Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Dickens Birthday: Happy 200th, Charles Dickens!



Today is the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens, a lifelong supporter of fairy tales. So I wanted to devote a few entries to him today in celebration.

We already know somewhat that Dickens loved Little Red Riding Hood. He once wrote: "Little Red Riding Hood was my first love. I felt that if I could have married Little Red Riding Hood I should have known perfect bliss."


But fairy tales informed more of his work, not directly with fairy tale retellings like some of his contemporaries, but he alluded to them frequently and even defended them when he felt it was necessary as some of today's entries will show.

And ever since I read Great Expectations and David Copperfield as a high school freshman (the boys in my carpool thought I was reading about our modern day magician), I've had a keen appreciation of his work. But, as much as I do appreciate it, I hope to never have to read Hard Times again since I had it assigned more times than I can count in many classes over the course of my formal education.

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