‘He contains the whole of literature’: is Dickens better than Shakespeare?
After rereading the entire works of the great Victorian novelist during the pandemic, Peter Conrad became convinced – whisper it – that Dickens is an even greater writer than that other British literary giant, the Bard
Early in 2020, as society shut down, I retreated behind closed doors with Charles Dickens, who kept me company and cheered me up throughout the pandemic. Carried along by narratives that Dickens thought of as speedy locomotives and warmed by a combustible imagination that he compared to an industrial forge, I soon felt no need for tame timed circuits of the local park, and I even stopped fretting about the imminent end of the world. But although Dickens saved from me one disease, he infected me with another: escaping Covid-19, I contracted an incurable monomania instead.
Emerging after the last lockdown, I buttonholed any friend who would listen and began to claim that Dickens contained the whole of literature. His novels made everyone else’s seem puny. Larger even than the newly metropolitan London he described, their scale is planetary: looking down from on high in A Tale of Two Cities, he ponders “the feeble shining of this earth of ours” and marvels at the “greatnesses and littlenesses” crammed on to it. Those swarming creatures are not exclusively human. At a country estate in Bleak House, Dickens overhears “motions of fancy” in the barnyard, where stabled horses conspire to corrupt a pony, a dim-witted mastiff dozing in the sun is puzzled by the moving shadows, and a turkey frets about the coming of Christmas. Inanimate objects also qualify as characters, and Sketches by Boz floats a theory about the physiognomy of brass door-knockers, which mould themselves into portraits of the house-owners.
Continue reading...-
Moyes doing a better job than me - Amorim
David Moyes is doing "a better job than me" says Ruben Amorim, with Manchester United travelling to Goodison Park on Saturday below Everton in the Premier League table.BBC News - Feb. 21 -
Monday Leaderboard: Better to be lucky than good
Mexico Open thriller! Plus: Still no end to golf's civil war, and how long should a tap-in putt take?Yahoo Sports - 6d -
Buttler captaining better than I did at times - Root
Batter Joe Root backs "brilliant leader" Jos Buttler and says the England captain is making a better fist of the job than he did at times during his tenure as Test skipper.BBC News - 6d -
Why U.S. Women Skiers Are So Much Better Than the Men
“We need some strong super successful male athletes to pull up that next generation,” the chief of sport performance for the U.S. ski and snowboard team said.The New York Times - 18h -
Some Games Run Better On Older GPUs Than On Nvidia's New 50-Series Cards
Nvidia's new 50-series graphics cards just aren't as good at running certain older games as previous hardware generations were, some PC gamers have discovered. With its latest generation of GPUs, ...GameSpot - Feb. 21 -
Asus Announces Fragrance Mouse That Probably Smells Better Than Your Sweat-Soaked One
Asus has announced a new mouse, and while it looks like a casual device that'll appeal to any cottagecore enthusiast with its soft pastel colors, it does have a neat trick up its proverbial sleeve ...GameSpot - 6d -
What are Trump’s USPS plans? He says the Postal Service is a ‘tremendous loser’ that should ‘operate a lot better.’
President Donald Trump on Friday said his administration is working on an overhaul of the U.S. Postal Service and indicated that multiple options were under consideration.MarketWatch - Feb. 21 -
Argentina’s chainsaw reformer is more orthodox than he looks
The risk is that President Javier Milei declares victory in his economic programme too earlyFinancial Times - 4d -
Roll Over Shakespeare: ChatGPT Is Here
Theater productions Doomers and McNeal tackle AI’s impact on humanity and the creative process.Wired - Feb. 21
More from The Guardian
-
Europe live: month’s truce in Ukraine would show if Putin was acting in good faith, says French minister
Jean-Noël Barrot, France’s foreign minister, picks up earlier suggestion of truce saying it would show if Putin were willing to start negotiations in earnest. Keir Starmer says Europe ‘at ...The Guardian - 42m -
Middle East crisis live: Israel accused of using ‘food as weapon of war’ in aid blockade on Gaza
Egypt and Qatar condemn Israel’s decision to block goods and supplies from entering Gaza, saying it violates the ceasefire deal. Israeli police say they are looking for potential accomplices in ...The Guardian - 33m -
Anora dominates the Oscars as Mikey Madison named best actress and Adrien Brody wins for The Brutalist
Sean Baker’s film picks up five awards including best picture while Israel-Palestine documentary No Other Land also gets major win. How Anora swept the Oscars – and the complete list of ...The Guardian - 6h -
China likely to target US agriculture, state media reports, as Trump tariff deadline nears
Global Times signals Beijing’s likely countermeasure after US president threatened a further 10% duty to come into force on Tuesday. China is preparing countermeasures against fresh US import ...The Guardian - 3h -
Iran’s vice-president and most prominent reformist resigns
Mohammad Javad Zarif implies move was endorsed by supreme leader, as his exit sends stock market into a tailspin. Middle East crisis – live updates Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s most prominent ...The Guardian - 49m
More in World
-
Prada in talks to buy Versace in deal that could reach almost €1.5bn
New York-listed Capri could reportedly agree to sell the brand back into Italian ownership this month. Prada is in talks to buy the Versace fashion brand from the US investor Capri Holdings for a ...The Guardian - 33m -
Middle East crisis live: Israel accused of using ‘food as weapon of war’ in aid blockade on Gaza
Egypt and Qatar condemn Israel’s decision to block goods and supplies from entering Gaza, saying it violates the ceasefire deal. Israeli police say they are looking for potential accomplices in ...The Guardian - 33m -
Europe live: month’s truce in Ukraine would show if Putin was acting in good faith, says French minister
Jean-Noël Barrot, France’s foreign minister, picks up earlier suggestion of truce saying it would show if Putin were willing to start negotiations in earnest. Keir Starmer says Europe ‘at ...The Guardian - 42m -
Iran’s vice-president and most prominent reformist resigns
Mohammad Javad Zarif implies move was endorsed by supreme leader, as his exit sends stock market into a tailspin. Middle East crisis – live updates Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s most prominent ...The Guardian - 49m -
Mental health crisis ‘means youth is no longer one of happiest times of life’
UN-commissioned study in UK, US, Ireland, Australia, Canada and New Zealand finds satisfaction rises with age. For more than half a century, the midlife crisis has been a feature of western ...The Guardian - 53m