It's come around again. Christchurch meadow and Christchurch college in the beautiful Oxford spring sunshine, celebrating all kinds of literature currently available; detective mysteries, classic authors, biographies, cookery books, childrens illustrations, political diaries and journals and some good old fashioned novels too. I've been for the last two years and loved it both times. The atmosphere is overflowing with literary enthusiasm, which is so vital to sustain an exciting climate for new books to flourish, and to top it all off some of the most influential and interesting figures from the book world are there to speak and sign your copy, that you can purchase from the huge Blackwells marquee, a portable version of the Broad Street shop itself. This year, another highlight was the Jamie Oliver cafe, which sold some delicious food created by the man who is in my opinion the culinary genius of the 21st century. But, I shall save my musings on the Essex lad for another day. Right now, it is all about the books.
This year, I could have gone to everything. Although that is true every year. You don't have to have liked, read or even heard of the speakers to enjoy their perspective on their subject, or the book world at the moment. I began my festival experience with a talk by John Crace and John Sutherland, purely because like myself they are currently engaging in what can only be described as a love affair with Charles Dickens. The bicentennial can only have been a good thing to revitalise interest in such a figure, boosting sales of Dickens novels and enlightening a new generation to the wit and social conscience of the Victorian writer. Despite not having read, or being particularly keen to read an explanatory 'dictionary' of Dickens, books that need no more expansion than purely the craft of the words that compile them, it was interesting to hear particularly John Crace's opinions on Dickens. They originated from his GCSE years where he described his encounter with Hard Times as the literary equivalent of 'drawing blood from a stone' and seem to have now developed into pure admiration for Dickens' talent, whether it be the innuendos apparent in the evocative names; M'Choakumchild, Uriah Heap or Rosa Bud being particularly highlighted by Crace, or his attempt at social reform through characters, which are 'locked within themselves' and epitomise the public or private struggle of all parts of society during his era. Dickens seems to be able to be so far reaching in his appeal. His ability to relate to the majority of society, whether that be through the semi-autobiographical David Copperfield or the infamous descriptions of any member of the legal profession in most notably, Bleak House, or bring his own experiences into his writing, giving them a life of their own, exerts an influence that very few authors have been able to achieve. It is the subtlety of Dickens that is so effective and it is subtlety that makes a great polemic. The hilarity of The Pickwick Papers, such hilarity that almost 200 years after its publication still made me laugh out lot is something that could only have been achieved by one as observant and articulate as Charles Dickens.
John Crace said that the question on his mind when he writes his Digest is 'how can we make Dickens our contemporary?' Dickens does this perfectly by himself. Hard Times, like any novel that requires reflection, demands concentration, and Crace's analogy to drawing blood from a stone, while at first glance a criticism, merely highlights the necessity for reading between the lines. To see the utilitarian ideology shine through the actions of Mr Gradgrind without Dickens having to spell it out is the brilliance of it. What better polemic technique than relating it to the plights of a common family? The same can be seen in A Christmas Carol, through the emotive description of the life of Tiny Tim. Dickens is our contemporary merely by recognising that the problems he highlights are relevant today. A corrupt political system? Inequality? Welfare? Education? If Dickens were around today it seems that he would find a mountain of material for his next novel. While it was therefore good to hear the opinions of a 'lay-reader' as John Crace coined himself, I recommend that anyone with an interest in Dickens simply read the books. They do the talking all by themselves.
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