Relating Dickens World to Ours
Dickens is well-known for his lengthy descriptions and ability to evoke a “vibe” within all of his scenes. Also, as a reader, I feel that there is always the input of one’s personal imagination when it comes to world building. The combination of Dickens description and my own image culminated into something that was somewhat .. different from the London we saw. I feel like since so much of London has been changed, modernized, and diversified, it was hard to picture exactly what Dickens was describing by just seeing the places.
For example, I imagined Tellson’s Bank would be a small space in the second story of a building rather than in the arch that we found. This was not a bad thing as I felt I was further understanding Dicken's description after seeing it in person. I loved seeing Soho Square but I felt the Manettes were a little distant without seeing the inside of their house which was what felt more accessible to me as a setting when I was reading the book.
BUT
There were exceptions. The places that stuck out to me most in correlation to the novel were those that felt the most unchanged or unaffected.
Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese was one of these places. As I sat there I felt exactly what it would have been like when Charles Darnay was sitting there with Carton discussing the meaning of their lives. I also in turn felt the presence of Dickens and how he would have frequented the place. The older wooden structures and the gold printed manuscript with the name of the pub written all transported me to the time of the novel or of Dickens. I could imagine sitting there at night talking with friends about personal turmoils with just the candlelight to see. I understood why that was where Dickens had chosen to take Darnay after he was acquitted and how it represented that 18th century feeling.
The other places that I felt most connected to the characters in the novel was the house that showed rooms from the 18th and 19th century as if the family had just left. This experience was wildly gratifying and solidified the homespaces that I was imagining. Also, the type of imagination that we were required to use in this place felt very similar to the kind we should be using for bookpacking in general. Seeing things as they are and imagining that the characters or Dickens were just there. I really appreciated how each room was littered with smells and dishes and paintings that would have found their way into these people’s homes. One of the rooms even felt like Lucie could have decorated it. (Disclaimer: these pictures were found on the internet for the interior, I did not take pictures inside)
The images in the iPad that were shown to us in each specific place gave me a better way to relate my reading. In nearly every spot, we were shown an image or drawing of what the place had looked like before. I found the drawings to pull out the scenery from the novel better than the live scenery around us.
Dickens himself was someone that we were trying to pin down the presence of while in London. Visiting his house gave us this feeling since we saw his writing and where he used to live and work. I enjoyed seeing that he actually owned Hogarth’s drawings and looking through his various items. Another place that I felt a connection to dickens was the bookstore with the first edition Dickens novels. Seeing A Tale of Two Cities in the first edition displayed the time that the book was written with its leather binding and yellowed pages. I found that these excursions gave me a good sense of who Dickens was.
The challenge of Bookpacking is finding how to take the imaginary world that you have created with the writer and connecting it to the actual city around you. It was definitely more of a challenge at the beginning, but I have found my way into not solidifying the fictional world until I’ve seen the real life representation. Seeing these places in person has definitely supplemented my imagination and given me a more accurate portrayal of everything Dickens was describing.