Arts: Literary Review

Sketches by Boz by Charles Dickens

LIAM ELVISH | LITERARY REVIEW EDITOR

The compilation of Charles Dickens’s early writings, first published in 1836 by Chapman and Hall, has often been overlooked by casual observers of the author’s oeuvre, perhaps more familiar with the escapades of Ebenezer Scrooge, the Artful Dodger, Mr. Micawber, et al. Yet no serious reader engaged with nineteenth century literature could possibly dispute the essentiality of Sketches by Boz.

The book charmingly encapsulates all that we admire about England’s most famous novelist, whilst displaying much of the freshness and youthful precocity he possessed prior to his elevation to the heights of literary prominence. There are four separate sections – ‘Seven Sketches from Our Parish’, ‘Scenes’, ‘Characters’, and ‘Tales’- containing an array of fragmentary stories, previously printed in various periodicals such as the Monthly Magazine, and each exemplary of Dickens’s colourfully descriptive prose. The reader is blessed with a multitude of entertaining episodes, many based on reminiscences of past incidents, and, despite its form as fiction, Sketches is nonetheless a valuable historical document of social commentary, detailing many of the figures and events which Dickens himself witnessed in and around the London of the late Georgian and early Victorian periods. Dickens is both recorder and participant of what is, according to the scholar Denis Walder, a metropolis in which ‘everyone is watching everyone else’. At the very heart of the text is the author’s acute, almost obsessive, observation of everyday life, highlighting the highs and lows of human behaviour and those moments of being with which we can all relate. Who could possibly disagree, for example, with the writer’s masterly assertion that ‘if there be one thing in existence more miserable than another, it most unquestionably is the being compelled to rise by candle-light’? Alongside the irreverent, there come moments of great poignancy too – ‘A Visit to Newgate’, for example, depicts the brutal realities of the English penal system and all its horrifying consequences, exemplifying Dickens’s capacity for exhibiting both light and dark with equal punch. The wonderful illustrations by George Cruickshank, who would later provide the artwork for Oliver Twist, complement the text beautifully, bringing to life the extraordinary array of eccentrics and grotesques prevalent in many of the stories. Dickens would go on to publish his first ‘novel’, The Pickwick Papers, in 1837 (really a collection of serialised picaresque adventures) prior to his soaring fame in the 1840’s, yet it is Sketches which should be rightfully regarded as his foremost masterpiece. The collection incidentally includes Dickens’s first ever fictional work, ‘Mr Minns and His Cousin’/ ‘A Dinner at Poplar Walk’ (initially published in 1833 when Dickens was only 21), acting as an excellent example of his early talent as a writer and wit.

What Are We Fighting For?: New Poems About War by Brian Moses and Roger Steven

MILLIE GARRAWAY | CONTENT WRITER

11am, on the 11th day, of the 11th month.

Source: Dickens Fellowship

Remembrance Day, Remembrance Sunday, Armistice Day. All different names, yet with the same weighted meaning. The day we remember the lost soldiers of the First World War, and all conflicts that have followed. November is the month that we spend remembering and thanking those who served and lost their lives. It is shocking that many Britons are not aware of the weighted history surrounding the day that marks the day this war ended in 1918. Brian Moses and Roger Stevens, through their poetry collection published one hundred years after the outbreak of war, have honoured Remembrance Day graciously while simultaneously providing an anthology which teaches those who read it of the importance of the 11th of November. The poems are dedicated to soldiers and animals alike, who fought bravely in 1914 - 1918 to protect and serve Britain. Individual and universal experiences are voiced in a delicate array of poetry which beautifully envelopes the meaning of remembrance. Famous figureheads and the unusual discourse within the war are explored to encourage understanding and compassion for those no longer with us on Remembrance Day. These poems are delicate in their discussion of such a harrowing time, helping those who read them to understand the importance of never letting the fighters’ spirits die.

Winston Churchill, The Angel of Mons, the Christmas Truce of World War 1 (when soldiers from both sides played an uplifting game of football in a time of terror), and war time propaganda are all beautifully honoured through humour and humility in What Are We Fighting For?. The amalgamation of poems allows for readers to understand why remembering during this month is so crucial to our way of life and country. Mingled throughout the historical truths is an undertone of light-heartedness which has allowed Stevens and Moses’ collection to be a less daunting read and more of an encouraging learning platform.

They have created a love for war poetry and history combined. With praise from The Guardian, why wouldn’t you pick up this accessible contemporary anthology full of love, learning, and recollection? Stevens and Moses have managed to create an undeniably honorific anthology that is both emotional and informative. Each poem holds its own unique emotion which is widely accessible to younger readers as well as those looking to understand a little more of this memorial month. Keeping the memory of the fallen soldiers both man and animal is vital as we express our gratitude for their protection of our way of life. Their bravery is unmatchable, so we must honour their sacrifice through respecting Remembrance Day and understanding our responsibility to do and be better. Remember those who fell, remember those who lost their today so we could have a tomorrow - remember your poppy.

‘Lest We Forget’.

Source: Source: ‘100 Years After World War One, Where We Stand!’ – Youngisthan.in

The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer

LIAM ELVISH | LITERARY REVIEW EDITOR

If there is such a thing as reading for pleasure, then there is also such a thing as reading for displeasure. An author who evidently had little predilection for the art of editing, Norman Mailer’s first novel is a weighty volume, in more ways than one, many of its passages circumstantially lending themselves to skim-reading.

The Naked and the Dead was a commercial success upon its publication in 1948; over 200,000 copies were sold, and it remained on the New York Times best sellers list for a year. One wonders whether it was merely the abundance of profanities that provoked such hype; Mailer’s infamously liberal use of the ‘f’ word (spelt ‘fug’ for those of a sensitive disposition) is probably the only liberal thing about the novel. For, not only is it a depiction, but a celebration of American hostility and its tendency for machismo conformity. The novel explores the trials and sacrifices of a US army platoon fighting the Japanese on an island in the Pacific. Mailer captures the intense suffocation of the submarine and army camp environments, along with an exhibited masculine behaviour within the platoon; the misogynist, racialist, and homophobic language amongst the officers presents us with an ingrained prejudice in which Mailer himself was well-versed, having served in the Philippines as a cook during the Second World War. From the young soldier Hennesy defecating himself prior to his imminent death from a grenade shell to Minetta’s experience on a field mental ward, we are given portraits of the fragility of the young male in combat, always alert to the mercy of doom. Through the imposing figure of General Cummings, along with a line-up of officers prone to favouritism and sycophancy, Mailer effectively conveys aspects of a warped paternalism in military hierarchy containing underlying homo-erotic tendencies.

The novel is overly lengthy, often convoluted, and persistently dreary; indeed, Mailer has a knack for tedium in its most immense form. The putrid filth of the conditions in the jungle, with any number of sights and smells described, is strongly conveyed, yet the author places no limitations on himself. Mailer adopts a superfluidity of adjectives for every scene, character and emotion, and it seems as though it had become necessary to the author as a mechanism to produce intentional discomfort, but only contributes to new levels of frustration and impatience for the reader. Mailer’s perpetual use of animalistic similes also vary from the moderately impressive -‘He felt like an insect crawling through the entrails of a horse’ – to the nauseously elementary – ‘like a dog with a bone’. Gore Vidal’s verbal and written skirmishes with Mailer have attained legendary status and the former famously rebuked the latter for ‘leaving nothing out’ of this initial work. It can be said that its strengths as a ‘war novel’ also provide the basis for its weaknesses; for Mailer will embroider his material to considerable excess. The Naked and the Dead is a depressing, unpleasant read, but a crucial one, nonetheless, for the assessor of human contradictions, one which may possibly instil a future avoidance of ‘epic’ novels and a great appreciation for brevity in any form.

Source: Unsplash.com

Remembrance, Friendship and Self Discovery in The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa

REBECCA WEIGLER | CONTENT WRITER

Adelightfully wholesome novel, translated from the original Japanese into English, The Cat Who Saved Books offers an exuberant dive into the world of books and the opportunities that can be unlocked from recognising the power they withhold. Written with engaging dialogue and a pure admiration for the world of literature, Natsukawa crafts a magical world where characters fully experience the power of the written world and continuously recall the memory of loved ones to guide them through unforeseen circumstances and thrilling encounters.

Despite being a comparatively short novel, it is bursting with a myriad of life lessons for both the characters and the reader to take away. Set during the lead up to Christmas Day, in a cosy street in downtown Tokyo, The Cat Who Saved Books is first and foremost a novel about remembrance and friendship. Rintaro Natsuki, the witty and intelligent protagonist, is learning to cope with the passing of his grandfather, and as a result, detaching himself from his community and friends. Often alone, save for the thousands of books he cherishes, Rintaro finds comfort in his grandfather’s signature mantra that ‘books have tremendous power’; a mantra which certainly echoes for the reader as well as Rintaro. Rintaro is classified as a ‘hikikomori’, a Japanese term given to those who hide and shy away from the outside world. While residing in his grandfather’s antique bookshop, ‘Natsuki Books’, Rintaro begins to uncover a distant realm, saturated with the very same belief that permeates his everyday life - ‘books have tremendous power’. Encountering labyrinths of leather-bound volumes, cold-hearted professors and cynical publishing houses, Rintaro steps forth into the world of literature and sees for himself the very ‘power’, and of course danger of this ‘power’, that books can possess. None of such adventures happen alone, however, as Rintaro soon finds himself in the company of an enchanting talking tabby cat, Tiger. The cat installs hope and courage in Rintaro, pleading for his help to save the books from the hands of those too ignorant to recognise their true purpose, and as the novel progresses, the cat succeeds in not just opening the minds of the antagonists, but also opening the metaphorical book of Rintaro’s life, one which has hitherto been closed to everyone but himself. Filled with the grief of a lost loved one, and eventually emerging with acceptance and realisation, The Cat Who Saved Books is just as charming as the debonair tabby cat itself and is a linguistic expression of the spirit of remembrance. It reminds the reader that the voice of a lost loved one is always still present and has the power to shine a light on any darkness. Rintaro is a loveable and relatable protagonist, and we experience every step of his journey towards finding himself amidst a life of loss. The Cat Who Saved Books is, without a doubt, one of the most endearing novels of the year.

Source: PNGitem