He was a flawed human, as we all are, but I reckon he was right about a lot of things. I wonder what he would think about the mess we have now. Looking forward to part 2.
@@professorgraemeyorstonyou're using kiddy language , saying the next one coming up is a " biggie." Unbecoming of someone who professes to be a professor.
@ThomasAllan-up4tdadmonishing someone for a social media comment, as if it were meant to be prose, is unbecoming of a civilised human being. What a stuffed shirt you are!
Once more you unearth these gems of biography . One reaps the best rewards by writing about what one has experienced and known ; so it was with Dickens .
Thank you ,Prof,.Dickens had an incredible sense of humour .Great Expectations was full of Dickens humour and wit .He understood so well human behaviour and people in general
@@professorgraemeyorston You succeed in the the try. It's what made me subscribe. We may have seen other bios of these historical people. But what other interesting things will he dig up that the others haven't? That keeps me coming back.
@@professorgraemeyorston Loved it. Also, as an artist, I'm looking forward to seeing more of your Artist series. I saw that you had an Egon Scheile image in the intro so I'm very much looking forward to his video as he's my all time fave, despite being quite a despicable human being. Thanks again.
Next week (the 6th through the 8th of December) we have a festival, here in Galveston, called Dickens on the Strand that we have held for the past fifty years to celebrate his influence on Christmas. It's perfect timing for me to learn more about him, though I am terribly disappointed to have learned that he never visited our fair island. Thanks!
I’ve watched your Dickens biographies in reverse chronological order. It has helped me see him as a fully-formed complex person. Hearing first about how he cared for his elderly mother then about how she begged to get his childhood job back made me admire him for supporting her and so many of his family members when he had the means. (It also doesn’t surprise me that having suffered as a child from poverty that he kept earning and working as hard as he did when objectively we could say he had enough money to retire.) In contrast, hearing first about how he damaged his wife’s reputation because of her mental health, then that he had done the same thing to an old business associate after he died by suicide really shows Dickens’ own character weaknesses. He might as well be the hero in a Greek tragedy with that kind of foreshadowed failing. Great work! Thank you!
I discovered Dickens an age 12 when I read “David Copperfield”. While I liked David, Aunt Betsy Trotwood and the Macawber family Dora’s character was a huge turnoff because I knew too many girls at school who acted just like her. As a result, I put Dickens’s books back onto the shelf and read Victor Hugo and Tolstoy instead. My father took me and my sister to see the film “Oliver!”. This time it was Bill Sykes who deep sixed my interest in BOZ. Then I saw a marvelous TV adaptation of “A Tale of Two Cities” and never looked back. Having just studied the French Revolution in my world history class at school I was more open to reading the book. Overnight Dickens became a favorite author. I all but had the book chained about my neck and wondered why Dickens had initially turned me off. All these years later I still can’t figure out why I suddenly enjoyed reading his books. Perhaps it was because I more mature and had discovered that Dickens’s books were often social commentaries on life in Victorian England.
I love Dickens! I have read all of his works that I could get my hands on. My favorite is David Copperfield which I have read 3 times over my life. When I'm reading his books I often repeat reading one of the paragraphs because the writing is so beautiful. Many paragraphs are just one sentence. His writing is so expressive and descriptive that you feel like you personally know the characters. We are blessed by his talent.
Your videos make excellent companions to my afternoon workouts. Perfectly paced and clear, I learn something new every day - benefitting both mind and body. A welcome alternative to listening to the same music over and over again. I only dread the day when I have watched them all. Cheers from Canada.
@@susanyates4233 He mentions Cobham quite a few times in his various sketches. Particularly in " A mad man's manuscript" . An insert in the Pickwick papers. Where Dickens, himself,takes on ,or allows himself to be taken over by the character of what he perceives to be the mind of a lunatic. You will note how much he recounts the joy of stropping his razor every morning, and imagining how easily it would be to slit the throat of his wife.( Catherine Hogarth?). Dickens was a case in himself. He exploited his genius, the evil within himself, to make money. He also proclaimed that there were people in this world who had to be "exterminated without thought or mercy. " As if he was God. He really did believe he was extra special.
Love Dickens. And Washington Irving is interesting too. Their lives and their biographies are fascinating. If ever in NYC, just north of the city is Sunnyside (Washington Irving's home) Tarrytown, NY. Tour guides in costume and one speculation is that Dickens may have named Scrooge after Irving's brother, Ebeneezer. Ebeneezer was a widower with children and lived with Washington Irving at Sunnyside. I could go on and on. Thank you for posting.
@@professorgraemeyorston I think he may have just used this interesting name, not his personality. Irving was a bachelor, so his brother and children moved in with him. Ebeneezer's children inherited from Irving. Irving designed part of Sunnyside from Abbotford (his friend, Walter Scott's home). It was the stepped roof. Irving put a date in the 1600s on his home, even though it was designed in the 1800s. Irving was US Ambassador to Spain and well traveled and he knew all these other literary figures. Sorry to drone. Love the topic. When in NYC, try and take the short trip to Tarrytown. I think you would love it.
Great video! I've always been more interested in Dickens himself; in his work he *does* have a tendency to go on and on. And, yes, I made my way through Pickwick, David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, and Great Expectations before calling it quits. Overall, my thoughts on Dickens are akin to what Rossini said about Richard Wagner: "He has some beautiful moments but bad quarters of an hour." Now, the film versions are something else; the best ones, like Great Expectations (1946) and Scrooge (1951) grab and yank you into the story and atmosphere. And the Royal Shakespeare Company's adaptation of Nicholas Nickleby (1982) is wonderfully intense--you're rooting for Nicholas and Smike from the get-go. Looking forward to Part 2!
Another marvelous video by a marvelous creator and researcher. YOUR CONTENT IS GETTING BETTER AND BETTER PROFESSOR ! Can't wait for a video on Salinger.
I have always loved the creative work of Dickens. I am from Finland and Dickens was not specifically introduced to us as school kids. I read his production from myself being the age of 13. And still, at a mature age, I feel a strange bond to him. When younger, I believed in past life connections (Victorian period in England) due to my mystical experiences. This Christmas, I have been watching you tube -Dickens movies.
Thank you for the lovely cheerful video from the rain-drenched moors. I hope neither of you caught a cold! Will you be visiting Chawton? Your happy attitudes and the love for Jane would create a delightful video there. ❤
This was wonderful, my favorite story is Dickens' Christmas Carol. Dickens absolutely captured some of the worst aspects of some Americans, spoken as a tried and true American.'
Thank you professor, I have been interested in literary figures and that's exactly what I needed. And I like the language you use, it's so beautiful and intellectualy sophisticated. It is of great help to English learners like me. Thank you, Professor G, I don't know how to express my gratitude, if only I can sponsor you in any way cause in China, the money don't come through TH-cam. I wish I could have a teacher like you in my uni❤❤, love you Professor G.
Excellent, looking forward to part II! I would appreciate you to cover the eccentric and sad life of Hans Christian Andersen (the biography by Jens Andersen is brilliant) Andersen visited the Dickensens, stayed longer than it's polite (weeks indeed) and pissed everybody pretty odd apart from Plorn 😂
“Do I really need to watch another documentary on Charles Dickens?” I thought to myself, the answer of course was yes, due to your typically ravishing treatment. It has been a pleasure discovering your channel and experiencing new insights into familiar figures such as Marilyn Monroe, Hemingway, The Fitzgeralds, Van Gough and many others. Then there has been learning of people I knew little of, such as Satie. As for a future, prospective candidate for your analysis, I suggest the great American writer John Cheever (1912-1982). Only a severe alcoholic conflicted over his sexuality could have written “The Swimmer.”
@@professorgraemeyorston If you have the patience, notwithstanding the other spelling, you could go for an eternity filtering fact from falsehoods in history research. I am enthralled by the depth of your search and the presentation style you bring to us.
You have complimented my anticipation to watch one of my favourite films Scrooge (1951) by posting this fascinating bio. Saw the mans great great grandson play the part last Christmas 😊 Graham you are one of my favourite biographers on the Tube
I had to fact check this: Americans loved Charles Dickens so much, that when the ship carrying The Old Curiosity Shop arrived in Baltimore, people rushed the pier for copies of the book. The pier collapsed and it was a minor disaster. The novel was written in two parts and everyone wanted to know what was going to happen…
I read years ago, that they held banners saying, "Save Little Nell!" which may have been before the book was written. I met an superb actor, at our local Victorian theatre, who performed as Dickens and who toured America at sellout events with extra dates. Having read Dickens from childhood, as my Father did from age 6, I was very lucky to see the performance.
Very interesting idea to explain psychiatrical / psychological behaviour with historical figures A lot of exam material is really dry like introductory in empirical research in psychology So your channel is a welcome change
Dear Professor Yorston, I admire your library. I wish it would me mine :) Thank you so much for your videos, I am big fan of (auto)biographies....and a collector to. :)
He lived on Bayham Street in Camden. I lived on the same street during my uni years. I found it out from the local library. Council flats are now where his exact address was.
You make these productions first class. Please continue to, now and then, reflect on contemporary "man behave-ioral" theories like the one at 10.20; about PDS: I wonder if life actually can be lived fully without an experience like that. One that you have managed to recoverd from. What do you think of this theory of mine?
I see lots of people with traumatic experiences, but each person differs in how they are affected by these - some use their traumas to make sure they are not repeated, some are totally incapacitated.
Excellent, as always. Do you think Dickens was misogynistic? Women were very important in his personal life as you have shown, but the female characters in his novels are not prominent.
Next to the Bible... I consider A Christmas Carol the next greatest book written..... The transformation of a human being through a spiritual experience....is the message of scripture...
... speaking of boot blacking, and in order to comprehend fully the sensory atmosphere which stained young Charles' upbringing and ... _flavored_ (?) his work - *Pure finding* is a trade which might depthen our appreciation. Quick search will tell you all you need to know about it. For rigorous students: *Henry Mayhew* published a book in 1851 titled *London Labour and the London Poor* which might be of interest to any Dickens enthusiast.
I’ve read two three novels by Dickens and have got Bleak House on my bucket list. Some people who’ve read it say it’s a little dry by today’s standards but it can’t be dryer than Middlemarch which has been called a kind of literary trek across the Sahara. One of my favorite writers John Irving is a huge admirer of Dickens which his books reflect and is why they’re so readable in comparison to other modern writers.⚛❤
I knew more about William Hogarth (1697-1764) who was involved in artwork of the “morally flawed individuals’ such as Tom Rakewell in A Rake's Progress. In the next century, Three Penny Opera was written and performed from Hogarth”s work. We did it in St. Thomas USVI in the now gone (a covid casualty) Pistarckle community theater. I played Jonathan Peachem, sort of a beggars’ union organizer. I had no knowledge of who Hogarth was and in this video I learned so much. Thanks. My oh my … Dickens married his daughter and they had ten children.
28:49 … I woke up at night trying to figure out how Dickens could PICK UP and hold a lady so long “against her protestations.” Doing this for so long had to have some kind of touching to her chest. It would seem impossible not to. Dark thoughts, defined by strict moral values to him (and maybe the girl too) must have been part of his life. And I thought my crazy thoughts were a little off the wall. I had the advantage of a societal sexual revolution, Richard Nixon and Gloria Steinem. This man had Queen Mary and Christian Values. Talk about a formula for a moralistic train crash. Looking forward to your next work. I will be waiting, my Captain. ⚓️🏖️.
Steinem was paid by the state to be the face of so called women's liberation which was so that they could: "tax the other half of the population and get kids to school earlier, then we got 'em." Paraphrased via Aaro Russo quoting a Rockefeller who tried to befriend him.
Hi - why would he be trying to hide anything? There are any number of famous authors, artists, leaders who destroy their personal writings and letters. That’s because it’s nobody’s business but theirs. People often write about things they later regret or just to get expunge bad thoughts or actions like we do with our therapists. Looking forward to this video :) 📝
Dickens never mentioned the then very common experience of children being sexually abused. I do wonder if he himself was subject to it at work in the factory. Reformers at the time made some reference to 'immoral practices' against children and women working in mines, factories and in other institutions like prisons and workhouses, but it was generally considered too distasteful and an intrinsic element of poverty. In Dickens's writing it is thrroughly ignored. Fagin's street urchins in Oliver Twist were likely also rent boys as well as pickpockets, but only Nancy is indicated as experiencing it.
He does touch on the seduction of young Mary Brown in Dombey and Son and her then being abandoned and forced into prostitution, but Victorian society tended to blame the victims rather than the perpetrators.
@professorgraemeyorston yes, with prostitution considered a moral failing or mental weakness on behalf of the victim. I suppose reformers hoped it would evaporate if poverty was dealt with. They weren't ready to see it in all walks of life. Even Freud dodged the issue of sexual abuse by attributing it to the victim, after a promising start at recognising it as widespread, didn't he? Victorians were definitely not ready to face the issue.
it appears to have been the fashion to destroy personal correspondence. it probably still is if there have (i'll just call them) "goings-on" illustrated within. i believe that Queen Victoria's youngest daughter, Princess Beatrice, was responsible for (how shall i put it?) inflammatory editing of her mother's papers. anyways. i shall await part 2. excelsior!
It is often been put forth that David Copperfield was Dickens’ semi autobiographical work and that he reversed the initials. This is alleged and unproven but many claim the author is writing about himself, mystery.
The volumes of the complete works of Charles Dickens have arriven, been smelled and await perusal, if and when the power should permanently go out. Oh yes, a proper hurricane lantern, spare wicks and some 6 gallons of kerosene are part and parcel of said volumes!
![Charles Dickens Home - [Room by Room Tour] of Dickens Museum London](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/2htpOD8DI4M/mqdefault.jpg)
Thank you, Professor, for looking at Dickens! I’m spellbound.
Glad you enjoyed it.
He was a flawed human, as we all are, but I reckon he was right about a lot of things. I wonder what he would think about the mess we have now. Looking forward to part 2.
I agree - on the whole his flaws were fairly minor, but there is a biggie coming up in part 2.
lawyers
@@professorgraemeyorstonyou're using kiddy language , saying the next one coming up is a " biggie." Unbecoming of someone who professes to be a professor.
@ThomasAllan-up4tdThere's one in every bunch, this time it's you.
@ThomasAllan-up4tdadmonishing someone for a social media comment, as if it were meant to be prose, is unbecoming of a civilised human being. What a stuffed shirt you are!
Once more you unearth these gems of biography . One reaps the best rewards by writing about what one has experienced and known ; so it was with Dickens .
The more I have read about him, the more I recognise the biographical elements he incorporates into his novels.
Thanks!
Thanks Bob, much appreciated.
Umhmmm, serialized like Dickens himself would do ... to keep us coming back for more. I'll be here for part two sir. Well done.
There will only be two - unlike Dickens's 24 over two years.
Such an intellectual world they wrote for … all to start to die out at WW1 … et al. Subscribed and loved !..
@@professorgraemeyorston No boat to storm for the next installment. Oh well.
Thank you ,Prof,.Dickens had an incredible sense of humour .Great Expectations was full of Dickens humour and wit .He understood so well human behaviour and people in general
Just when I thought I knew everything about these famous people, you come along with so many more facts and I just love it!
I do try to do some digging!
@@professorgraemeyorston You succeed in the the try. It's what made me subscribe. We may have seen other bios of these historical people. But what other interesting things will he dig up that the others haven't? That keeps me coming back.
Oh thank goodness for that, a Part two is definitely deserved and I’m looking forward to it 😊. Cheers
Glad you enjoyed it
@@professorgraemeyorston Loved it. Also, as an artist, I'm looking forward to seeing more of your Artist series. I saw that you had an Egon Scheile image in the intro so I'm very much looking forward to his video as he's my all time fave, despite being quite a despicable human being. Thanks again.
I very much enjoyed this. I love Dickens and this fits the bill. Looking forward to part 2 thank you
Glad you enjoyed it.
Next week (the 6th through the 8th of December) we have a festival, here in Galveston, called Dickens on the Strand that we have held for the past fifty years to celebrate his influence on Christmas. It's perfect timing for me to learn more about him, though I am terribly disappointed to have learned that he never visited our fair island. Thanks!
Sounds a lot of fun.
Such a wonderful production!! Enjoyed it so much!! THANK YOU!!
Our pleasure!
Fascinating! Looking forward to part two. Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it.
Thank you! Lots of Dickens tidbits I was unaware of, like his possible epilepsy. An interesting and complicated man and I’m looking forward to Part 2.
Great to hear! Part 2 is coming soon.
I’ve watched your Dickens biographies in reverse chronological order. It has helped me see him as a fully-formed complex person. Hearing first about how he cared for his elderly mother then about how she begged to get his childhood job back made me admire him for supporting her and so many of his family members when he had the means. (It also doesn’t surprise me that having suffered as a child from poverty that he kept earning and working as hard as he did when objectively we could say he had enough money to retire.)
In contrast, hearing first about how he damaged his wife’s reputation because of her mental health, then that he had done the same thing to an old business associate after he died by suicide really shows Dickens’ own character weaknesses. He might as well be the hero in a Greek tragedy with that kind of foreshadowed failing.
Great work! Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed them. I agree his life had a sort of portentous drama about it.
Very interesting as always I learn something new about a favorite author or artist. Thanks and look forward to part two😊
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you thoroughly enjoyed this …. And have subscribed 😊
I am always so excited every time you post. I love your work! Thank you, Lu Hawkins
Thanks Lu, glad you're enjoying them.
From the UK. Another great and well researched post. Looking forward to Part 2. Many thanks.
Coming soon.
@@professorgraemeyorston Fantastic.
I discovered Dickens an age 12 when I read “David Copperfield”. While I liked David, Aunt Betsy Trotwood and the Macawber family Dora’s character was a huge turnoff because I knew too many girls at school who acted just like her. As a result, I put Dickens’s books back onto the shelf and read Victor Hugo and Tolstoy instead. My father took me and my sister to see the film “Oliver!”. This time it was Bill Sykes who deep sixed my interest in BOZ.
Then I saw a marvelous TV adaptation of “A Tale of Two Cities” and never looked back. Having just studied the French Revolution in my world history class at school I was more open to reading the book. Overnight Dickens became a favorite author. I all but had the book chained about my neck and wondered why Dickens had initially turned me off. All these years later I still can’t figure out why I suddenly enjoyed reading his books. Perhaps it was because I more mature and had discovered that Dickens’s books were often social commentaries on life in Victorian England.
I struggled a bit with the language when I was younger - but now his elegant sentences are like poetry.
I love Dickens! I have read all of his works that I could get my hands on. My favorite is David Copperfield which I have read 3 times over my life. When I'm reading his books I often repeat reading one of the paragraphs because the writing is so beautiful. Many paragraphs are just one sentence. His writing is so expressive and descriptive that you feel like you personally know the characters. We are blessed by his talent.
Your videos make excellent companions to my afternoon workouts. Perfectly paced and clear, I learn something new every day - benefitting both mind and body. A welcome alternative to listening to the same music over and over again. I only dread the day when I have watched them all. Cheers from Canada.
One a day, should last about 3 months!
Fascinating, thank you so much. My great grandfather met Dickens. I suspect that he attended one of his Readings at the Leather Bottle Pub, Cobham.
He certainly did a lot of readings.
@@susanyates4233 He mentions Cobham quite a few times in his various sketches. Particularly in " A mad man's manuscript" . An insert in the Pickwick papers.
Where Dickens, himself,takes on ,or allows himself to be taken over by the character of what he perceives to be the mind of a lunatic. You will note how much he recounts the joy of stropping his razor every morning, and imagining how easily it would be to slit the throat of his wife.( Catherine Hogarth?).
Dickens was a case in himself. He exploited his genius, the evil within himself, to make money. He also proclaimed that there were people in this world who had to be "exterminated without thought or mercy. " As if he was God. He really did believe he was extra special.
Absolutely a fabulous documentary. Enjoyed it immensely. Thank you. Looking forward to part two. Carol from California
Glad you enjoyed it
Another amazing portrait Professor. Thank you! Looking forward to part 2.
Thanks, coming soon.
Thank you so much! One of my favorite authors. I appreciate the look at his history
Thanks for watching.
As usual, this was fantastic, thank you so much. Looking forward to part 2. Dickens is one of my revered authors. Loved it! 10/10 highly recommended
Thank you.
Love Dickens. And Washington Irving is interesting too. Their lives and their biographies are fascinating. If ever in NYC, just north of the city is Sunnyside (Washington Irving's home) Tarrytown, NY. Tour guides in costume and one speculation is that Dickens may have named Scrooge after Irving's brother, Ebeneezer. Ebeneezer was a widower with children and lived with Washington Irving at Sunnyside. I could go on and on. Thank you for posting.
Interesting - I know there are lots of theories as to who he based Scrooge on - but this is new one - thank you.
@@professorgraemeyorston I think he may have just used this interesting name, not his personality. Irving was a bachelor, so his brother and children moved in with him. Ebeneezer's children inherited from Irving. Irving designed part of Sunnyside from Abbotford (his friend, Walter Scott's home). It was the stepped roof. Irving put a date in the 1600s on his home, even though it was designed in the 1800s. Irving was US Ambassador to Spain and well traveled and he knew all these other literary figures. Sorry to drone. Love the topic. When in NYC, try and take the short trip to Tarrytown. I think you would love it.
Oh, and next door to Sunnyside is Lyndhurst, home of Jay Gould, robber raliway magnate. Another great house to tour.❤
Your videos are so awesome!
Glad you are enjoying them.
Great video! I've always been more interested in Dickens himself; in his work he *does* have a tendency to go on and on. And, yes, I made my way through Pickwick, David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, and Great Expectations before calling it quits. Overall, my thoughts on Dickens are akin to what Rossini said about Richard Wagner: "He has some beautiful moments but bad quarters of an hour." Now, the film versions are something else; the best ones, like Great Expectations (1946) and Scrooge (1951) grab and yank you into the story and atmosphere. And the Royal Shakespeare Company's adaptation of Nicholas Nickleby (1982) is wonderfully intense--you're rooting for Nicholas and Smike from the get-go. Looking forward to Part 2!
I love the film versions as well - but on the odd occasion when I've had time to kill - I have enjoyed his long windedness.
Great choice. Clearly he liked the young ladies. Such a character. Looking forward to p.2.
Coming soon.
@@jane.c.c clearly you like the young ladies too ! And can't wait for the next chapter.
@ThomasAllan-up4td I think you have a distorted vision pal..
@jane.c.c Your own excited words. And I am not your pal .
@ThomasAllan-up4td you have problems PAL.. even though you are not my pal. Very correct
Another marvelous video by a marvelous creator and researcher. YOUR CONTENT IS GETTING BETTER AND BETTER PROFESSOR ! Can't wait for a video on Salinger.
Thank you - it's coming.
You're videos are so valuable. Please don't stop.
Very kind, thank you, no plans to at the moment.
Oh yay a part 2 I can't wait. Thank you very much
Coming soon.
I studied abroad in London recently and do highly recommend visiting his museum in Camden! 😊
Yes, it's a great museum.
I have always loved the creative work of Dickens. I am from Finland and Dickens was not specifically introduced to us as school kids. I read his production from myself being the age of 13. And still, at a mature age, I feel a strange bond to him. When younger, I believed in past life connections (Victorian period in England) due to my mystical experiences. This Christmas, I have been watching you tube -Dickens movies.
Great way to spend Christmas.
Absolutely fascinating! Thanks, Prof! sue
Thanks Sue.
Thank you for the lovely cheerful video from the rain-drenched moors. I hope neither of you caught a cold! Will you be visiting Chawton? Your happy attitudes and the love for Jane would create a delightful video there. ❤
I hope so too!
I'm going to a Fezziwig's dinner party this weekend. Its going to be great! I love Dickens literature.
Sounds fun.
Cant wait for part 2. This is a wonderful video
I'm working on it!
Enjoyed listening to this while doing pre-Christmas chores. Excellent quality. Thank you. Next time I'll watch the visuals
Either way, thanks for listening/watching.
Enjoy all your videos professor. Keep them coming.
Thanks, will do!
This was wonderful, my favorite story is Dickens' Christmas Carol. Dickens absolutely captured some of the worst aspects of some Americans, spoken as a tried and true American.'
It is interesting how some of the things he said about America are still being said today - almost 200 years later.
Mars mass carol
Charles Dickens is my favorite British author. I think Bleak House is his masterpiece.
There are so many masterpieces, I wouldn't know which one to put above the others.
Thank you professor, I have been interested in literary figures and that's exactly what I needed. And I like the language you use, it's so beautiful and intellectualy sophisticated. It is of great help to English learners like me. Thank you, Professor G, I don't know how to express my gratitude, if only I can sponsor you in any way cause in China, the money don't come through TH-cam. I wish I could have a teacher like you in my uni❤❤, love you Professor G.
Thank you, knowing that you're enjoying the videos and learning from them is enough.
I really enjoyed this, thank you.
Thank you.
Very nice thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it.
Thank you AGAIN ❤❤❤
You are so welcome!
Really, really enjoying your channel- thank you!
Glad to hear it!
Thank you Professor, your work is much appreciated
Glad you're enjoying the videos.
Chareles Dickens is my favorite english novel writer he dig deep in humans mind 🇬🇧best writer of all times
He really did dig deep and found the good and bad in people.
Excellent, looking forward to part II! I would appreciate you to cover the eccentric and sad life of Hans Christian Andersen (the biography by Jens Andersen is brilliant) Andersen visited the Dickensens, stayed longer than it's polite (weeks indeed) and pissed everybody pretty odd apart from Plorn 😂
Thanks, yes I'll take a look at the biography.
Graeme, your turning into a workaholic with your AMAZING output, seek help before you hit 200.000 !!!!!!
I think you might be right!
Comprehensive, authoritative and interesting - thanks for this video.
You're very welcome!
Very enjoyable, as usual!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Fascinating!! Thank you😊
Glad you enjoyed it!
“Do I really need to watch another documentary on Charles Dickens?” I thought to myself, the answer of course was yes, due to your typically ravishing treatment. It has been a pleasure discovering your channel and experiencing new insights into familiar figures such as Marilyn Monroe, Hemingway, The Fitzgeralds, Van Gough and many others. Then there has been learning of people I knew little of, such as Satie.
As for a future, prospective candidate for your analysis, I suggest the great American writer John Cheever (1912-1982). Only a severe alcoholic conflicted over his sexuality could have written “The Swimmer.”
Glad you're enjoying them.
Wonderful, thanks!
Glad you liked it!
Great video, thanks for sharing.
Thanks for watching.
These insights make me want to reread Dickens. Thanks for your research, Prof Yorston.
I have to say I keep finding all sorts of autobiographical references in his works that I never noticed before.
@@professorgraemeyorston
If you have the patience, notwithstanding the other spelling, you could go for an eternity filtering fact from falsehoods in history research.
I am enthralled by the depth of your search and the presentation style you bring to us.
You have complimented my anticipation to watch one of my favourite films Scrooge (1951) by posting this fascinating bio. Saw the mans great great grandson play the part last Christmas 😊
Graham you are one of my favourite biographers on the Tube
Thank you - hope you enjoy Scrooge.
Looking forward to part two of this wonderful Dickensian serialisation!
Shall I spin it out over 24 instalments!
@professorgraemeyorston I think Dickens would be behind you (speaking into your ear?) but I'll leave that decision to you. Excellent work!
Professor yorston your videos are always so interesting. Thank you again from Canada 🎉
Glad you like them!
I had to fact check this: Americans loved Charles Dickens so much, that when the ship carrying The Old Curiosity Shop arrived in Baltimore, people rushed the pier for copies of the book. The pier collapsed and it was a minor disaster. The novel was written in two parts and everyone wanted to know what was going to happen…
Everyone loved Little Nell.
@@professorgraemeyorston
Onlookers said all Nell broke lose.
I read years ago, that they held banners saying, "Save Little Nell!" which may have been before the book was written. I met an superb actor, at our local Victorian theatre, who performed as Dickens and who toured America at sellout events with extra dates. Having read Dickens from childhood, as my Father did from age 6, I was very lucky to see the performance.
This is far more than I ever knew about Dickens.
And there's more to come in Part 2.
great episode about this famous Victorian writer
Thank you.
Hi, Graeme. I enjoy your short documentaries and find them very interesting, especially those about writers. May I suggest Dostoevsky as a subject?
Thanks, yes Dostoyevsky is on the list.
Very interesting idea to explain psychiatrical / psychological behaviour with historical figures
A lot of exam material is really dry like introductory in empirical research in psychology
So your channel is a welcome change
Glad to be of service.
Very good. Thank you.
Our pleasure!
Dear Professor Yorston, I admire your library. I wish it would me mine :) Thank you so much for your videos, I am big fan of (auto)biographies....and a collector to. :)
You are very welcome
Excellent. Thank you.
Thank you.
He lived on Bayham Street in Camden. I lived on the same street during my uni years. I found it out from the local library. Council flats are now where his exact address was.
Yes, most of his London houses no longer exist - the exception is the Dickens Museum.
Shocking tales - good to be told.
Thank you.
Charles Dickens is found in the book London Fog The Biography by Christine L. Corton - is a must read.
I haven't read that one - there are so many biographies and analyses of Dickens.
@ it’s ver interesting that the author thought of Charles Dickens Bleak House.
Brilliant !!!
Very true.
I think he summed up America quite well
I don't know if spitting is still a major issue - but it is interesting that he observed things that are still talked about today.
You make these productions first class. Please continue to, now and then, reflect on contemporary "man behave-ioral" theories like the one at 10.20; about PDS: I wonder if life actually can be lived fully without an experience like that. One that you have managed to recoverd from. What do you think of this theory of mine?
I see lots of people with traumatic experiences, but each person differs in how they are affected by these - some use their traumas to make sure they are not repeated, some are totally incapacitated.
Thank you, the soul of England!
Very true.
Excellent, as always. Do you think Dickens was misogynistic? Women were very important in his personal life as you have shown, but the female characters in his novels are not prominent.
I think he had a typical Victorian limited view of women and their role in society, except for the ones he took a shine to!
Grimacing is buried in a small park on Pentonville Road. He lived near Sadlwrs Wells.
Autocorrect has gone off on one again! Yes Dickens edited Grimaldi's memoirs and there s park named after him.
Next to the Bible... I consider A Christmas Carol the next greatest book written..... The transformation of a human being through a spiritual experience....is the message of scripture...
Interesting - as it can also be read as a message of humanism.
What Scrooge - movie is shown there...Looks Not so old?!! I would so much Like to watch it now!!!! WHO can answer?????? Thank You!
The picture of Scrooge is from the animated Christmas Carol with Jim Carrey - it's a great version.
@professorgraemeyorston thank You!!!
... speaking of boot blacking, and in order to comprehend fully the sensory atmosphere which stained young Charles' upbringing and ... _flavored_ (?) his work -
*Pure finding* is a trade which might depthen our appreciation.
Quick search will tell you all you need to know about it.
For rigorous students:
*Henry Mayhew* published a book in 1851 titled *London Labour and the London Poor* which might be of interest to any Dickens enthusiast.
Being young and poor in Georgian/Victorian England was pretty grim.
Charles Dickens RIP much respected.
Yes he should be respected for his immense achievements, whatever his foibles.
@@professorgraemeyorstonknow one is perfect 👌 it's called being a human being
Is there not a book by AN Wilson with this title? I do not see any reference to such a work in the listed sources here.
Not that I am aware of.
Just wondering if you have done a video on Albert Camus?
Not yet, but he's on the to do list.
@@professorgraemeyorstonHopefully soon as I’m in my eighties! 😊
I’ve read two three novels by Dickens and have got Bleak House on my bucket list. Some people who’ve read it say it’s a little dry by today’s standards but it can’t be dryer than Middlemarch which has been called a kind of literary trek across the Sahara. One of my favorite writers John Irving is a huge admirer of Dickens which his books reflect and is why they’re so readable in comparison to other modern writers.⚛❤
I haven't tried Middlemarch, but Dickens's language makes his works anything but dry.
Yes dickens was very ggod novelist ...😊
We agree on that!
Can’t find part 2
I'm still working on it - it will be out soon.
I knew more about William Hogarth (1697-1764) who was involved in artwork of the “morally flawed individuals’ such as Tom Rakewell in A Rake's Progress. In the next century, Three Penny Opera was written and performed from Hogarth”s work. We did it in St. Thomas USVI in the now gone (a covid casualty) Pistarckle community theater. I played Jonathan Peachem, sort of a beggars’ union organizer. I had no knowledge of who Hogarth was and in this video I learned so much. Thanks. My oh my … Dickens married his daughter and they had ten children.
Glad you enjoyed it - I am working on a video on Hogarth's Rake's Progress.
28:49 … I woke up at night trying to figure out how Dickens could PICK UP and hold a lady so long “against her protestations.” Doing this for so long had to have some kind of touching to her chest. It would seem impossible not to. Dark thoughts, defined by strict moral values to him (and maybe the girl too) must have been part of his life. And I thought my crazy thoughts were a little off the wall. I had the advantage of a societal sexual revolution, Richard Nixon and Gloria Steinem. This man had Queen Mary and Christian Values. Talk about a formula for a moralistic train crash. Looking forward to your next work. I will be waiting, my Captain. ⚓️🏖️.
Steinem was paid by the state to be the face of so called women's liberation which was so that they could: "tax the other half of the population and get kids to school earlier, then we got 'em." Paraphrased via Aaro Russo quoting a Rockefeller who tried to befriend him.
There must have been some kind of chemistry between them - and physical contact!
Can you do Clement Clark Moore?
Thank you, I will see if I can squeeze him in before Christmas!
So Charles Dickens' grandmother had money but let her son go to prison for debt!
They were tough times!
If you are human, you have secrets that you keep over a lifetime.
Which is why I called it a man of secrets, rather than a man with secrets.
Hi sir govPlease put audio notes of Little Dorrit by Charles Dickinson
Hi - why would he be trying to hide anything? There are any number of famous authors, artists, leaders who destroy their personal writings and letters. That’s because it’s nobody’s business but theirs. People often write about things they later regret or just to get expunge bad thoughts or actions like we do with our therapists.
Looking forward to this video :) 📝
Hopefully your question will have been answered by the videos.
Read his book s, great writer. There’s an enforcement expression “ what the dickens?” Based on his name
I agree - read his books.
Dickens never mentioned the then very common experience of children being sexually abused. I do wonder if he himself was subject to it at work in the factory.
Reformers at the time made some reference to 'immoral practices' against children and women working in mines, factories and in other institutions like prisons and workhouses, but it was generally considered too distasteful and an intrinsic element of poverty.
In Dickens's writing it is thrroughly ignored. Fagin's street urchins in Oliver Twist were likely also rent boys as well as pickpockets, but only Nancy is indicated as experiencing it.
He does touch on the seduction of young Mary Brown in Dombey and Son and her then being abandoned and forced into prostitution, but Victorian society tended to blame the victims rather than the perpetrators.
@professorgraemeyorston yes, with prostitution considered a moral failing or mental weakness on behalf of the victim.
I suppose reformers hoped it would evaporate if poverty was dealt with. They weren't ready to see it in all walks of life. Even Freud dodged the issue of sexual abuse by attributing it to the victim, after a promising start at recognising it as widespread, didn't he?
Victorians were definitely not ready to face the issue.
I need moooreeee
I'm making them as fast as I can!
it appears to have been the fashion to destroy personal correspondence.
it probably still is if there have (i'll just call them) "goings-on" illustrated within.
i believe that Queen Victoria's youngest daughter, Princess Beatrice, was responsible for
(how shall i put it?) inflammatory editing of her mother's papers.
anyways.
i shall await part 2.
excelsior!
Now there's an idea!
Turning the page thats all. No hiding.
And keeping his affair with Nelly secret? Was that turning the page?
Pickwick
Picken
Dickens
Was Dickens the author of his own life?
It is often been put forth that David Copperfield was Dickens’ semi autobiographical work and that he reversed the initials. This is alleged and unproven but many claim the author is writing about himself, mystery.
A lot his life appears thinly disguised in his books.
@@patriciafeehan7732That was my first thought when rereading the book at university.
The volumes of the complete works of Charles Dickens have arriven, been smelled and await perusal, if and when the power should permanently go out. Oh yes, a proper hurricane lantern, spare wicks and some 6 gallons of kerosene are part and parcel of said volumes!
Sounds great.
Maybe he burned all his personal correspondence because it was nobody else's business but his.
He was within his rights to do it, but it doesn't why he did it.