Charicacharles Dickens.

#LifeofDickens

whatthedickenz:

I found this amazing caricature of Dickens done by Court Jones. I’m particularly fond of his gigantic nose, (no wonder he had so many young women falling head over heels for him…)

I’m looking forward to reading more Dickens this semester, having thus far only read Great Expectations, and reading the short biography Brief Lives by Gregory and Klimaszewski has certainly further peaked my interest. I think my favorite detail that the biographers decided to mention was Dickens’ habit of giving his friends and family weird nicknames. He called his younger brother, and then himself, Boz, he called his children names like “Skittles” and “Plorn”, and of course he named his characters likewise (Pip, Tiny Tim, etc). I found this little bit of Dickens trivia to be endearing. Famous authors are often known for their quirks (I found a little list of some of them here), and Dickens had no shortage of eccentricities. 

Unfortunately, I can’t keep myself from making this connection, but another famous man with an affinity for nicknames was George W. Bush (who apparently called Vladimir Putin “Pootie-Poot”). And now I keep imagining the London home of Dickens as some kind of Victorian frat house with little Plorn running around whipping his brothers and sisters with a wet towel. Sorry Charlie Charles, you’re probably rolling in your grave right now.

I’m definitely looking forward to reading more Dickens soon, and to a time when I can write something of actual substance on this new blog of mine. 

Adios!

-Kait