Friends of the Dickens Forum,

	Julie Stielstra <[log in to unmask]> adds to our list of
"brutally funny" passages from Dickens:			(pjm
--

Wackford Squeers surely qualifies as brutal and very funny, and I
chuckle just thinking about Blandois / Rigaud, a "gentlemanly" brute
of the first order.

Julie Stielstra
Lyons, IL

----

--Here is the post which began this thread:

              Grahame Smith <[log in to unmask]>
      forwards a recommendation that may indeed be too late, Christmas
      busy-mess being what it is.  The post makes us think of Jingle on
      the woman who lost her head under the arch, but what other passages
      does the post refer to?    (pjm)
      ---

      I hope it's not too late to recommend a piece by the
      English novelist
      [Howard Jacobson] in The Independent for 29 December 2012
      headlined
      'It's easy to love the Christmassy Dickens. But can we
      deal with the
      brutally funny one?'

      With the aid of some incisive remarks from Santayana,
      Jacobson moves
      convincingly to his conclusion that 'we are grown too
      refined'
      for the brutally funny Dickens. 'Quite simply, we are not
      robust enough
      to enjoy him.'

      Grahame Smith (Emeritus Stirling)