments here now because I am not sure I will find time tomorrow morning.

So, don't read on if not ready!

That said, there won't be many spoilers - not because nothing happens but because I don't find myself with much to say. That's not to say I am not enjoying the novel, because I am (whereas I am disappointed to find myself finding Ruth a bit of a drag and I love Gaskell) but the novel is in a bit of a holding pattern alternating between Nicholas' thespian japes in Portsmouth and poor old Kate in awful peril in London.

I love Dickens' focus on sibling love in his novels - this seems to be a motif. I like that Nicholas will be rescuing a sister and not a damsel in distress who he will fall in love with. I assume he will rescue her. I do hope so.

Speaking of love, have any modern adaptations suggested Smike is a little in love with our hero? I know Dickens probably intended platonic adulation but Smike makes a comment about how beautiful Kate must be as she looks like Nicholas. I feel like Katie Lumsden puts these idea in my head since she made a similar comment on male friendships in 'Bleak House'.

Speaking of Katie, I preordered her paperback and should get it this month. It's been nominated for one or two awards which must be so exciting for her!

Morning all. I don’t really have much to add. Not a lot really happened in this section. I do feel very sorry for Kate, especially with her appalling mother being blinded by titles.

I don’t know about the Nicholas/Smike relationship - I haven’t seen any adaptations so can’t say if anyone has gone that way with the interpretation but to me that just feels like trying to fit modern thinking into it. I just think Smike is so grateful to Nicholas that he hero-worships him. I think he does love Nicholas but not in ‘that’ way.

I’ve never looked at anything Katie Lumsden has done - perhaps I should. Isn’t it mainly videos though? I’m not very good with videos, I prefer reading to watching. A book by her sounds intriguing!

Yes, all videos. She is very endearing!

Big contrasts in this section. I absolutely loved Nicholas's time with the Crummles troupe of oddballs and laughed out loud more than once, especially at the wedding, with Mr Crummles bewigged and dressed 'in a suit of the previous century', and the hilarious procession up the aisle. Seeing Nicholas through the eyes of other characters - as an unexpectedly successful actor who gets all the applause, impresses the ladies, and knocks down Mr Folair with a single blow - also helps to make him feel a bit more rounded and with a personality of his own, which up to now hasn’t always been the case.

I'm reading the pursuit of Kate by the creepy Sir Mulberry and his patsy Lord Verisopht in a whole new way as an adult than as my teenage self. It's really genuinely sinister. What with Pyke and Pluck as wingmen, it’s a concerted and planned campaign to seduce her. Really unpleasant and very well done. Poor Kate. And yet again, what an absolute dolt her mother is.

As for your theory, Piggy, I hadn’t heard anyone else float it, but I can see the academic paper now - 'Queering Nickleby: Challenging Heteronormativity in the Nicholas/Smike Dynamic' 😳😖😂

PS I don’t think Smike was in love with Nicholas - I agree with Chessie that he was just forever devoted to him because Nicholas saved him from the hell of Squeers and Dotheboys Hall.

Morning! I haven't anything to add to your comments as I have had similar thoughts especially agreeing with Terpsichore's post. Kate's chapters were excellent and really gripping. She's a great heroine; very courageous and plucky. I really admire her for standing up to these creeps.

I think Ralph Nickleby might turn out to do the decent thing by Kate although what he did was unforgiveable, setting her up with that pair. But I think she is influencing him. Also Newman Noggs is going to do something good, whatever that will be! He's going to rise up and be a hero.

Great news about Katie's book! I'm delighted for her.

I’m still reading along and enjoying it, just don’t have much to add! There is a real sense of sexual threat surrounding Kate that I don’t think I’ve encountered in a novel of the period before (not that I’m that well-versed in mid-nineteenth century novels). I like the fact that the uncle, though evil, has just enough humanity to feel qualms about what he’s putting Kate through - and that Newman Noggs, though demeaned by his reduced station in life, still has enough strength of character to help Kate and Nicholas when he can.

I agree about the sexual threat. It's predatory. Tess has this , of course - but in a different way.

Hi, not caught up with the thread and I'm way behind - between my dissertation and moving house (which has been a disaster so far!) I've just not had the time or headspace for much reading in general. I'm determined to get it finished at some point as it's been a great read so far.

Yes, but Tess is a bit more nuanced I think - at least Alec tries to ‘seduce’ her in a more traditional way by pretending to be nice, rather than just bullying her like Hawk is doing to Kate. And we don’t actually see the seduction itself in Tess, leaving room for ambiguity in the extent to which Tess consented. (An A-level essay is vaguely coming back to me here…)

Best of luck with the house move and your dissertation @InTheCludgie 🍀

I agree with LadyBird that the sexual threat in NN is shocking and I didn't expect it in a Dickens book.

Yes, I agree with @LadybirdDaphne too, it’s unexpectedly plain-speaking for Dickens. Nobody could mistake what these loathsome men were up to. A tale as old as time, but not hedged about with vague allusions to 'ruin' and 'shame' as you might see in most early Victorian novels.

I think where it’s unusual is that Dickens actually lays out the techniques of them trying to take poor Kate down, as a pack of hyenas might try tag-teaming to corner their prey. He even points out how 'exhausted' she becomes by the pursuit. Horrible.

I'm really appreciating all the comments. I also loved the description of the theatrical wedding!

I agree that the pursuit of Kate is utterly sinister. And her clueless mum is no help to her at all. Bless Newman Noggs, I'm a bit of a fangirl of his! For those of us also doing the Ruth read-along, it's interesting to contrast Kate with Ruth... Kate is very intelligent and has a mind of her own, but she's still so frighteningly vulnerable. No wonder someone as naive and innocent as Ruth stands no chance.

I'm intrigued by the Spike/Nicholas homoerotic theory. Your spoof title 'Queering Nickleby' made me laugh, @Terpsichore ! A quick google tells me that an academic called Holly Furneaux has written a book called Queer Dickens. She's also published an article called 'Charles Dickens's Families of Choice: Elective Affinities, Sibling Substitution, and Homoerotic Desire', which apparently discusses the Nicholas/Spike/Kate triangle. Interesting! I don't think Spike's love for Nicholas is explicitly homoerotic, but perhaps it is still challenging the traditional norms of male-male friendship in some way? I'll carry on thinking about this as I read the novel.

Tobee, you were so lucky to see the RSC production live!

You can watch the televised version free on youtube and I've watched the first half of it again recently. I remain quite besotted with it. It's true that some of the actors are amazing in their capacity to perform multiple roles. That aspect completely passed me by when I saw the telly version for the first time as a child in the 1980s!

@InTheCludgie , sending you courageous wishes for both the house move and the diss!

Just checking in to say February is Chapters 30 -36!

@cassandre I love the music and songs in it; It makes me cry so much! Thank you for saying about it being on YouTube! When I bought it I hoped to show my dc when they were young teens but it's a commitment to see it properly! I would have been devastated if they were indifferent lol! They're 28 and 24 now but... things get in the way 😞

A reminder thta tomorrow gives us a leap year reprieve if we are not ready (guilty as charged m'lud) and we shall discuss chapters on Friday!

Thank you Piggy! I have two more chapters to read.

Me too!