One of the great gifts I've had from Substack is to read the inner lives of so many writers I admire and understand that, regardless of levels of recognition, we are all leading similarly vulnerable lives. There's no escaping. Sometimes that feels awful. Sometimes it's truly liberating. I enjoyed this, thank you.
Reading this, I’m reminded of Dickens’ profound unhappiness when he toured the United States in 1842. He’d visited the Northeast and been impressed so far, hoping he’d get to see one of the best and most vibrant experiments in democracy, and it was the first time he and his wife Catherine had felt genuine connection in their relationship in a long while. Then he visited Washington, and he was disillusioned by it, with Congressmen on both sides of the aisle calling each other money-grubbers and President Tyler acting meekly around him. Dickens had been nursing a slight anxiety around overpacked crowds with every public appearance, compounded by rough travel periods and issues with publishers who’d violated his copyrights, and when he visited the South, he was outraged by both the unhygienic tobacco spitting and the prevalence of slavery. He headed for the free states of the Midwest and Toronto before leaving the continent disillusioned, his marriage ending on the rocks about a decade later. But he was at the top of his literary fame in America then.
Incidentally he was no better when he visited America the second time in 1867, as although he’d achieved even greater fame worldwide, he was still plagued by the death of two of his children, his illness, the winter conditions, and his new lover Annie having stayed behind in England. Not long after, he would conduct a farewell tour of his homeland.
(I might note that Dickens has presaged enough about America as a whole, now the top superpower of the world, but still grappling with the legacy of slavery and poor work-life balance all around.)
The Hans Christian Anderson statue in Central Park is one of my favorites. I hope he wasn’t as sad as Dickens all the time.
I think Dickens would have approved of Swift’s name too - first name is an homage to James Taylor (really!), last name is a wink at how she was submitting demos by age 11.
What always strikes me most about Dickens's personal life is neither his genius nor misery. It's what happened to Catherine. Ten births over twenty-two years, and her reward was to be characterized by her own husband as unstable and unfit, so that he could secure a legal separation. She, on the other hand, kept his old love letters and asked her daughter to show them to the world one day.
Meanwhile her younger sister, Georgina, moved into the house, stayed on as Dickens' housekeeper and confidante after the marriage collapsed, helped raise Catherine's own children, and was later named an executor of his will. Catherine was replaced inside her own home, by her own family, and erased out of the life she had built.
I'm looking forward to reading the Prose book, definitely, but maybe someone should write Catherine's story too!
I love this post David! (And especially the title from my all-time favorite musical). I always think of Dickens as the first real celebrity, with a tour schedule, people waiting for him outside his hotel, and mass hysteria over his latest release (and he and Taylor are both known for being extremely prolific).
One difference is Dickens’ extremely unhappy and unsupported childhood, as you’ve mentioned. It seems that Taylor has a very supportive family, which makes a huge difference in self-esteem and ability to form genuine relationships in adulthood.
I do wonder for her though - what could possibly come next? Maybe she doesn’t see it that way. It does seem she’s gearing up for an Oscar nom for the Toy Story song. But I wonder if she will have an “Alexander wept as he had no more worlds to conquer” moment.
David this is an amazing essay. I had no idea of Dicken’s background, that he had so many children, acted in plays, or that he died relatively young. The sentence/statement: “Great talent is more a gift to the public than it is to the artist” is proven over and over again throughout history. I too, wonder if Swift will be able to shift into a more balanced life in her marriage and family - or if they even have children. I suspect they will. I also wonder if her creativity will “suffer” at all now that she is happily partnered. It seems a lot of her material derived from bad relationships. A lot of creatives are inspired by their pain. Sadly.
This was fascinating--I recognized the lyrics immediately (also one of my favorite songs/favorite plays). At first, I wasn't quite sure where you might be going with the essay, and the tie-in to the book was both unexpected and terrific. Wondering if the novelist dealt with the fact that when Dickens tired of his "fat wife" he had her committed? (A fact I think is true--and one I've never quite gotten over.) Anyway, fantastic post.
Taylor Swift has something essential at the center of her art that Charles Dickens never had: Joie de Vivre. It’s irresistible and can’t be bought, though everyone tries. It fills stadiums. And she pours it out generously.
"The requirements to stay at the top are too intense and the seduction of being at the top is so strong that your life and your ambition become the same." Excellent!
Excellent article, David. I appreciate your juxtaposition to Dickens and Swift. An apt comparison and astute observations.
One of the great gifts I've had from Substack is to read the inner lives of so many writers I admire and understand that, regardless of levels of recognition, we are all leading similarly vulnerable lives. There's no escaping. Sometimes that feels awful. Sometimes it's truly liberating. I enjoyed this, thank you.
Reading this, I’m reminded of Dickens’ profound unhappiness when he toured the United States in 1842. He’d visited the Northeast and been impressed so far, hoping he’d get to see one of the best and most vibrant experiments in democracy, and it was the first time he and his wife Catherine had felt genuine connection in their relationship in a long while. Then he visited Washington, and he was disillusioned by it, with Congressmen on both sides of the aisle calling each other money-grubbers and President Tyler acting meekly around him. Dickens had been nursing a slight anxiety around overpacked crowds with every public appearance, compounded by rough travel periods and issues with publishers who’d violated his copyrights, and when he visited the South, he was outraged by both the unhygienic tobacco spitting and the prevalence of slavery. He headed for the free states of the Midwest and Toronto before leaving the continent disillusioned, his marriage ending on the rocks about a decade later. But he was at the top of his literary fame in America then.
Incidentally he was no better when he visited America the second time in 1867, as although he’d achieved even greater fame worldwide, he was still plagued by the death of two of his children, his illness, the winter conditions, and his new lover Annie having stayed behind in England. Not long after, he would conduct a farewell tour of his homeland.
(I might note that Dickens has presaged enough about America as a whole, now the top superpower of the world, but still grappling with the legacy of slavery and poor work-life balance all around.)
David, I love your book reviews disguised as perceptive commentary. Just ordered Five Weeks to read next!
The Hans Christian Anderson statue in Central Park is one of my favorites. I hope he wasn’t as sad as Dickens all the time.
I think Dickens would have approved of Swift’s name too - first name is an homage to James Taylor (really!), last name is a wink at how she was submitting demos by age 11.
Fascinating on Dickens, thanks, David.
What always strikes me most about Dickens's personal life is neither his genius nor misery. It's what happened to Catherine. Ten births over twenty-two years, and her reward was to be characterized by her own husband as unstable and unfit, so that he could secure a legal separation. She, on the other hand, kept his old love letters and asked her daughter to show them to the world one day.
Meanwhile her younger sister, Georgina, moved into the house, stayed on as Dickens' housekeeper and confidante after the marriage collapsed, helped raise Catherine's own children, and was later named an executor of his will. Catherine was replaced inside her own home, by her own family, and erased out of the life she had built.
I'm looking forward to reading the Prose book, definitely, but maybe someone should write Catherine's story too!
I was thinking the same thing!
I love this post David! (And especially the title from my all-time favorite musical). I always think of Dickens as the first real celebrity, with a tour schedule, people waiting for him outside his hotel, and mass hysteria over his latest release (and he and Taylor are both known for being extremely prolific).
One difference is Dickens’ extremely unhappy and unsupported childhood, as you’ve mentioned. It seems that Taylor has a very supportive family, which makes a huge difference in self-esteem and ability to form genuine relationships in adulthood.
I do wonder for her though - what could possibly come next? Maybe she doesn’t see it that way. It does seem she’s gearing up for an Oscar nom for the Toy Story song. But I wonder if she will have an “Alexander wept as he had no more worlds to conquer” moment.
David this is an amazing essay. I had no idea of Dicken’s background, that he had so many children, acted in plays, or that he died relatively young. The sentence/statement: “Great talent is more a gift to the public than it is to the artist” is proven over and over again throughout history. I too, wonder if Swift will be able to shift into a more balanced life in her marriage and family - or if they even have children. I suspect they will. I also wonder if her creativity will “suffer” at all now that she is happily partnered. It seems a lot of her material derived from bad relationships. A lot of creatives are inspired by their pain. Sadly.
This was fascinating--I recognized the lyrics immediately (also one of my favorite songs/favorite plays). At first, I wasn't quite sure where you might be going with the essay, and the tie-in to the book was both unexpected and terrific. Wondering if the novelist dealt with the fact that when Dickens tired of his "fat wife" he had her committed? (A fact I think is true--and one I've never quite gotten over.) Anyway, fantastic post.
Taylor Swift has something essential at the center of her art that Charles Dickens never had: Joie de Vivre. It’s irresistible and can’t be bought, though everyone tries. It fills stadiums. And she pours it out generously.
"The requirements to stay at the top are too intense and the seduction of being at the top is so strong that your life and your ambition become the same." Excellent!
Very enjoyable article!