Here's Richness II - The Descriptive Genius of Charles Dickens

This book of compilations is the companion to my previous volume Here's Richness - The Funny Side of Charles Dickens. Not that I have deliberately avoided humour; that would be near to impossible, since Dickens possesses a rare ability to bring a certain lightness into even the darkest part of a story without lessening his impact, indeed making the impact even greater. I have concentrated this time on his great descriptive powers, his deft painting of vivid and perceptive word-pictures. Dickens' unique gifts as an observer were with him from boyhood, living with his loving family in Chatham. His family circle and early environment influenced his writing for the rest of his life. With next to no education it is truly remarkable that only his innate literary genius enabled him to create an unrivalled gallery of wonderfully rich characters and evocative pictures. No other British novelist, in my opinion, combines so successfully the power to move the emotions through great descriptive writing, and the wit to create so lively a tapestry of wonderfully funny characters and their idiosyncratic dialogue. When the Dickens family moved to London, when Charles was ten years old, he was thrown into a new kaleidoscope maelstrom, exhilarating and daunting. It was the beginning of a life long love affair with the great city of London. Reflecting the remarkable breadth of his vision, I have included some examples from Dickens' very earliest writings in Sketches by Boz, to illustrate the keen social awareness of a young man of twenty-one, and to compare his attitudes then with his writings later in life. They serve to underline the range of his genius. Laurie Johnson June 2011