It’s the book club Christmas meeting tomorrow and usually we meet in a book shop but because it’s so busy with Christmas we’re decamping to a nearby café. The book we’re discussing is David Copperfield by Dickens; I have read it before a coupe of times which is just as well as I confess I haven’t managed to finish it this time.
I think I read an abridged version when I was very young, and then saw a black and white BBC version in the sixties; it starred Christopher Guard as David when he was a boy, and Ian McKellen as adult David. Flora Robson played the part of Betsy Trotwood – and now rereading the book, it’s Dame Flora I see in my imagination. The part of slimy Uriah Heap was played by the magnificent Colin Jeavons. Although he was so repulsive in the part, his star quality shone through and I’ve always very much liked him as an actor. I am delighted to discover that Mr Jeavons is still with us at the grand age of eighty-nine. I don’t really remember either Christopher Guard or Ian McKellen in the TV series, but I do remember Barry Justice who was the ultimate attractive baddy, James Steerforth. Sadly he died very young, by his own hand shortly before his fortieth birthday in 1980.
There are some wonderful episodes in the book, so vivid and immediate, particularly the story of David as a child, and the dreadful adults who come into his life. However, on rereading the book now, I did feel as if I was wading though other episodes, and really felt as if some of the people were more caricatures than characters. Maybe I’m not such a good reader as I used to be! I’ve discovered it was his most wordy book, 357,489 of them! It is a myth apparently that Dickens was paid by the word, but at times it did seem that he was doing a little padding… I’m sure a Dickens expert would disagree.
In case you are interested in the number of words in all his novels:
1. David Copperfield: 357,489
2. Dombey and Son: 357,484
3. Bleak House: 355,936
4. Little Dorrit: 339,870
5. Martin Chuzzlewit: 338,077
6. Our Mutual Friend: 327,727
7. Nicholas Nickleby: 323,722
8. The Pickwick Papers: 302,190
9. Barnaby Rudge: 255,229
10. The Old Curiosity Shop: 218,538
11. Great Expectations: 186,339
12. Oliver Twist: 158,631
13. A Tale of Two Cities: 137,000
14. Hard Times: 104,821
I know I’ll enjoy exchanging views with my friends tomorrow, and will try not to feel to guilty that I haven’t completed it this time round!
My featured image is of Portsmouth, where Dickens was born.
Lois Elsden 