Comments on: A Dickensian apology?

By: Oliver and Company (1988) «

Oliver and Company (1988) « — Thu, 16 Jan 2020 20:33:14 +0000

[…] in their city, or for those who simply wished Dickens’ had written Fagin a little differently (perhaps Dickens himself is included in this list , the film can be just as much a treasurer as anything the Disney […]

By: Dolores Sloan

Dolores Sloan — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 16:30:16 +0000

Does anyone know which edition (the original or the final one Dickens edited to eliminate many of the negative descriptions) is published and distributed today?

By: sumac

sumac — Tue, 25 Feb 2014 19:57:11 +0000

In reply to sumac.

Alas that more people did not write gracious reproachful letters to Dickens, and so it did not occur to him to change his reference to the “Indians of North America,–a very inferior people to the Saxons” and the “Irish, who were a kind of savages” to name only two more groups of MY KIN who are disparaged.

By: snarly

snarly — Thu, 06 Feb 2014 14:38:22 +0000

In reply to Lisa Hirsch. I'd still slap at them if they were Harvardians. :)

By: tanita

tanita — Wed, 05 Feb 2014 02:03:32 +0000

In reply to tanita. Also: Spawn of Snarly is pretty much something that should be on a T-shirt...

By: tanita

tanita — Wed, 05 Feb 2014 02:03:00 +0000

Oh, how much do I love that he did something about it? I wouldn’t, as a writer, advise revising one’s work today — we tend to call that “revisionist” – but certainly a simple apology letter to the readers, and then going on to do better NEXT TIME would also be helpful.

By: Lisa Hirsch

Lisa Hirsch — Wed, 05 Feb 2014 00:43:29 +0000

Style points for the passing slap at those Yalies.

By: sumac

sumac — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 23:59:18 +0000

Am I the Russian judge? Because I’m madder than Snarly is.

Though Dickens couldn’t un-write Fagin.

Now I need to look at “A Child’s History of England” — though I note that Dickens revised it in 1867 and 1868 (right after talking to Eliza Davis?)…

By: Katherine Catmull

Katherine Catmull — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 22:07:53 +0000

This is a great example (and analysis of) a defensive non-apology followed by a secret-shame reparation. How generous of Mrs. Davis to take it for the unspoken apology it probably was rather than demanding (as she might have) that he SAY THE WORDS.

About the “Chinaman” bit–I think he’s saying that calling him “Fagin the Jew” gives the reader an idea of what Fagin looks like (which of course: yeesh, already), and maybe also (in the 19th C mind) drapes Fagin with a few other presumed-genetic qualities, which, I don’t even want to guess what those might be — just as calling someone “Harold the Chinaman” would keep reminding you “oh yeah right, this guy is CHINESE, not a regular person.”