The Pickwick Papers

G. K. Chesterton points out that The Pickwick Papers is Dickens’s one hack book, because it was actually written to order, on the suggestion of his publisher. It takes about ten chapters for the novel to break out of the constraints of the original brief, during which process you can actually see Dickens learning to be Dickens; you start off in an unfamiliar little place populated by flat characters engaged in somewhat dull interactions, but after while he finds his voice and you’re pulled into the Pickwickian universe.

The character who does most of this pulling is Sam Weller. His introduction into the story is credited with increasing the sales of the novel (published in parts, a bit like modern comics, I suppose) from a few hundred a month to several tens of thousands. His arrival is not the only improvement to take place at this point, coinciding as it does with a change in Mr Pickwick, from a bumbling fool to a sympathetic and wise old gent, and with a change in the general tone of the writing, from blandly humorous to something more complex, so the rising popularity of the serial was probably not down to Sam’s character alone. He is, in combination with his master, absolutely central, and all the events of the tale after his arrival hinge on the actions and decisions of this pair. Millions of words have undoubtedly been expended on analysing their double act; they are an undergraduate goldmine, and you can cut them in many directions to prove the usual array of contradictory arguments. Such a dissection would kill them for me, so I’ll just leave them on the page.

Conspicuously absent is the maudlin sentimentality present in most of Dickens’s other works, making it a good choice for modern readers who find that sort of thing irritating. As Chesterton rightly points out, the one really sad scene is made all the more moving by not being overdone in the usual Dickensian style.

There is so much that is good in this book that it’s hard to pick out highlights. Most readers will find the first few chapters heavy going, but that’s hardly surprising given that Dickens himself clearly had the same problem; persevere until the tale picks itself up, and after that it’s all good. The Pickwick Papers is a bit of a mess in places, idiosyncratic and sprawling, but its many virtues more than compensate for its few faults.

(Incidentally, I am intrigued by one of Sam Weller’s linguistic tics: he interchanges his “v” and “w” sounds - apparently this is an authentic artifact of early 19th century working class London speech. I’m interested in finding out where the cockney v/w transposition comes from, and when and how it died out, but I haven’t yet found any real information about this on the web.)

3 comments 2006-12-08 14:22 Categories: Books, Reviews, Words