Dickensian is an all-embracing adjective for the kind of force of his imagination that takes a place, in this case it's going to be London, and both describes it and transforms it. Tom is going to read from a section of the opening of Bleak House: Fog everywhere. And one day Estella and Pip, a summon from London, by Miss Havisham to visit them. They go back to Satis House and Pip overhears the following dialogue between Estella andMiss Havisham - "What would you have Love? I have Mother by adoption"
Dickens. Tolstoy. Their names and reputations shake the ground – and so do their books, if you drop one. But whose legacy is more enduring? Whose vision truer and more relevant today? Should you embark on War and Peace or Our Mutual Friend? To battle it out, in 2018 Intelligence Squared brought two celebrated writers, John Mullan for Dickens and Simon Schama for Tolstoy, to our stage. They called on a cast of star actors, including Tom Hiddleston, to bring their arguments to life with readings from the authors’ finest works. The debate was chaired by author, playwright and broadcaster Bonnie Greer. This is the first instalment of a three-part episode.
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