Dickens' Lesser Known Novel: 'Barnaby Rudge' - My Review
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- čas přidán 8. 04. 2024
- Dickens' Lesser Known Novel, Barnaby Rudge, is partly set during the infamous Gordon Riots of 1780. It was not as well received at publication than his previous novels, and is still lesser known today. However, in my opinion, despite a few weaknesses, it is under-rated - and here's my opinion. What's yours?
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I’m reading all Dickens’s novels in order and Barnaby Rudge is one I want to re-read. I had only vaguely heard of the name and I had really missed something. His description of the riots is amazing, there are some universal truths here. I did some research afterwards and listened to interviews and historians made a connection with the French Revolution, in terms of the feeling of restlessness in societies of the time.
I have also been re-reading Dickens in chronological order with Katie at Books and Things. I agree with you that the 2nd half is so much better than the first half. I first read this book not long after the Jan 6 insurrection here in the U.S. and it felt eerily and scarily familiar. I re-read it last year on audiobook and it is even more powerful to listen to on the 2nd reading. For me the title refers to BOTH Barnaby Rudge and his father Barnaby Rudge. We meet (although we don't know it) the elder Barnaby in the very first scene and he haunts the tale almost to the very end. It is like Martin Chuzzlewit, where the story is about both Martins, the grandfather and the grandson.
A lot of classics have a resonance with today's world. I was also reminded of some riots in London and other cities here a few years ago - started with a peaceful and worthy protest, and turned into something completely different. I think you're probably right about the two Barnabys. Though of course we sympathise more with the son.
Thank you for this review. This book and Martin Chuzzlewit are the two Dickens novels I hear of least often, and I've read and liked both. You are making me want to do a Dickens re-read!
Thank you for your excellent review of a Dickens I have never tried. I dropped by to say how much I prefer your reading nook as a background to the video, I hope you will use it again from time to time 😊.
Thank you! Glad to hear this. I plan to use it mainly for book reviews or readings, but I might use it more often if people really like it.
Edgar Allan Poe read and reviewed Barnaby Rudge shortly before writing his epic poem The Raven ("Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary...") and was surely inspired by the character of Grip in the novel.
Yes - I believe so. 'Quoth the raven...'
Hello Rosamunde, first, I do like your cosy reading nook. I hope you will use this location more in the future. Tilly on the couch behind you, I love it. Thank you for this excellent recommendation. I didn't know this Dickins'. Because of your review I will ad this book to my TBR list. With regards, Lily
So glad to hear someone talk about this book, it's one of my favourites. I read somewhere that Dickens wanted to call it Gabriel Varden but his publisher preferred the name Barnaby Rudge, has anyone else heard that?
Yes - that's true. I believe I read that in the introduction to my copy. Of course, Gabriel is a strong character, and turns out to be quite a hero, so it would have made sense. But I think both titles work.
Thank you for this. You have convinced me this is a book I need to add to my TBR list! I do love Dickens but have not read them all.
Thank you Rosamunde. You have convinced me to re-read Charles Dickens. Way back in 1985 in my Honours course I took a Dickens intensive subject which saw eight of us students read almost everything written by CD. This novel, Martin Chuzzlewit and Nicholas Nickleby I became quite attached to. Our lecturer posed the question, was this Dickens most underrated work? I remember that it sparked a fruitful discussion. You have stirred memories of a brilliant time in my life. I remember having to start the next novel immediately after the tutorial for the previous text, with only eight students one couldn't fudge it and I ended up finishing them, even Bleak House. Great Expectations and David Copperfield tied as my first favourites but there's a fondness I still have for Barnaby Rudge. Thanks again💐
Thank you - I'm so glad I've stirred up these pleasant memories for you. That must have been quite a marathon read! I hope you will enjoy re-reading them - and probably in a more leisurely way this time!🙂
Never heard of this one before. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.😊
I am so glad to have watched your review; i knew practically nothing about this novel, and what i have heard is negative! I read an official blurb about it on Amazon... "predjudice, intolerance, religious bigotry, and nationalistic fervor, together with villians who exploit these for selfish ends".... hmmmm, sounds remarkably similar to this year's elections in the US! Anyway.. i plan on reading it now thanks to your review!
😂 You're not wrong! I was just saying in another comment how often the classics resonate with today's world. Glad to hear you're planning to read it - I think you'll find it interesting.
I want to get to this one. I have only read A Tale of Two Cities (read it 35 yrs ago in school) and Our Mutual Friend (read in December 2023). I loved Our Mutual Friend and it sparked an interest in wanting to get to all of Dickens.
I only read David Copperfield, and loved it really a lot! I highly recommend it to you.
I really enjoyed this review, Rosamunde. Thanks. Recently, I've realised the gaps in my own English degree course (way way back!), so I'm trying to rectify them. Dickens is a definite goal. All I remember from university days is having to read 'Bleak House' in a week; impossible! Do you have a favourite Dickens novel?
Bleak House in a week! That's often the trouble with having to read set books for a course - there's usually not enough time to really appreciate it. You're just reading to be able to write an essay. Luckily, when I did my OU degree, my Dickens set book was Hard Times, which is relatively short! All the same, I'm looking forward to re-reading it just for my own benefit 🙂 It's difficult to pick a favourite, but I think Great Expectations, Nicholas Nickleby and David Copperfield are probably up there.
I loved your review, and your style of reviewing. Yes, I love Dickens, and haven't read this one yet, but would. I found "Hard Times" is his most exciting book, personally, but there's always so much to get out of each of his books. "The Pickwick Papers" was the only one I was slightly disappointed in, to date, which surprised me, since it's one of his best known, and most popular. I don't have many Dickens' books left, but I will definitely read Barnaby Rudge and also The Old Curiousity Shop (which so many TV and movie adaptations put me off reading). I found your mention of the Catholic/Protestant question really interesting in relation to what I'm reading at the moment; Anthony Trollope's "The Warden", because, as you might know already, there's a comedic little section about a hilarious and silly anti-Catholic bill introduced in Parliament to inflame the Catholics, and provoke endless debates and silly counter-bills by pro-Catholic MPs.
Thank you for this. 'The Pickwick Papers' was Dickens' first full length novel - and does not have the strength of his other books as it does not have a strong narrative and is more a series of events about the same characters. It's not my favourite either - and I don't believe it's one of the most popular - I think it's the characters that stand out. I like Anthony Trollope - but I haven't read 'The Warden', but would definitely like to.
@@booksfrommybookshelf I don't think I'll read more Trollope, because I imagine (and I may well be mistaken in thinking this) one would have to be furiously interested in English ecclesiastical history to want to, but I found the moral dilemma theme of "The Warden" very engaging. I've decided the next Dickens I want to read is "Martin Chuzzlewit", which sounds like a very funny Dickens, with a great cast of characters, so probably a good plot thrown in there as well. Can't wait, except I've got a couple in the queue before it that are promising as well. Thanks for your interesting reply. I do enjoy your insightful observations.
@@Skavop Thank you! You might like Trollope's 'The Way We Live Now' - which is not ecclesiastical at all, and more of a satire on the greed and dishonesty surrounding financial scandal of the 1870s. It's long - but a good read.
@@booksfrommybookshelf Thanks for the recommendation.
I read this during the month of December. I enjoyed it. 🐦⬛
Dickens actually owned a raven called Grip!
Yes he did! I'd actually forgotten that - so Grip in the novel was from pure observation.🙂
❤❤
In Barnaby Rudge - as in Hard Times - Dickens demonstrated his strong opposition to any form of worker's organisation or nascent trade unionism. His premise being that ordinary working people were simply just too stupid and infantile to make decisions affecting their daily lives. Add to this his advocacy of the treadmill as a form of punishment for prisoners, his lobbying for the extermination (ethnic cleansing) of the Eskimo/Inuit race in the wake of the ill-fated Franklin expedition and his appalling treatment of his wife when - in his mid-forties - he embarked on an affair with an 18 year old actress and his reputation as a proto "woke liberal" reformer starts to seem increasingly dubious.
Hi Joseph - thanks for your comments. Always happy to hear people's points of view!
However, we always have to view these things in context. In the early Victorian period the trade unions were in their infancy, often disorganised, often ready to resort to violence - and nothing like the more disciplined organisations they later became - and Dickens was not the only writer to criticise them.
As for the treadmills - I'm not sure where you have got this information from. Dickens often strongly criticised the use of treadmills in several novels, including Oliver Twist. In A Christmas Carol, Scrooge praises them - but he is using that to criticise the character, and are not the views of Dickens himself.
Re the Inuits - you're referring to the play he wrote with Wilkie Collins in which the Inuit were accused of lying about the Franklin explorers having resorted to cannibalism. Yes - I agree, this is a little uncomfortable, and there are some passages in his novels where there is some form of what we would now call racism or prejudice. But again, we have to always view things in context. These kinds of views were often part of the society beliefs. We have come a long way since then, and it is sometimes difficult to look back at the past through our 21st century eyes without judging such views - but you would be hard pressed to find any 19th century writer who did not have some viewpoint that we now find uncomfortable.
As for his marriage - it had basically failed. Once again, we have to view this in context. Today, they would have divorced. In Victorian times, divorce was almost impossible - and even when it was possible, the scandal would often ruin careers. So many people were locked into loveless, unhappy marriages. Something he also references in Hard Times. We cannot know the personal details of what went on in that marriage - and there are always two sides to every story. I don't think we can judge without knowing the full details - and we never will.