The kid meets some good chaps there, but it all-around sucks, and even his exodus is a bit of a bummer as it comes on account of his mother’s untimely stress-related death. His mother remarries early on, but his New Daddy is an abusive son of a bitch and Dave is promptly sent off to a prison disguised as a boarding school. The story of David Copperfield begins with his birth to a rather mopey young widow, and his early years being raised by her and her housekeeper. Priestly didn’t like that, but I thought it’s precisely this “chuck-in-a-bit-of-everything” style that makes David Copperfield such an incredible book. Priestly hung a lot of shit on Dickens for what he called “supermarket” writing: novels were the primary source of family entertainment at the time (the Netflix of Victorian England, really), so Dickens had to write about politics for the fathers and adventures for the sons and romance for the mothers and daughters. Every word is purposeful, every element of the story is consistent and compelling, and every emotion beautifully captured and rendered. David Copperfield is a long book, don’t get me wrong, but I fucking devoured the thing like a drunk woman eating a kebab. And he kindly pointed out that Dickens employed severe Victorian censorship on all sexual matters (booo!). Priestly who didn’t seem to be all that big a fan, to be honest. The Introduction didn’t inspire much optimism: it was written by J.B. I’m sure Granddad would have been damn happy that I finally got around to reading it, and eager to discuss it with me.ĭavid Copperfield appeared first in a twenty-month serial from 1849 to 1850, before being published as a novel.
My gorgeous two-volume set was plucked from my grandparents’ collection. Clearly, I was genetically predisposed to enjoy his work. Granddad idolised Dickens and practically memorised every word he wrote. Honestly, though, it was kind of a stacked deck: not just because Dickens is the Grand Poobah of English literature, but also because – for me – he’s inextricably linked to the memory of my late grandfather. (And if you do, as it’s an affiliate link, I’ll earn a small commission)
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