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Position:Home>Books & Authors> Help understanding Dickens/Austen?Question: Help understanding Dickens/Austen!? I've been trying to get into Charles Dickens and Jane Austen because everyone says they are so great, but I just don't get it!. It's hard to understand them!. What was Oliver Twist supposed to be!? And Sense and Sensibility!? What were those all about!?
Why couldn't they write more like Arthur C!. Clarke!? You know, interesting and talented!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Emily's ideas about both reading Sparknotes and watching movies based on their novels are good ones!. I've seen a smattering of your questions around, all different but all mentioning how wonderful Arthur C!. Clarke was; you'll forgive me, therefore, for doubting your interest in either Charles Dickens or Jane Austen!. Comparing 2001: A Space Odyssey to either, say, David Copperfield or Pride and Prejudice is to try to find a likeness where none exists!. What similarity does a sci-fi novel have to a classic coming-of-age story or a classic comedy of manners tale!? Do you compare them simply because they are all novels!? It doesn't wash!. If you are at all interested, I have not the slightest problem understanding any of either Charles Dickens' or Jane Austen's novels!. I've read all of them and enjoyed them immensely!. Charles Dickens used very descriptive prose while writing, Jane Austen's style was more concise!. Both were witty and full of humor, both brilliant authors, both showed a thorough knowledge of human nature, both are worth reading!. As an aside, if you care: Sense and Sensibility is mainly a story of two sisters - one whose behavior is guided by reason, understanding and what she believes to be right (sense), the other whose behavior is guided by feeling and her own passions (sensibility)!. Oliver Twist is the story of an orphan who experiences the horrors of the so-called charitable institutions of the day, then he becomes one of the "throw away" children who fell in with the thieves who were very willing to use and corrupt them and finally one who is restored to family!. It is, basically, a social protest novel!. To suggest that neither Charles Dickens nor Jane Austen were talented or that they wrote uninteresting stories is to inform me that you have never read either one - or understood their stories, if you did!. The Space Odyssey stories may hold some interest, but I don't believe Arthur C!. Clarke was even close to being in the same league as Charles Dickens or Jane Austen - both of whose works have stood the test of time (and neither has gone out of print in all that time)!. If by some miracle we live another 150 to 200 years, we will, perhaps, be able to know whether or not the same can be said of Arthur C!. Clarke's books!. At present you should stick to comparing his works with other and more modern authors of science fiction novels!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Here's a couple ideas to help you: 1) you can try Sparknotes or something like that; after reading each chapter in whichever book, look at their chapter summaries and see if that's what you got out of it!. 2) try watching film adaptations!. Especially Sense and Sensibility, which is an excelent movie with a great cast (Kate Winslet, Alan Rickman, Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, the list goes on)!. Then read the book afterwards, and you'll alread have images in your head to go along with the book as you're reading it!.Www@QuestionHome@Com |