Charles Dickens fans are heading to London for the first major museum show on the author in over 40 years.
“Dickens and London” the new exhibit on at the Museum of London paints a portrait of Victorian life and how Dickens’s writing was shaped through his experiences.
Considered the first great novelist of modern London in Victorian times, the exhibition traces the author’s influences and features everything from paintings to photographs and costumes.
More importantly, rare manuscripts of some of the author’s most famous works – Bleak House, Great Expectations and David Copperfield – will also be on display, giving visitors an opportunity to witness Dickens’s creative genius as he wrote each story by hand.
“I realised I had to create the right atmosphere and the right mood,” curator Alex Warner said.
“Dickens was an insomniac and he used to pace the streets of London at night, writing his books in his head, so we wanted to give some sense of being in Dickens’s mind.”
The exhibit also explores themes Dickens touched on in his writing – including a small drawing of women sifting through a dust heap for metals or other materials that could have been sold.
“In Victorian Britain, people would come to your door and buy all the dust and dirt you had collected in your house,” Werner said. “There was quite a lot of money in rubbish.”
By giving visitors a chance to see the works in context, Werner hopes to inspire people to read Dickens and see the famous stories in a new light.
“Hopefully we will encourage people to go and pick up a Dickens book. It is so east to just watch something on TV but I hope with people seeing the manuscripts that they go away and read some of his work.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/07/charles-dickens-london-dirt-despair
