Books You May Not Like: The Pickwick Papers, by Charles Dickens

In the midst of The Election, in need of escape, I picked up the Pickwick Papers.

I have owned a copy of this venerable text for ten years, and have dipped my toe tentatively into the first few pages more than a few times.  But always I ended up putting it back, as it seemed there more important things to do, things of more value to read.

But at last in August of 2016, with The Election in full swing and fresh on the heels of Mermaids in Paradise by Kydia Millet, which while funny also has a distinct and very modern sort of "waiting for the end of the world" kind of vibe, I decided I needed to go into a world where there the stress of the modern day really isn't...well, it just wasn't.

So to the Pickwick Papers at last.  The premise, in a nut shell, is that the noble Pickwick, who seems to be a man of moderate wealth such that he really doesn't have to worry about money too much (though he does rather hate to part with a pound), has founded a club which encourages the exploration of one's own back yard.  So Pickwick, with his friends Winkle (the sportsman), Tupman (the romantic), and Snodgrass (the Poet), set off to explore the environs of southern England, eating and drinking copious amounts of alcohol and food along the way.

Hilarity ensues?

Yes, I'd say so, in the beginning of the book.  The ineptitude of these men in their opening adventures is a joyous sort of bumbling that only the English seem to be able to manage so well.  Tupman gets challeneged to a duel over mistaken identity, Winkle is horrible at all sports he applies his energies to, and Snodgross The Poet is always writing in a notebook but, oddly, none of his work seems to survive.  At all turns they are stymied by the conman Mr. Jingle, who seems a rather harmless villain in this day and age, a sort of Max Bialystock kind of guy who charms wealthy single women and then bolts town, creating scandal, which is settled for a fee (i.e. I will leave you guys alone if you give me Twenty Pounds).

Pickwick is joined by his faithful servant Sam, and Pickwick earns his undying loyalty, and there more adventures and some stories within a story and...

And then it all sort of falls apart for me.  The book coalesces around a loose plot and a few subplots, all of which involve marriage.  Pickwick is sued, unfairly, for falsely proposing marriage to his landlady (he did nothing of the sort) in bad faith, loses the case, and is sent to a debtors prison.  He manages to settle and then has to tie up the marriage of Winkle to a Arabella Allen, which is a fine match but has considerable resistance from numerous quarters that only Pickwick, with his noble bearing, can overcome.  Snodgrass and Tupman all but disappear for the final third of the book, we see them on the final pages where there is a nice sort of epilogue that traces the story of the various characters at least for the next few years.

I suppose one should forgive Dickens for any structural flaws.  It was written in pieces, in installments, and if some aspects of the book sort of die in place I suppose that is understandable.

But Dickens....Dickens is just very difficult for me to read, a torrent or words.  You would think Dickens would be right up my ally, being British and from the 19th century, a country and period of time I am fascinated with....but to read Dickens is to wade through a torrent of words that often don't signify.

So this book was very, very easy to put down.  I started in August, finished in November, but in between I read a number of books that I felt were more interesting.  I am happy that I had the perseverance to finish, but I am also glad to put it back on the shelf, likely to go to Goodwill, where perhaps it will enlighten a more joyous and patient soul.