Queen Victoria... and Prince Albert were married in 1840. Dickens uses this event as an ingenious ploy to salute and promote domestic felicity, advising young ladies upon several examples of the different types of male available as partners. There follows a section describing various married couples from whom the young ladies could possibly learn a lesson. The author then entertains with a tale of Nicholas Tulrumble, newly appointed Mayor of Mudfog, with ideas above his station. Mudfog is modelled on the town of Dickens childhood, Chatham, and he continues, with this backdrop, to regale us with a satirical tale about the first meeting of 'The British Association for the Advancement of Everything [aka Science]' supposedly held there. Here his imagination runs riot and the authors huge influence and importance in the evolution of humorous writing is once again confirmed.
Fantastic ideas such as using cauliflowers as parachutes, theme parks for dissolute nobleman to indulge their rowdy behaviour, an automaton pickpocket that could be utilised by Her Majesties Government- the only disadvantage being it would soon wear out from overwork ! Redolent with the author's usual swipes at the establishment and his reforming zeal Volume 3 of the Sketches is a Dickensian treat.
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"This is a collection of the newspaper columns that first made Dickens a celebrity in the 1830s. There's a lot of very interesting (and satirically funny) observations of London life at the times, as well as some first tentative tries a storytellling. Worth a read for people interested in the era. " — Christopher (4 out of 5 stars)
"This is a collection of the newspaper columns that first made Dickens a celebrity in the 1830s. There's a lot of very interesting (and satirically funny) observations of London life at the times, as well as some first tentative tries a storytellling. Worth a read for people interested in the era. "
" I found myself much less engaged by the sketches as I do a normal Dicken's plot. The lack of a named character to really grasp hold of and follow through a narrative was lacking for me. "
" It was a good book to be able to pick up and put down. At times it was slow, but overall a good read. Have to love Dickens! "
" It's taken me a while to learn how to read Dickens and get down with his rhythm (I'm still learning). I love his descriptions of every . . . little . . . thing. "
" Insightful, thought provoking, witty, cynical, classic Flanerie; you have to be in the mood for lengthy descriptions and minute details "
" It was good, and some parts were really good, but it's not up to his usual quality. Because he wrote it before he attained his usual quality, I guess. "
Charles Dickens (1812–1870) was born in Landport, Portsmouth, England, the second of eight children in a family continually plagued by debt. A legacy brought release from the nightmare of debtors’ prison and child labor and afforded him a few years of formal schooling. He worked as an attorney’s clerk and newspaper reporter until his early writings brought him the amazing success that was to be his for the remainder of his life. He was the most popular English novelist of the Victorian era, and he remains popular, responsible for some of English literature’s most iconic characters.
Peter Joyce trained at Rose Bruford College and won the Radio Prize. There followed a catalog of repertory work throughout the United Kingdom including two years at the prestigious Victoria Theatre, Stoke on Trent. His credits include appearances with the Royal Shakespeare Company in the West End and he is currently the director of two companies: Assembled Stories, which records classic literature onto CD, and Past Present Science, for which he travels the world performing his one man shows about Galileo and Newton.
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