tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post2359627297616664930..comments2024-03-28T18:32:05.933-04:00Comments on bensozia: Listening to DickensJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037215533094998996noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-62526413333665390882015-09-29T21:19:36.956-04:002015-09-29T21:19:36.956-04:00I like Dickens for his satire, comic exaggeration,...I like Dickens for his satire, comic exaggeration, and comic grotesque. In Chapter 10, Little Dorritt, his pillorying of the Circumlocution (Patent) Office, is a classic. And he created fascinating secondary characters -- the Smallwoods, Jo, and Caddy in Bleak House, alone. Yes, his characters are simplistic in that they are either all good or all bad, but such characters lend themselves to comic exaggeration. I've never understood the criticisms of this, since this is very much what he intended. I suspect he would have been a much different writer if he had created complex characters, something I have no doubt he was quite capable of doing. I sometimes think we sorely miss a Dickens right here and now.<br /><br />Thanks for the recommendation on Vance. I'll listen to one of them.Shadowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05353532874773316117noreply@blogger.com