Dickens still relevant after 200 years

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Updated: March 10, 2012 8:08AM

It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness …

Here is a short quiz for those “literary type” types among us:

1) Identify the author of the following line: Marley, was dead, to begin with.

2) Which author created the characters Miss Havisham, Fagin and Sydney Carton?

3) Who is 200 years old and yet still has Great Expectations?

The answer to all of the above is Charles Dickens, of course, and the world is now celebrating the bicentennial of his birth.

The international acclaim is appropriate as Dickens is arguably the greatest of all the Victorian writers; his work has been translated and published in Italian, German, Greek, Russian, Chinese, Hebrew, Czech and Arabic. The festivities mirror this, as cities from Venice, New York, Manila, Singapore and the countries of Greece, India, Germany and Switzerland have planned programs and activities to commemorate his birthday.

Those who would scoff at the fuss over a long-dead author might reflect on Charles Dickens as a superstar celebrity. In his own time, Dickens was an enormous commercial success and a personality. The public not only wanted to read his work; they wanted to know about the man, to see him and to hear him speak. In his last trip to America, Dickens was hounded by press attention and crowds who intruded upon him in restaurants, on the street and even his railway car. Dickens, the prolific author of novels, short stories, plays and nonfiction was a star. Mark Twain was awestruck after seeing Dickens in person:

“I thought of the wonderful mechanism within (him) … that could create men and women, and put the breath of life into them … I almost imagined I could see the wheels and pulleys work. This was Dickens — Dickens.”

What accounts for Dickens continued relevance? His works have never been out of print, continue to be taught and studied and have been adapted to many forms of artistic expression and communication. His influence reaches from the 19th century to those who are creating contemporary literature, film, television, literary scholarship and other media. Dickens strengths as a writer are in narrative style and character development and something else, which George Orwell brings to light:

“Nearly everyone … responds emotionally to the idea of human brotherhood.

Dickens voiced a code which was and on the whole is still believed in … ”

Oak Park Public Library has plenty to help you celebrate the birthday of Dickens: books, ebooks, audiobooks, feature films, documentaries, online access to the scholarly journal Dickens Quarterly and so much more.

Please join us to discuss Little Dorrit at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 15, at the main library, 834 Lake St., and Oliver Twist at 2 p.m. Monday, Feb. 27, at Maze Branch Library, 854 Gunderson Ave.

Susan Ruffolo is Technical Services librarian at the
Oak Park Public Library.