Dickens Fandom

An 8/29/11 New Yorker article, “Dickens in Eden,” reminds us that although Dickens wrote with great scorn about America after his visit here almost 170 years ago, at least some Americans nowadays adore his work, and feel they can learn everything about human nature from his novels. Illustrating this passionate love for Dickens, the article’s author, Jill Lepore, describes her visit to the annual Dickens camp (officially called Dickens Universe) at the beautiful University of California, Santa Cruz campus. This camp provides a week full of lectures, reading seminars, films, rehearsals for and the performance of an original farce, workshops, a Victorian tea, and a Victorian dance. The lecturers are professors from many universities who contribute their lectures unpaid, out of love for the topic and the camp. One of the great things about this camp is that attendance is not just for Dickens scholars and professors, but for anyone who is interested; Lepore met Dickens fans who came to the camp from far and wide. One regular attendee is the English actress Miriam Margolyes, who has acted in Dickens film adaptations, and who states that she first read “Oliver Twist” when she was eleven, and “Since then, there hasn’t been a day in my life when I haven’t read Dickens.” What a testimonial! Lepore’s article discusses Dickens' life, his family, his quirks, the history of his work, the value of his novels, and more; it is long, detailed, informative, and fascinating. I highly recommend it to readers who have any interest at all in Dickens. I have read most of Dickens’ novels, but I must admit it has been a long while since I read them; this article makes me want to go back and rediscover them.