Open University A150 - Dickens' Hard Times

I'm reading Hard Times as part of my Open University A150 course, and really enjoying it. I never liked Dickens' work before but this novel, though it seems a very 'easy read' is extremely interesting in its use of language.

The narrator here is often polemical, satirical and downright bombastic when he is not being - by modern standards - somewhat over-sentimental. 

Nevertheless the language is dense and clever, and it seems to me extremely modern in tone. While at its most obvious level it is a rant about the terrible effects on society when those in control have an over-dependence on statistics and 'Facts', and the urgent and essential need for scope for the imagination in order to be truly human, I think it reveals much more about the tortured personality of Dickens himself. How amazingly 'modern' he was! How clever! But also how great was his own need to control all those in his own life, especially women. Not necessarily a likeable man underneath all his external charm, but certainly fascinating.

I have become intrigued by his personal story and am in the process of reading Peter Ackroyd's Biography of the writer, and this has given me a useful insight into Dickens' approach to writing, and also to his life as a public figure during the most dynamic years of the C19th. I thoroughly recommend Ackroyd's biography!