In the last couple of weeks I've listened to audio texts of Bleak House (my
favorite) and David Copperfield.  I had read it in 1949 but couldn't
remember much of it. I have somehow over the years never got around to
reading Great Expectations; don't know whny. I also have read Our Mutual
Friend several times -- haven't checked on whether there's an audio version
of it. When I first read BH back in the '50s I had a hard time swallowing
much of Esther's narrative, but it too has grown on me with repeated
rereadings . (Micro Soft doesn't like the word "rerreadings.")  The first
long paragraph of BH is a masterpiece all by itself.  It wonderfully
introduces the implicit central character of all of Dickens's works: The
Modern City.

Carrol


> -----Original Message-----
> From: T. S. Eliot Discussion forum. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of
> David Boyd
> Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2012 1:39 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: TS Eliot: Murder in the Cathedral
> 
> I used myself loftily to think Dickens little more than a scribbler of
sentimental
> potboilers, until introduced to university critical study of 'Great
Expectations' - now
> fully appreciate the literary genius of Dickens (albeit that it's patchy).
> 
> He made what would now be a Bill Gates-size fortune, both from his books
and
> from his wildly-popular public readings from his works, and foreign tours
> (including USA)
> 
> 
> On 4 October 2012 19:32, David Boyd <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> 
> 	Thanks for the helpful steer, Carrol. It's strange in a way that
Leavis backed-
> off his antiChristian vendetta when it came to Eliot - maybe he just knew
not to
> fight battles he couldn't possibly win?
> 
> 
> 	On 4 October 2012 19:04, Carrol Cox <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> 
> 		I've not read the book you quote from.
> 
> 		One problem with making sense of this passage is that the
word
> 		"discrimination" means rather radically different things in
different
> 		contexts. If I remember correctly it is a very positive word
in Leavis's
> 		early criticism (Revaluation & The Great Tradition) -- it
refers to the
> 		exercise of a well-honed sensibility in 'discriminating'
good from bad
> 		poetry. Of course for the most part now it refers to
discrimination
> against
> 		people. But if we take it in the positive sense, then he is
saying that
> (1)
> 		Every is totally lacking in literary discrimination and (2)
by implication
> 		that is true of all those who claim to bring a Christian
sensibility to the
> 		task of discriminating live from dead poetry. Something like
that.
> 
> 		Off hand I would say there is something wrong with a
"discrimination"
> that
> 		sees Hard Times as Dickens's only 'real' novel. Leavis never
escaped
> the
> 		Arnoldian fog.
> 
> 		Carrol
> 
> 
> 		David Boyd:  Might anyone know what's meant by the term
Leavis
> used in this
> 
> 		extract from
> 		> some of his 1940s venom,  'Christian Discrimination'?
> 		> - maybe just a term for positive discrimination, by
Christians, for
> 		Christians??
> 
> 
> 
> 		I have already had reason for concluding that Christian
Discrimination
> is a
> 		decidedly bad thing. Bro, George Every's little book, Poetry
and
> Personal
> 		Responsibility, has the air of having been designed
defiantly to justify
> 		that conclusion. It can be recommended for a brief perusal
as showing
> 		unambiguously what in the concrete  Christian Discrimination
is, and
> where
> 		its logic leads. One might, after looking through the book,
start by
> asking
> 		why Mr Every has devoted so much time to poetry, and to
creative
> literature
> 		in general, since (I hope I may be forgiven for saying) he
shows no
> 		compelling interest in it, and no aptitude for its
study.....
> 
> 
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>