I find the use of an editor as narrator's voice very telling in The Pickwick Papers. First, Dickens compiled the vignettes as an editor would do. Second, yet not to confuse the idea of author/narrator, while there is an inherent distancing that occurs in being an editor, these stories are the editor's creation. And, lastly, there is a conspiratorial air to using the word "we". If conspiracy is too strong of a word, there is, at least, a sense of complicity.
Did Dickens choose this style because he was new at fiction (having been commissioned to write the narrative to accompany Seymour) ? Or, was this the convention at the time?
I do indeed think it's because he was new to fiction; I'm running through my mental literature files and I can't think of any other work of fiction that used this style of editor as narrator, but I may be wrong.
ReplyDeleteI think the air of complicity you mention is what makes Dickens so so exciting - a little bit of mystery for the reader is always fun, if not the historian of Dickens. :-)I only wish the writing was a little less dense so I could get ahead faster!
I've limited experience myself with this time period in literature, but I'm also curious as to whether this was conventional. It's certainly an interesting choice, in terms of voice.
ReplyDeleteHaving little to no (as I don't really *remember* Great Expectations) Dickens experience, I'm pleased that The Pickwick Papers at least quite humorous at times - despite how painfully dense it is. :)
We definitely have an unreliable narrator here. I also see the complicity of the narrator in the goings on of the Pickwick Club, but not so much when he's throwing readers the car-salesman-smile and basically saying "trust me, friend! I found this great deal and I'm passing the savings on to you!" It's actually when he gets far away from that voice and moves into more of an omniscient voice that I begin to suspect the narrator is not on the up and up. I remember reading deep into some sections and suddenly realizing that I hadn't heard from the narrator in a great while.
ReplyDeleteThe question that popped in my mind is whether Dickens meant to do this or if he simply got carried away with the stories and forgot the frame. I'm going with the latter and our discussion this evening only bolsters the belief. The notion that Dickens was playing with characters or toying around with stories to see how far he could go indicates to me that the Dickens we see here is not the meticulous Dickens of later works, the guy who plots every point and makes sure it all matches up.
That said, I think this actually works to the book's favor because it adds to the comedy. The narrator may even be more grandiose than Pickwick himself, embellishing some of the details and then offering the apology that "it's not my words, it's theirs." Not buying it, but it's good fun.
I agree. The narrator appears to be hiding behind a mask of editor. He doesn't want to show his mask too often, because it might lessen the impact. Also, by definition, an editor picks and chooses what to include and where to include it. This isn't a case of 'here's a bunch of papers I found and bound together.'
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