The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-05-31

grasped explain, if they do not alto
gether excuse, the more striking de-
ficiencies of his work.
Dickens sprang from the lower mid
die class, and was practically unedu-
Gated. His point of view, in conse-
Guence, while often that OF the man or
genius is never that of the born gen
tleman or of the scholar. He raised
himself above circumstances that
would have broken the spirit of
weaker youth by his undaunted spirit
and interchangeable exertiOn. His sunny
temper, love of fun and infinite capa-
city for seeing the humorous side or
things saved him from any bitterness
that these circumstances might nave
entailed. He was sincerely relIglOuS,
and his religion was of a very pure, II
not of a very intellectual, type ana
vet there was something wanting IN
Dickens. To put it brutally, his man
nerS had not that repOse which stamps
the caste of We're de We're. There is
something which jars the sense IN his
impatient self-wilI, his restless activity,
his desire to keep on good terms with
the public. Probably no author living
would have thought it necessary 10 IS
sue the statement in regard TO MS
separation from his wife that Dickens
published in Household Words. And
something of this is seen in his work.
/ He is too dependent upon the sympathy
and quick response of his readers
/ Conscious that "Chuzzlewit" was the
/ best work he had ever done, he was
none the less appalled, at its compare
/ lively unfriendly reception, and TOOK
/ immediate measures to stimulate the
waning interest in his work He altered
the proposed fate of Walter Gay IN
.4DOmbev'' because he doubted If the
Dublic would stand it." Yet we must
not think that Dickens ever consciously
wrote down to his public. On the con-
trary. he wrote for this public because
he was of it, the voice as no one nau
| been before of the most numerous ana
| perhaps the most influential OF EnSilsh
classes.
And this explains, too, something IN
the style of Dickens which has calied
| forth the remarks of critics. 1t Is al
wavs siuple. often vivid and impress
sive. but it lacks distinction; II IS not
based Gpon the best models. his trick
of dropping into rhymeless verse III
scenes where he is very much IN earn
est betrays an ignorance OF the real
secrets of prose style, There IS not
passage anywhere in his WORKS that
will compare for beauty of rhythm ano
charm of diction with htty Ihat coulu
he cuIled from the pages of Thackeray
But when all this is said how much
reuainsi Dickens left a great mass
of work. not all of it by any means OF
( equal value but all permeated by the
| essential characteristics of his genius
First, perhaps, among these is ms I'M
mense vitality. Dickens was allVe I,
his finger tips, and there is a sense OF
mower in his work that denotes the
master. Its very imperfectlons are II
way a testimony to his strength. ne
was no painter of delicate miniatures
brt worked with a broad brush, dash'
ing off one masterpiece and hUrrylhs
on to another, without stopping TO cor
rect imperfectiOns or put on the nnlsh
ing touches. Closely connected VIII
. this vitality is his immense power O
) Imagination. 1t was in the true Sehs'
: creative The people in his books arr
, real to US because in the process o
> composition they became real TO MN
+ He heard every word they said, ne Ia
/ fold us; he had but to sit down at M
desk and straightway he saw. Yet thu
iI,oaeination never strayed from rea
! life. It sprung from his own prodigiou
knowledge of certain phases OF life, o
the great world-city of London and tn
. people that dwelt therein, Of the nttl
: provincial towns Of central and south
ern England. of the roads and stoppin
) places that linked these TO the capita
/ He was no Shakespeare to reconstruc
4 a world he had never known; ne Ia
+ little sympathy with the classic Q
! romantic past: but what he himsel
. had seen and felt he could embOdy wit
: a certainty Of hand rarely equaiet
!. And this power of imagination show
: itself alike in description and char
! acterization. His power Of Observable
f enabled him to seize a scene and cor
f vey it to US with a thousand touche
. of exact description that make IL nor
q than lifeiike, that make it live. W
can taste the air OF one OF his Londo
& fogs. And so, too, his characteristic
+ is to say, the characters in which
n was really interested-are alive. TT
4 unreal characters OF Dickens are Il
+ the most part the unhappy product