David Copperfield Lecture: Good & Bad Angels (Vol. II, Ch. XX-XXXVII)

‘It’s in vain, Trot, to recall the past, unless it works some influence upon the present.'

Today we're discussing the captivating second volume of David Copperfield by Charles Dickens.

We’re talking about personal stories, class clash, knowing ourselves, symbolism, good vs bad angels, ghosts from the past, blind love vs true love, the writer's personal life, and much more.

As always, please do feel free to listen to this discussion regardless of where you are in the novel as I continue to be mindful of spoilers for later in the narrative.

Timestamps:

0:00 the development of character

2:00 value of reading bildungsromans

4:00 the storytelling impulse in us all

6:00 knowing others as knowing yourself

8:00 how to write your personal story

10:00 when classes clash in Dickens

12:00 ‘whey they suffer, they don’t feel’

14:00 pride goeth before destruction

16:00 Steerforth on willing & winning

18:00 philosophy of pity & compassion

20:00 oppressive colonialist linguistics

22:00 Dickens set up a women’s shelter

24:00 Em’ly, Ham, and Steerforth

26:00 why we are what we say & do

28:00 haunting locales of our youth

30:00 trapped in both the past & future

32:00 Steerforth’s byronic brooding

34:00 appreciating foils in literature

36:00 symbolism of Steerforth’s boat

38:00 others as mirrors up to ourselves

40:00 self-development & happiness

42:00 how to set & achieve worthy goals

44:00 the development of our vocation

46:00 Dickens the performer-storyteller

48:00 appreciating a humorous scene

50:00 David makes a fool of himself

52:00 embarrassed in front of Agnes

54:00 a battle of good vs bad angels

56:00 the perception of Agnes Wickfield

58:00 David falls in love with Dora

1:00:00 first love of Charles Dickens

1:02:00 Dickens & Maria Beadnell

1:04:00 reading Dickens’ personal letters

1:06:00 Charles Dickens & Ellen Ternan

1:08:00 separation, scandal & controversy

1:10:00 Dickens the writer vs the man

1:12:00 the writer separates from Catherine

1:14:00 trauma, hiatus, ill health & death

1:16:00 purging obsessive love of the past

1:18:00 ghosts from the past in the present

1:20:00 characters who do not change

1:22:00 ‘ride on and win the race!’

1:24:00 melodrama & the death of Barkis

1:26:00 the types of Dickens’ characters

1:28:00 why are Victorian novels so big?

1:30:00 Steerforth & Emily run off together

1:32:00 role of women in David Copperfield

1:34:00 a Freudian reading of this novel

1:36:00 blind love vs deep spiritual love

1:37:00 discussing our next instalment

1:38:00 our Sigmund Freud discussion

1:40:00 what are you making of Dickens?

Resources:

• Film Appreciation: Keep in mind that there are some wonderful film adaptations of Dickens' great novel. You might like to have one lined up as a reward for when you finish the story. You can go for a modern option with this recent adaptation starring Dev Patel, Tilda Swinton, Hugh Laurie, and Ben Whishaw. Or you could go for the black-and-white 1935 classic directed by George Cukor.

• Explore: I always find it fascinating to explore the books we find protagonists in novels reading. David Copperfield references Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe frequently. He also is influenced by Henry Fielding's Tom Jones and the works of Tobias Smollett, like The Adventures of Roderick Random. Of course, we also see Shakespearean allusions to the likes of Macbeth and Hamlet and Young Copperfield falls in love with the theatre at a production of Julius Caesar. You might find it a fun stretch goal to source out one of the books mentioned in David Copperfield and give it a go.

• Contextual History: I came across a wonderful book in a second-hand bookstore a few years back that I have found myself returning to time and again: Dickens in His Time by Ivor Brown. This book covers so many fascinating sociocultural aspects of the writer's time, from school and prison to transport and entertainment. And, if you're interested in learning more about the darker later years of Dickens' life, and you're a fan of Claire Tomalin's biographical works, you may also fancy checking out the digestible and absorbing The Invisible Woman.

• Exercise: If you were to write your own memoir, or imaginative literature inspired by your real life, where would you start? What would your first line be? What memories would you absolutely have to get down? What ghosts from your past would you like to purge? What people and events made you who you are today?

• Lectures & Bookish Content: Our next David Copperfield lecture will be the weekend after this one, which will give us a good amount of time to clock those final pages, catch up with our reading, and really relish the climax of Dickens' story over the festive season. This weekend coming, we will have our discussion on Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams. Like with our previous Foundational Thinkers, this is designed to be an introductory lecture for both absolute newcomers and those returning to Freud, so you don't need to read anything in advance. But, if you'd like to get the copy I'm referencing in the discussion, I recommend the Oxford World's Classics paperback edition here. It will be very instructive to take the topics we learn about from Freud into the final part of David Copperfield. In the next few days, we will also have a lecture on Shakespeare's Cymbeline, and I will have a special discussion reviewing and drawing wisdom from all of the great books we've read together this year.

Reading Assignment:

Our next discussion will cover volume three of this novel, which takes us to chapter 64 and right through to the very end of the story. So continue to sink into the story and let's discover how David Copperfield ends together!

Questions for You:

1) Why do you think this story continues to be so popular?

2) Do you find Dickens' characters sympathetic, recognisable, or relatable?

3) What stood out the most to you from the middle of David Copperfield?

Happy reading, folks!