Another satisfying biography of Dickens. Smiley spends quite a bit of time on the writings, and it is good to get a novelist's viewpoint on the novels. She adds some balance to Tomalin's coverage of the final years.

A wonderfully different sort of biography, as the author gave detailed information about many of Dickens books, along with information about his life. Reading it makes me want to experience more Dickens!!

This seemed to be more about the parallel between Dickens' life and the lifes of his characters. Interesting insights into Dickens evolving views towards women. Critical looks at his novels and his writing. Not for someone who is looking for a straight biography.

Charles Dickens - Jane Smiley

This is good, not a life biography, it's more about Dickens as author, a biography of his writing and his life as it relates. That's much to my interest, as i expect it might be to many others.

She is comprehensive amd goes chronologically although she will pull comparisons back and forth as separate books relate. Smiley has both a contemporary and in period understanding of his books and life which i found of great value; and all in 209 pages.

I put a break-down of the books covered:

Chapter 1
---------
Sketches by Boz
The Pickwick Papers
Oliver Twist
Nicholas Nickleby

Chapter 2
---------
The Old Curiosity Shop
Barnaby Rudge
American Notes
Martin Chuzzlewit
A Christmas Carol

Chapter 3
---------
The Chimes
A Cricket on the Hearth
Dombey and Son
The Haunted Man
David Copperfield

Chapter 4
---------
Bleak House
Hard Times
Little Dorrit

Chapter 5
---------

Tale of Two Cities

Chapter 6
---------
Great Expectations
Our Mutual Friend
The Mystery of Edwin Drood

I hesitate to review a biography since traditionally it is only those who are well-informed about the subject’s life who are asked to write reviews, and for obvious reasons. There are limits to how far the less-informed amateur reviewer can comment on the veracity of a work that is a product of careful research, and a danger in setting my own knowledge and opinions against those of a person who is more knowledgeable than me.

However, I am not writing a paid review, and every reader is entitled to share their own perceptions about a book that they read. I don’t have to study Victorian social history to have an opinion about the novels of Dickens, and I don’t have to study Dickens to have an opinion about a biography on the subject.

This particular biography by Jane Smiley is a short one and not intended to be a comprehensive account of his life. Whilst Smiley has spent some time studying the subject, her book is often more a series of impressions, one author commenting on another.

This approach has its advantages in allowing for a more meditative approach to the subject, less hindered by the accretion of biographical fact. The downside is that the lack of specific details may make it harder for the reader to carry much away from the book.

Smiley does spend quite a bit of time discussing Dickens’ attitude towards women, as exemplified by his behaviour towards his wife and his lover (if indeed she was a lover), Ellan Ternan. Rather refreshingly, Smiley does not seem interested in muck-raking or moral censure. She expresses her opinions in a non-defensive manner.

This is not to say that she lauds Dickens or presents a picture that does the author credit. Dickens emerges as a man with little understanding for women, and a rigid attitude that expressed itself in a rigid and unforgiving manner. The domestic Dickens is not likely to win our admiration, but he is at least presented as human, rather than a tyrant and a philanderer.

Another strength of the biography is that Smiley does not seem to be trying to catch her subject out. She does not describe Dickens’ life with the purpose of undermining him, and she does not analyse his novels for the purpose of subverting their message to tell us what the book really says, at least not intentionally.

While Smiley does focus on the meaning of the novels, she is (as a biographer) necessarily interested in what they say about Dickens himself, especially. This does lead to a lot of speculation about Dickens’ philosophy of the novel and indeed a number of generalisations about what authors intend when they write. I cannot help suspecting that this analysis tells us more about Smiley than it does about Dickens.

The sections reviewing the novels are always interesting in their unusual meditative analysis, though this does lead to some quirkiness. Classic novels are sometimes described critically, and with a dismissive reference to the fact that these are the most renowned Dickens novels, e.g. she speaks about Great Expectations in a lukewarm manner. By contrast, minor novels are elevated to a much higher status, notably the rather weak Our Mutual Friend.

Of course, every biographer and reviewer is entitled to state their own personal opinions and tastes, and these do not have to agree with majority opinion. This does sometimes sit uncomfortably with the supposed objectivity of the biographer, however.

This objectivity is in reality an illusion, and the biographer is often one of the least trustworthy of non-fiction writers. We are receiving an interpretation of events, sometimes in reaction to previous biographers’ interpretations, and the average biographer is either too much in love with their subject or too keen to speak slightingly of them to provide any real independent view.

On this level, Smiley is better than many. She quotes the views of others about aspects of Dickens’ life, but neither confirms nor opposes these views. She speculates about Dickens’ relationship with Ellan Ternan, but offers no final opinion about what that relationship was, wisely pointing to Dickens’ private nature and the limited clues available in the sources.

Overall, if you want a detailed account of Dickens’ life, this is not for you. However, if you are happier with a shorter version that seeks to play fair with the author, and is written by someone who admires him without deifying him, then this is a good read for you.

Not a bad overview of Dickens' life & works. Best parts are re the books rather than that of Dickens' life--which, to me, focused too much on his private relationships via a kind of Freudian psychoanalysis that is pretty ho hum.

Recommend if you are curious about how Dickens' works evolved overtime & how he matured as an artist. Although I would probably first recommend Charles Dickens by G.K Chesterton.

Read as a companion piece when I was tackling Little Dorrit for my Brit. Lit class. Very interesting book and not boring at all.

read harder challenge 2022: read a biography of an author you admire
popsugar challenge 2022: read a book set in Victorian times
fifty two book club 2022: read a book that addresses a specific topic

I would have liked this even more if I had read more of his works. just watched the Mystery of Edwin Drood and Great Expectations on Masterpiece(w/ Gillian Anderson)and can connect with the biography a little better.

Engrossing bio of Dickens. Small book-easy read.

I have mixed feelings about these "famous author on famous author" mini-biographies. On the one hand, it would be a privilege to spend an evening hearing Jane Smiley talk about Charles Dickens (or any number of subjects), so this is a fun substitute for that experience. On the other hand, my favorite biographies tend to be meatier and more obsessive ("Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay" or "Virginia Woolf" by Hermione Lee), and I can't help wishing sometimes that these mini-bios were something that they were never intended to be.

A beautifully and obviously lovingly written overview of Charles Dickens- his life and literary career. Concise and insightful. I read it in one sitting on a long plane ride.