Welcome to Litsy!

This is a difficult book to love, but I do. Quilp is among the very worst of villains in Dickens‘ novels, which says a lot because there are so many wicked people in his novels. One of the main characters, Little Nell, almost 14, must lead her grandfather with dementia out of London and into the wide world. She learns in the harshest of ways his horrible dark secret, which persists along with his dementia. The most heartbreaking scene I‘ve read ⬇️

“…the lady carried upon her upper lip certain reddish demonstrations, which, if the imagination had been assisted by her attire, might have been mistaken for a beard. These were, however, in all probability, nothing more than eyelashes in a wrong place, as the eyes of Miss Brass were quite free from any such natural impertinencies.”

😂
#WhattheDickens

#wordoftheday #whattheDickens @Cuilin

The definition sort of begs the question doesn‘t it?

“Then, Mr Brass left off writing entirely, and, with his pen in his hand, hummed his very loudest; shaking his head meanwhile from side to side, like a man whose whole soul was in the music, and smiling in a manner quite seraphic.”

Speaking on behalf of lawyers, to some extent this is true!

#whattheDickens @Cuilin

Book coincidences are crazy! I read this word for the first time this week in Joan Didion‘s Democracy (above). Now, it‘s in Dickens!! What the heck!

“Quilp said not a word in reply, but walking so close to Kit as to bring his eyes within two or three inches of his face, looked fixedly at him, retreated a little distance without averting his gaze, approached again, again withdrew, and so on for half-a-dozen times, like a head in a phantasmagoria.”

Differentiating Dickens‘ characters!

#whattheDickens @Cuilin

“[Quilp] clung tight to his opponent, and bit and hammered away with such good-will and heartiness, that it was at least a couple of minutes before he was dislodged. Then, and not until then, Daniel Quilp found himself, all flushed and dishevelled, in the middle of the street, with Mr Richard Swiveller performing a kind of dance round him and requiring to know 'whether he wanted any more?'”

#whattheDickens @Cuilin

“The Pilgrimage begins.” Grandfather and Little Nell. #whattheDickens @Cuilin

I‘m well past this point in the book but want to catch up with the illustrations.

Quill‘s attorney Sampson Brass has a primate appearance here!

“Mr Brass, after writhing about, in a great many strange attitudes, and often twisting his face and eyes into an expression like that which is usually produced by eating gooseberries very early in the season, was by this time awake also. Seeing that Mr Quilp invested himself in his every-day garments, he hastened to do the like,…

I‘ve reached the “holidays” in the book. I‘m not sure if that means winter holidays but it‘s a good excuse to post another image from another dish from my grandmother‘s Old Curiosity Shop dishes.

Reading how popular this serialization of this book back in the day, I now understand why these dishes were made. Even the book description calls it the Harry Potter of its day.

#whattheDickens @Cuilin

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