There is a lot of geography in the pages of Dickens, and a lot of strangely named characters too. I was going to do a big production number but have been up against a deadline for my latest book manuscript and also planning some important forthcoming CPD days that I'm leading that are not my 'usual' thing, and also a 5 day trip to Austria which I need to get on top of...
Suffice to say that Dickens had a lot to say about social inequality, urban change and the impact of changing demographics.
He also used the weather as a way of setting a mood - perhaps the fogs of London.
There were also descriptions of industrial landscapes in the Black Country, and the way that they had an impact on the people who lived amongst them.
He had things to say about the nature of education and the Gradgrind 'curriculum'...
Will perhaps return to this when I get more time - one to go with some other writing I have underway on the link between landscape and film locations, and the landscape and art.
Any favourite Dickens scenes that include a spot of geography ?
Comments
But Little Dorrit's scenes of Marshalsea and the east end of the Thames in Great Expectations are perhaps the most geographical of all.
--Joseph Kerski
The fog is good too...