Unseen Charles Dickens letters show author's awareness of fame

From - BBC News

Edited by - Vinuri Randhula Silva

A letter written by Charles Dickens to I. H. Newman from Gad’s Hill Place on February 10 1866, in which Dickens rails with passion against a proposed change to the Sunday postal service — Image caption,
In one letter, Charles Dickens complains about proposed changes to the postal service

A batch of unseen and unpublished letters from Charles Dickens, some showing his awareness of his own fame, is being displayed for the first time.

The 11 letters reveal the author's reading habits, writing projects and his frustration at the loss of a Sunday postal service.

In one he writes he would be "so hampered" he threatens moving away.

The letters, among a collection worth £1.8m, have been acquired by the Charles Dickens Museum.

In one, dated 10 February 1866, discussing the removal of a Sunday postal service, Dickens says: "I beg to say that I most decidedly and strongly object to the infliction of any such inconvenience upon myself."

He refers to the number of letters he receives and sends, saying he would be "so hampered by the proposed restriction that I think it would force me to sell my property here" and leave the Kent village of Higham.

"I am on the best terms with my neighbours, poor and rich, and I believe they would be sorry to lose me", writes the author of classics including Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol.

A letter written by Charles Dickens from Lausanne on August 5 1846, to his friend and solicitor Thomas Mitton in which Dickens describes in detail his stay in Switzerland — Image caption,
One of the letters also reveals details about a trip to Switzerland

More than 300 items, including personal objects, portraits, sketches, playbills and books, were acquired from a US collector in 2020.

Emily Dunbar, curator at the Charles Dickens Museum, says the letter complaining about the postal service is a "great example of Dickens showing self-importance, his awareness of his great fame and position in society coming to the fore".

She said "one of the best things" about the letters is that it shows the author writing in his 30s, 40s and 50s and "the variety of topics that were occupying his mind".

The exhibit will go on display at the London museum and online from Wednesday.

Dickens is one of the most important writers of the 19th Century, known for classics including Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol. His influence goes far beyond just literature and many of his phrases, characters and ideas have ingrained themselves in modern culture.

Image caption,
The batch of unseen letters has been acquired by the Charles Dickens Museum

Comments

Why did Homo sapiens outlast all other human species?

From - Live Science By Mindy Weisberger Edited by - Amal Udawatta Reproductions of skulls from a Neanderthal (left), Homo sapiens (middle) and Australopithecus afarensis (right) (Image credit: WHPics, Paul Campbell, and Attie Gerber via Getty Images; collage by Marilyn Perkins) Modern humans ( Homo sapiens ) are the sole surviving representatives of the human family tree , but we're the last sentence in an evolutionary story that began approximately 6 million years ago and spawned at least 18 species known collectively as hominins. There were at least nine Homo species — including H. sapiens — distributed around Africa, Europe and Asia by about 300,000 years ago, according to the Smithsonian's National Museum of Nat ural History in Washington, D.C. One by one, all except H. sapiens disappeared. Neanderthals and a Homo group known as the Denisovans lived alongside H. sapiens for thousands of years, and they even interbred, as evidenced by bits of their DN

Jared Leto climbs Empire State Building

By Steven McIntosh Entertainment reporter, Edited by Amal Udawatta IMAGE SOURCE, GETTY IMAGES Image caption, Leto said it was a "nice surprise" to see his mother through the window when he reached the 80th floor He's known for going to great lengths to win an Oscar - and now Jared Leto is going to great heights to promote his band's next tour. The actor and musician has become the first person to legally scale the 102-story Empire State Building. Leto, 51, climbed the outside of the New York landmark in a bright orange jumpsuit and using a rope and harness. He took on the challenge to promote the forthcoming world tour for his band Thirty Seconds To Mars. Leto told NBC's Today show: "I was more excited than nervous to tell you the truth. But I have to be honest, it was very, very hard. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. "Just the endurance that it took, the stamina that it took, and it was very sharp." The actor won an Oscar for his

Humans have been speaking for a lot longer than we originally thought

From - Independent Magazine By - David Keys Edited by - Amal Udawatta New research has pinpointed the likely time in prehistory when humans first began to speak. Analysis by British archaeologist Steven Mithen suggests that early humans first developed rudimentary language around 1.6 million years ago – somewhere in eastern or southern Africa. “Humanity’s development of the ability to speak was without doubt the key which made much of subsequent human physical and cultural evolution possible. That’s why dating the emergence of the earliest forms of language is so important,” said Dr Mithen, professor of early prehistory at the University of Reading. Until recently, most human evolution experts thought that humans only started speaking around 200,000 years ago. Professor Mithen’s new research, published this month, suggests that rudimentary human language is at least eight times older. His analysis is based on a detailed study of all the available archaeological

Nature Hub

Search This Blog