Charles Dickens

May 13, 2002
Two men who towered over the 19th century are the subjects of new Penguin Lives biographies coming in May. Novelist Jane Smiley's Charles Dickens aims to give a new perspective on the Victorian author, who, she says, was perhaps "the first true celebrity in the modern sense." Instead of giving a chronological account of his life, Smiley (The Age of Grief) presents the man as his contemporaries would have known him, addressing more intimate issues, like his painful childhood, only as they come up in his novels, and showing how he crafted his public persona as carefully as he did his literary creations. Smiley offers her own readings of many of his works. 5-city author tour.

May 1, 2002
Smiley, whose novels include the Pulitzer Prize-winning A Thousand Acres, presents her new book as an attempt to see Dickens as his contemporaries would have, through his literary works. She does not completely limit herself to the works, also alluding to materials published from biographies. This entertaining and well-written volume follows his publications from 1833 to 1870 and provides a fair and balanced depiction of Dickens as the first modern celebrity. As a novelist, Smiley brings an interesting perspective to her analysis of how Dickens would have used his novel writing to explore his own personal issues. The result is not a biography or a work of literary criticism but rather a general reading of his novels and the events of his life. Recommended for general public and academic collections. Paolina Taglienti, Long Island Univ. Lib., Brooklyn, NY

Copyright 2002 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2002
Smiley, author of the novel " A Thousand Acres" (1991), compares Dickens to Shakespeare in her preface, noting they share in common "general fame, worldwide literary status, and essential Englishness." Her intelligent biography examines Dickens' life through his work, starting not with his birth but rather the beginnings of his literary career. After writing short essays for a monthly magazine, Dickens began the serialization of his first novel, " The Pickwick Papers." Dickens quickly became both a best-selling novelist and a famous man, who had to contend with both the envy of other authors and, much later on, the very public dissolution of his marriage. Dickens' enormous reserves of energy drove him to juggle writing, giving readings (that eventually turned into performances of scenes from his novels), and being a husband and a father to a rapidly growing family. Those seeking a straightforward biography of Dickens will have to look elsewhere, but Smiley's superb and thoughtful analysis should appeal to anyone familiar with the great author's work.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)