Talk:Charles Dickens/Archive 1

message: It seems Dickens was not unalterably opposed to slavery - or at least did not call for its immediate cessation, preferring instead the institution be reformed to improve the character of the slaves so they would be better able to handle freedom. He also supported colonization - sending freed slaves to separate lands, like Liberia. http://www.econlib.org/library/Columns/LevyPeartdismal4.html --JimWae 04:20, 2005 September 3 (UTC)
:The source is rather unclear, and the quotes aren't necessarily even from Dickens. In any case, he was opposed to slavery in principle, and wanted to resolve the problem humanely and without a huge crisis - America failed on both counts, and is yet to resolve the long term damage, as has recently been proven. This is in any case a minor issue about Dickens - the focus on it is an example of systemic bias as with the Jewish issue above. Dickens was British not American, and the article is missing coverage of many more essential aspects of his life and work. He was a benign humanitarian to a sometimes naive degree, and looking for opportunities to disparage him on the basis of 21st century sensibilities is anachronistic and misleading. CalJW 20:18, 9 September 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Surely you aren't attempting to push a personal POV regarding the sourced content you don't like in the Morrill Tariff article, eh Jim? Dickens was quite explicit in his views against the Morrill Tariff. Adrian's article discusses that in great detail and shows it beyond any reasonable doubt - and half a century before Charles Adams supposedly "started" it in his 2002 book! Rangerdude 06:18, 11 September 2005 (UTC)

text: Actually, the article by Arthur Adrian that was previously cited to you demonstrates your claims to be unfounded by way of a detailed and thorough analysis of Dickens' view on the tariff's relation to the war. This article was cited in full for you and a lengthy excerpt posted. As you apparently cannot be bothered to review reputable scholarly analysis such as Adrian's when it contradicts a personal POV, whatever bizarre agenda of fancy yours may be in this case, and as you persist in promoting your favored theories regarding Morley as if they were factual when indeed scholarly consensus does not exist I see little to be gained from pursuing this discussion with you any further. Any other editor who is interested in this subject is encouraged to read the Arthur Adrian article cited at the Morrill Tariff page. Rangerdude 06:31, 12 September 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Whatever, but please leave these disputes for articles about the U.S. This is trivial in relation to the main article about Dickens and shouldn't be mentioned in it at all. CalJW 22:45, 30 September 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Dickens on Slavery 

message: I've moved the museums stuff out of Dickens' life into a subhead under "Legacy". However, it seems a shame to clog up a fine literary article with all this contingent stuff, so maybe it belongs in an article of its own. Anyone have thoughts on this? JackyR 00:25, 18 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: That was a good move. I would keep it in the article for now (segmented), when it gets too long it can be forked off. Most literature articles on wikipedia contain a fair amount of stuff like that, "cultural influences". --Stbalbach 01:33, 18 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Museums

message: I could be wrong, but I think when Dickens first came to prominence he kept quiet about his _personal_ experience of great poverty. When he revealed the address of the blacking factory in a Chrismas game, it was the first his (new) family'd heard of it. 'Fraid I saw this in recent telly doc, so can't check, but look into? JackyR 18:51, 24 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes I restored the changed text he was certainly cagey about his early life and although he worked on his biography with John Forster it was not printed until after his death.  What is now seen as blatent autobiographical stories were seen at the time as Dickens' amazing inventiveness.  He was somewhat of a social climber, afraid of what he had pulled himself out of.  The burning  of his personel corrispondence once he had achieved his big house and status, is a literary crime and another mark of his efforts to hide his past. MeltBanana 01:45, 25 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Open about his early life? 

message: Hi, I would like to add an external link to the World of Biography entry
* <! --Charles Dickens Biography --> probably the most famous portal of biography to this article. Does anybody have any objections? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Jameswatt (talk • contribs) 14 April 2006  (UTC)
:Unfortunately, that page has Google Ad links on it, so it may not be an acceptable external link. This page notes that "sites with objectionable amounts of advertising" should not be linked to, in general. Of course the term "objectionable amounts" is subjective. But I've seen people remove external links based on those sites' use of Google Adsense in the past. Hbackman 21:02, 14 April 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Further comment: It appears that this user has added similar requests to link to biographies hosted on the same site to about 50 different articles. Although I believe that these requests were made in good faith, adding the links to all of the articles would be spamming. In addition, the biographies tend to be not very insightful and/or minimally informative, and the webpages contain Google AdSense links. A fuller explanation of my own opinion on these links can be found here, if anyone wishes to read it. Hbackman 00:43, 15 April 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: External link

message: Constructive comments sought on improving and/or replacing "...literary monolith we know him as today, but rather as a popular entertainer of fecund imagination and comic genius". 203.198.237.30 09:45, 19 April 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: How about just "...as a literary 'great' so much as a popular entertainer."? Hbackman 00:23, 20 April 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  "of fecund imagination" &mdash; RFC 

message: I HOPE YOU WILL NOT MIND ME ADDING THIS.
WE NEED HELP AS WE ARE HOLDING OUR SCHOOL FETE AND HAVE DECIDED TO HAVE THE THEME AS 'DICKENS'. THE SCHOOL CHILDREN ARE DOING A PERFORMANCE OF OLIVER IN DRAMA. SO THEIR COSTUMES WILL BE ARRANGED. WE ARE HAVING A PROBLEM DECIDING HOW TO DECORATE THE STALLS ETC..  I DON'T REALLY KNOW ENOUGH ABOUT HIS BOOKS TO TAKE IDEAS FROM, AND HAVE NOT GOT TIME TO READ THEM ALL AS NEED IDEAS WITHIN 3 WEEKS! HAS ANYONE GOT ANY IDEAS PLEASE ?? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 195.93.21.74 (talk • contribs) 24 April 2006  (UTC)
:Advice: don't write in capitals – it's hard to read!
:Other than that, I'm from the Rochester area, where we have a major Dickens festival. A lot of the activities are just general Victoriana. People dress in Victorian costume or as specific characters from the books (I'd suggest Miss Havisham, Mr Pickwick, Scrooge, Tiny Tim, Uriah Heep, Betsey Trotwood...) - Google for these names to find more. Also, children dress as chimney sweeps (ragged clothes and lots of soot), who were sent up inside chimneys to clean them. Or you could try an informal approach to Rochester Visitor Centre (tel: 01634 843666, email: visitor.centre@medway.gov.uk), who might be able to send you brochures on our festival and perhaps give you a few ideas.
:You don't say which country you're in, or what the stalls will be selling. If you tell me a little more, I might be able to help some more. For a long conversation, go to User:JackyR and hit "Email this user" in the menu on the left. Cheers, JackyR 15:47, 24 April 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  ANY ADVICE PLEASE? 

message: How can we be sure that "the only (ever)statue of Dickens ... is located in Clark Park, Philadelphia"?  That strikes me as extremely unlikely, given his reputation. JackofOz 05:00, 30 April 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Thanks, LiamE.  I'll make the change.  JackofOz 13:13, 30 April 2006 (UTC)
replies: text:  I included the following source for that claim: History of the Dickens Statue. I believe he claim is true. --evrik 19:17, 30 April 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Only statue?

message: Could the major contributors to this article please include their main source material?  I would like to nominate this article at WP:V0.5N (the test CD release of Wikipedia), because Dickens is clearly a huge figure in literature.  Unfortunately this article wouldn't pass because of lack of refs.  Please nomimate once you have some more refs, and also consider WP:GAN.  Thanks, Walkerma 05:18, 6 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  More references needed