Pen photographs of Charles Dickens's readings . tSmike is not pathetic enough, and his monotonous voicefrequently degenerates into a whine. This voice undoubt-edly arises from Dickenss desu*e to give Smike a distinctindividuality, and to prevent the intonation of one char-acter from encroaching upon that of another. Tliis indi-viduality he most certainly preserves. There is not atrace of the Squeerses, or of Mckleby, or of Browdie init, but the monotonous intonation is unnatural, and there-fore unworthy of Dickens, whose best manner is thoroughnaturalness. Dickens could give more variety of to
Pen photographs of Charles Dickens's readings . tSmike is not pathetic enough, and his monotonous voicefrequently degenerates into a whine. This voice undoubt-edly arises from Dickenss desu*e to give Smike a distinctindividuality, and to prevent the intonation of one char-acter from encroaching upon that of another. Tliis indi-viduality he most certainly preserves. There is not atrace of the Squeerses, or of Mckleby, or of Browdie init, but the monotonous intonation is unnatural, and there-fore unworthy of Dickens, whose best manner is thoroughnaturalness. Dickens could give more variety of tone andstill keep Smike intact, and had he but this one charac-ter to assume, it would undoubtedly be vastly better car-ried out. At the same time it must be confessed thatthe finest Smike known thus far could not embody theseven remaining dramatis pcrsoncc, whose idiosyncrasiesDickens puts on as easily as he would put on old is this versatility that almost silences criticism; yetloyalty to art demands the noting of spots upon o Q< mo Q THE STORY OF LITTLE DOJVIBEY. 63 THE STOEY OF LITTLE DOMBEY. /^HAKLES DICKENS is only a caricaturist. And^-^ he wrote the story of Eichard Doubledick, thepoor soldier, which, for naturalness and pathos, is un-ri\^alled in the English language. Charles Dickens isonly a liumorist. And one half of his creations is astragic as the other half is comic. Charles Dickens isonly a farce actor. And the tears are stiU fresh thatfell in listening to The Story of Little Domhey. Ah,well! whoever escapes being misinterpreted, likewise es-capes being head and shoulders above his fellows. Whowears a crown at all must wear a crown of thorns. Dickenss Eeading of Little Dombey is peculiar; forwdiile the tragic element enters largely into several otherEeadiugs, still laughter holds the balance of chapter of Little Dombey, on the contrary, is writ-ten in a minor key. Here and there scherzos are inter-spersed ; but the voice of the old
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectbritish, bookyear1871
