PICKWICK PAPERS
An unusual post, I know, but I was
privileged to attend Kate Forsyth’s conference, for aspiring writers of
historical fiction, in the Cotswolds last September. One of the many valuable
suggestions she made was that we read novels that were published in our historical era. My MS is set in 1833 and a young Charles Dickens published
Pickwick Papers in serial form from 1836 – 1837. While I have now
finished my own manuscript, which I thought I had researched fairly
comprehensively, I still learnt a lot from reading this novel.
There are the characters
and plots and language (eg. an inn called ‘Eatanswill’!) that we
immediately recognise as typifying the great master, and while I have
thoroughly enjoyed some of his many epic novels, I can’t admit to finding this
particular specimen a page-turner. There is no single narrative that threads
through it, rather Dickens weaves in a series of stories. These include caricatures of
rascals and villains, a widowed landlady who sues the eponymous protagonist for
breach of promise, as well as a couple of delightful ghost stories. I’m sure ‘A
Christmas Carol’ was conceived here.
I read a free copy on my iPad which shows that in total
reading time, it took me 24 hours and 31 minutes and it is 994 pages long, so
it is a commitment.
Samuel Pickwick is a compassionate, intelligent, chivalrous,
retired bachelor which may go some way to explaining his landlady’s, Mrs Bardle,
dreams of a marriage proposal.
 |
| Sam Weller |
While the retired Mr.
Pickwick is no fool, Sam, his devoted servant, with his ‘streets smarts’, certainly saves the
day many times. Sam’s loyalty takes him so far that he has himself imprisoned
with Mr Pickwick, whose pride forces him to choose the Fleet over paying the
costs of compensating Mrs Bardle for her disappointed hopes and successful
lawsuit; her case is argued by Dickens archetypal, rapacious lawyers .
I wanted to share with you some of ‘Samivel’s’ wisdom. He
copies the style of his fond father’s proverbs to illustrate his point
continually throughout the novel and I soon found myself eagerly anticipating them.
i.
‘…I only assisted
natur, ma’am; as the doctor said to the boy’s mother, after he’d bled him to
death.
ii.
‘If you know’d who
was near, sir, I raythe think you’d change your note; as the hawk remarked to
himself with a cheerful laugh, ven he heered the robin-redbreast a –singin’
round the corner.
And I can’t resist this gem from other characters.
iii.
‘They appeared in
the form of a copious review of a work on Chinese metaphysics, Sir…He CRAMMED
for it …in the Encyclopaedia Britannica.’
‘Indeed!’ said Mr Pickwick: ‘I
was not aware that that valuable work contained any information respecting
Chinese metaphysics.’
‘He read for metaphysics under
the letter M. and for China under the letter C. and combined his information,
Sir.’
or
iv.
‘I have heard of a Glasgow man and a Dundee
man drinking against each other for fifteen hours at a sitting. They were both
suffocated at the same moment, but with this trifling exception, they were not
a bit the worse for it.’
In my novel I changed ‘my weapon
of choice’ for my highwaymen from ‘flintlocks’ to ‘blunderbusses’ as further
research revealed they were more commonly used by thieves. I am toying with the
notion of changing ‘butt’ - as in the butt of a rifle - to ‘stock’ but I’m
still considering this change.
I was
surprised to learn that Mr Pickwick changes his carriage horses after only
nineteen miles into his journey. Dickens' used many clichés that I now know where popular in this era, he described sword fights and fisticuffs and wedding ceremonies and I am certainly better informed about the name of the liquor consumed in that era.
