Culture E
BY PETER MILLER
vents are being planned throughout the English-speak- ing world this month to cel- ebrate the 200th anniversary
— on Feb. 7 — of the birth of Charles Dickens (pictured), the Victorian author of such time-honored clas- sics as Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, and A Tale of Two Cities. In addition, a new BBC-fi nanced
movie adaptation of Dickens’ Great Expectations, starring Ralph Fiennes and Helena Bonham Carter, is scheduled for release later this year. Each of his 15 novels has already been fi lmed at least twice. In 1842 at the age of 29, Dickens
brought his celebrity across the pond to visit America, which he viewed as a haven for the oppressed. Admirers requested poetry readings, autographs, and even locks of his hair. “Dickens was at once mobbed and generally given the adulation aff orded four other young Englishmen [The Beatles] who would invade America more than a century later,” according to the website Charles Dickens Page (
http://charlesdickenspage.com). In Washington, D.C., which Dickens described as a “city
of magnifi cent intentions,” he visited President John Tyler. Elsewhere, he met fellow author Washington Irving and
A Dickens of a Celebration
poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Mark Twain also wrote about witnessing a pub- lic appearance. Dickens’ wide-ranging agenda included advocating copyright laws for authors, whose works were routinely pirated until legislation was passed 50 years later. He also visited insane asylums, reform schools, homes for the deaf and blind, and an Illinois prairie. His opinions of America were
decidedly mixed, however. He blasted the press, blaming it for Americans’ lack of general knowl- edge. A second American visit com- menced in 1867 while Dickens’ health
was rapidly declining. It included an exhaustive public appear-
ance schedule and visits with literary notables
such as Ralph Waldo Emerson. The author died in 1870 at age 58, and many in Britain blamed his death
at the time on the rigors of the trip. Dickens’ observations were included in his book Ameri-
can Notes and posthumously in John Forster’s infl uential biography The Life of Charles Dickens.
To commemorate the anniversary of Dickens in America, go to Dickens 2012 (
www.dickens2012.org), which provides details about all the worldwide celebrations.
Newspaper Accounts of Dickens’ 1842 Trip to America Boston Transcript
January 24, 1842: We had an hour’s conversation with him last evening, and found him one of the most frank, sociable, noble-hearted gentlemen we ever met with, perfectly free from any haughtiness or apparent self- importance. In fact, he is just such a person as we had supposed him to be, judging from his writings, which have acquired a popularity unprecedented in this country. His lady, too, is most
38 NEWSMAX | FEBRUARY 2012
beautiful and accomplished, and appears worthy to be the partner of her distinguished husband. Worchester Egis (Massachusetts)
February 5, 1842: Mr. Dickens was born February 7, 1812. He was therefore thirty years of age on Monday last. The early maturity of his genius and reputation had but few parallels. May he long live to edify and amuse the world, and to receive the reward of praise and emolument which is his just due.
Philadelphia Gazette
March 6, 1842: Mr. Dickens will visit this city in a few days. He wisely declines all dinners, parades, shows, junketings and things of that sort, preferring to meet such private unostentatious hospitalities as a courteous people should extend to any gentleman, and a stranger. Philadelphia Public Ledger
Dickens is in danger of becoming bald, in consequence of the number of applications for a lock of his hair . . .
SOURCE:
www.charlesdickenspage.com
FRAME, BOOK, PAPER/ISTOCKPHOTO / DICKENS/RISCHGITZ/HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES
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