Dickens-to-Go: Episodes 1-10
In this video series, members of the Dickens Universe community share a favorite passage from Dickens and say a few words about why they selected it. We hope this video series can remind us of what we have in common, and what we can look forward to when our annual conferences resume.
Our Mutual Friend and the Making of the Modern Narrative
Murray Baumgarten, Founding Director of the Dickens Project, describes how Charles Dickens's innovative use of dynamic visuals changed the narrative form and served as a precursor to early films.
When Words Fail: Shakespeare, Dickens, and Lacan
Wayne Batten, Friends of the Dickens Project Board Member, points us to a passage from David Copperfield to demonstrate how the Inimitable conveys the inexpressible.
Editorial Metaphysics
Priti Joshi, Professor of English at the University of Puget Sound, directs viewers to an exchange with a minor character in The Pickwick Papers to illustrate the early "Dickensian brilliance in capturing hot air, the sheer absurdity and hollow profundity."
Race, Power, and Performance in The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Sharon Aronofsky Weltman, the William E. "Bud" Davis Alumni Professor of English at Louisiana State University, uses the occasion of a performance to describe the complex power dynamics where "hierarchies of race, gender, pedagogy, performance, and sexual attraction" are at play in The Mystery of Edwin Drood.
We must marry 'em
Sophia Jochem, a Ph.D. candidate at Freie Universität Berlin, points us to an interaction between the beadle and the pew-opener in Dombey and Son, to explore issues of money, status, gender, and marriage in Victorian England.
Choose Your Own Adventure with Dombey and Son
Long-time Dickens Universe attendee, Christian Lehmann, hosts a Choose Your Own Adventure approach to Dombey and Son, diving into the mechanics of how to read the novel like a Victorian.
The Dickensian Reader as Detective
Friends of the Dickens Project Board Member and filmmaker, Michael Stern, discusses how the uncovering of connections between seemingly unconnected places and people in Bleak House can help us to understand societal epidemics.
The Best of Times, the Worst of Times
Friends of the Dickens Project President and former Dickens Project Assistant Director, JoAnna Rottke, discusses how the opening paragraph in the first novel she read after joining the Dickens Project is still applicable today.
Even Supposing
Renée Fox, the Dickens Project's Co-Director at UC Santa Cruz, reflects on what Esther Summerson's experience during the smallpox epidemic in Bleak House might teach us about social distancing and intimacy in the era of COVID-19.
Partings Welded Together
Dickens Project Director, John O. Jordan, reflects on partings welded together in the first installment of Dickens-to-Go.
See Also
