Charles Dickens: A Brain on Fire! 🔥

Dominic is joined by Dr. Leon Litvack who's new edition of Our Mutual Friend for Oxford University Press will be published in NovemberLeon is a reader at Queen’s University Belfast, and is an expert analyst of Dickens’ letters, manuscripts & handwriting. As well as being the Principal Editor of the Dickens Letters Project he sits on the Advisory Council for the UK’s National Records and Archives and is a board member of the Charles Dickens Museum …And returning to the series to read excerpts from the novel is actress Carlyss Peer Support the showIf you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrardThank you so much!Host: Dominic GerrardSeries Artwork: Léna GibertOriginal Music: Dominic GerrardThank you for listening!

Vincent Van Gogh was an avid reader of Dickens. Throughout his life Dickens' works provided not only a mental 'scaffold' that helped him to believe in his own mission as an artist, but also pull himself out of deep depressions ...Here to talk to Dominic today about the powerful connection between Dickens and Van Gogh is the inimitable Carol Jacobi, Curator of British Art (1850-1915) at Tate Britain where her many exhibitions included the celebrated Van Gogh in Britain …Here are links to paintings discussed in the episode:Miners in the SnowThe Potato EatersBootsVincent's Chair + Gaugin's ArmchairEmpty ChairPrisoner's RoundSelf-PortraitWoman Rocking CradleL'Arlésienne Starry Night Over the RohneThe piano music in this episode was composed by Franz Gordon. Used with permission under license from Epidemic Sound Support the showIf you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrardThank you so much!Host: Dominic GerrardSeries Artwork: Léna GibertOriginal Music: Dominic GerrardThank you for listening!

Dickens' genius as a novelist is acknowledged the world over ... but what was he like as a poet?Joining Dominic today to find out are the inimitable Dr. Lydia Craig & Dr. Emily Middleton who have just co-authored The Verse of Charles Dickens (Edinburgh University Press) Support the showIf you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrardThank you so much!Host: Dominic GerrardSeries Artwork: Léna GibertOriginal Music: Dominic GerrardThank you for listening!

Ahead of a new series Dominic re-shares the most popular episode of this show so far! Bleak House with the inimitable Stephen Fry who takes the listener on an intricate journey through the fog and mystery of Dickens' thrilling masterpiece.And reading extracts from Esther's narrative is the brilliant Sally ScottAnd here is a link to Miriam Margolyes' unabridged audiobook of Bleak House mentioned in the episodeSupport the showIf you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrardThank you so much!Host: Dominic GerrardSeries Artwork: Léna GibertOriginal Music: Dominic GerrardThank you for listening!

Hot on the heels of Dominic's audiobook of George Silverman's Explanation comes the discussion with Dr. Emily Middleton (formerly Bell) … who we’ve met before in the episodes on Oliver Twist and The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices …Emily is working on George Silverman, and other rarer Dickens stories for Oxford University Press, and has just published The Verse of Charles of Dickens for Edinburgh University Press which she has co-authored with Dr Lydia Craig. ( There is a joint episode on this with Emily and Lydia already waiting in the wings)George Silverman's Explanation is an indictment against poverty, as powerful as you will find in any of Dickens’ larger works. It is also a biting satire against the 'daring ignorance' and little 'meannesses' found in many non-conformist movements. Above all it is a deeply affecting examination of how far a childhood of of both want and punishing religious control can impact a man’s self-worth and future happiness. Support the showIf you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrardThank you so much!Host: Dominic GerrardSeries Artwork: Léna GibertOriginal Music: Dominic GerrardThank you for listening!

Dominic reads George Silverman's Explanation - one of Dickens' rarer short stories - ahead of an upcoming discussion with Dr. Emily Middleton ... Support the showIf you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrardThank you so much!Host: Dominic GerrardSeries Artwork: Léna GibertOriginal Music: Dominic GerrardThank you for listening!

Here are two fragments that didn't make the cut in the previous episode on THE PICKWICK PAPERS ...Prof. Hugo Bowles talks about the afterlife of Pickwick & Gina Beck reads an extract where Pickwick is observed from a window by a Scientific Gentleman! Support the showIf you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrardThank you so much!Host: Dominic GerrardSeries Artwork: Léna GibertOriginal Music: Dominic GerrardThank you for listening!

Dominic is joined by the inimitable Prof. Hugo Bowles who is currently working the OUP edition of The Pickwick Papers  to guide us through this riot of a novel - if it is a novel? Hugo is an alumnus of both Oxford and Cambridge where he read English, Classics and Applied Linguistics. For over three decades he lectured at four Italian Universities and is the author of Dickens and Stenographic Mind (published by Edinburgh University Press). We last caught up with Hugo in his joint episodes with Dr. Claire Wood as they spoke about their award-winning Dickens Code Project.Joining us today, to read extracts from this dizzying narrative is the wonderful actress Gina Beck.The sounds of horses, carriages, seagulls and nature are used with permission from Epidemic SoundCaution: Listeners please note that the topic of suicide is covered in the earlier parts of the Pickwick story.Support the showIf you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrardThank you so much!Host: Dominic GerrardSeries Artwork: Léna GibertOriginal Music: Dominic GerrardThank you for listening!

Today’s episode is A Tale of Two Podcasts where Dominic teams up with Jordan Evans-Hill: creator and host of the Charles Dickens Museum’s Inimitable podcast.Here Jordan takes the listener on a tour inside number 48 Doughty St - the house where Dickens lived and worked as he completed Pickwick, wrote the entirety of Oliver Twist & Nicholas Nickleby and began Barnaby Rudge …Jordan is a former footman from the Royal Household where he served the late Queen Elizabeth II. He is also a writer, having recently completed his debut novel and he works as the Head of Marketing and Commercial at the Dickens Museum. And as you journey through the house you can follow the Dickens Museum’s online interactive tour and walk around the rooms virtually as we go. Support the showIf you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrardThank you so much!Host: Dominic GerrardSeries Artwork: Léna GibertOriginal Music: Dominic GerrardThank you for listening!

Dominic has helped create a sister podcast to mark the 250th Anniversary of Jane Austen's birth!A Jane Austen Year is told by the people that work at Jane Austen’s House - the idyllic Hampshire cottage, in the south of England, where Jane Austen wrote her world famous novels.On the first of every month a new episode of letters, scenes from the novels, recipes & talks about the objects in the house, will be published.And every sound you hear - including the birds - were recorded in Jane Austen’s House and Garden. So pour yourself a glass of Orange wine, and follow the link in the description, to enjoy the first January episode of this series …Support the showIf you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrardThank you so much!Host: Dominic GerrardSeries Artwork: Léna GibertOriginal Music: Dominic GerrardThank you for listening!