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| Dickens: Public Life and Private Passion | 
 enlarge | Author: Peter Ackroyd
Publisher: BBC Books
Category: Book
List Price: £16.99
Buy Used: £0.01
You Save: £16.98 (100%)
New (7) from £7.96
Avg. Customer Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 121133
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 160
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.9 x 7.6 x 0.7
ISBN: 0563534737
Dewey Decimal Number: 920
EAN: 9780563534730
ASIN: 0563534737
Publication Date: May 16, 2002
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: buy with confidence from a UK seller offering a full money back guarantee if not entirely satisfied
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Amazon.co.uk Review
In this remarkable new biography, Peter Ackroyd offers a different view of Dickens to that presented in his earlier study of the author. In that book, Ackroyd's attempts to mimic the voice of the great writer were highly controversial, though some saw the book as a radical re-invention of the biography form. There is no arguing with the brilliant achievement of the more straightforward Charles Dickens: Public Life and Private Passion, however; the picture of Dickens and his complicated private life that emerges is fastidiously detailed and powerfully evocative, while Ackroyd's customary skill at creating a panoply of the city of London is as dazzling as ever (London, is, in fact, the subject of another biography by the author, who is unquestionably the keenest chronicler of the city's colourful history). Here, Ackroyd attempts to peel away the mask of a man whose life was outwardly a picture of Victorian rectitude, but whose love life was as complicated (and unconventional) as any modern writer. Dickens had everything--fame, success and riches--but he died harbouring a deep sadness he had experienced all his life. He was a man of mercurial character, had enormous vitality and humour, but he also had a sense of loss and longing that would constantly appear in his work. Like many eminent Victorians, he led a double life: although he insisted that nothing in the newspapers he edited should upset his middle-class readers, he regularly indulged in dubious night-time escapades with fellow author Wilkie Collins, and, for the last 13 years of his life, kept a secret mistress. While presenting a warm but astringent portrait of the man who (along with George Eliot) can be classed as the greatest writer of his age, Ackroyd also masterfully recreates the relationship with the actress Ellen Ternan, a strong and intelligent woman (herself the subject of a biography by Claire Tomalin, The Inviisble Woman who, like her lover, outwardly observed the proprieties while living her real life behind closed doors. Ackroyd also vividly conjures the reality of Victorian life, the issues that sparked Dickens' fervent call for social reform, and the great landmarks of the time, which profoundly affected his life and work. --Barry Forshaw
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 Unsatisfying and frustrating May 27, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
Without realising it I picked up the abridged version of Peter Ackroyd's Dickens, and perhaps this is why I cannot agree with the good reviews of this book. It is well written and goes into great detail about all happenings- every story, every periodical, every novel, however the abridged version (of around 600 pages) refuses to talk about the important emotional relationships in Dickens' life. Just over 4 paragraphs are given to his break up with his wife (and most of these concern the legal settlement rather than any meaningful analysis of the break up). His relationship with his mother and father are mentioned at the beginning of the book but nothing pays off further into the book. Ackroyd asserts that Dickens had an ambiguous and not altogether good relationship with his mother and then proceeds to produce not one piece of evidence or feeling to back this statement up. Ackroyd is happy to make fatalistic assumptions; for example Dickens thinking train carriages were tilting to the left side after his crash 'because he had a swollen left foot' but is not willing to explore in any detail his relationship with Ellen Ternan, or track IN ANY WAY his falling out of love with his wife. Ackroyd also fails to explore Dickens' relationship with his children in any meaningful way- mentioning that his sons always felt inadequate but again not giving us any indication or evidence to suggest this was the case.
After 600 pages I was so dissatisfied I felt like going to read the primary source material myself in order that I could understand Dickens not in the context of his periodical, his stories and his books but as a man who had relationships with people around him.
Amanda Foreman's Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire as a historical biography (it is worth pointing out that this was actually written by a historian instead of a journalist, novelist and literary critic) shows a greater command of the material available and is able to plot relationships and feelings. In the abridged edition of Dickens, at least, Ackroyd fails spectacularly to do so. I don't know whether I wish I had picked up the full version, if I was to get through 1200 pages with the same conclusion I can only imagine my further frustration.
 Brings Dickens utterly to life December 17, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I know that Peter Ackroyd has researchers working for him, so I assume the facts which he offers about Dickens are true. That being so, I greatly admire the way he so brilliantly weaves his material together, creating a picture of a living, breathing man - a genius who was irritating, temperamental, likeable, egocentric, self contradictory and generally almost impossible. Not only this but he puts Dickens in his period: he shows us what public life was like at the time and sketches in many individuals that Dickens knew, lived and worked with. He suggests what Dickens might have been aiming for at various times of his life, and what he might have felt and thought. There is inevitably some guesswork in this but after all, nobody can REALLY know another person, and Ackroyd's portrait, based as it is on research, probably contains more truth than the social front Dickens presented to most of the people who knew him personally. So I do believe this is the nearest we will ever get to understanding him, and highly recommend the book. By the way, this is the abridged version, but it is so illuminating and fascinating that I will now go and investigate the longer version.
Astounding October 8, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I am in the perhaps somewhat bizarre position of never having read any novel by Dickens himself, and regardless of that, finding myself utterly captivated by this biography. Is it correct? I wouldn't know as I've never read other Dickens-biographies. Is it complete and exhaustive? Probably not, no biography can be. All I do know is that it's truly magnificently written, and had me completely spellbound for all of its 579 pages (in my edition).
Great. July 23, 2006
5 out of 8 found this review helpful
This is a super read for anyone wishing to know more about the country's greatest novelist. Ackroyd's insight, following his extensive research demonstrates his passion for Dickens which is unmatched.
There exists one negative piece of feedback within the Amazon site re: this book, that is, repsectfully totally incorrect. If, like many of Dickens's novels, you take the time the read and savour rather than trying to finish the book, you'll gain a better persepctive, very much like what Ackroyd has achieved in providing this must read biography.
The Best Dickens Biography June 3, 2006
17 out of 17 found this review helpful
When you first pick up this book in a bookshop or look at it online the first thing that hits you is obviously the size of it. From beginning to end Ackroyd's "Dickens" spans 1256 pages and to read it may seem like a daunting mission. This is not the case; Ackroyd is one of the best historical-biographial writers of our time and he knows how to make sure that long does not equal tedious. For fans and students of Dickens alike every word in this biography is essential; you may even find that you wish it was longer, I certainly did. The book chronicles everything Dickens from his birth through all of his works in periodicals and theatre to his sad and sudden death in 1870. To try and list the contents of this book would make the review over 200000 words long so i won't even try, but when I say everything I mean EVERYthing is in here from Dickens's family to his railway accident, his feelings, emotions, beliefs, experiences and relationships. There are also many caricatures and photographs of Dickens's life and times included, that add delight to what is already a wonderful read. If, however, you feel that 1300 pages really is too long but you still want to read Ackroyd's version of Dickens (which you should) try the abridged 500-page tie-in version that accompanied the BBC series in 2002. If you can manage the full version, you will not be disappointed.
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