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“Characters at Dickens’s Reading”

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These sketches of characters attending the public readings of Charles
Dickens appeared near the end of his second American tour.
Dickens had first journeyed to America in January 1842, eagerly
anticipating the land of liberty and liberalism. Americans were
just as exhilarated to catch a glimpse of the 30-year-old British
writer, already beloved on this side of the Atlantic for Sketches by
Boz, The Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist, and Nicholas
Nickleby. The tour, however, quickly degenerated into an
experience of
mutual disdain and recriminations. Dickens disliked the
intrusiveness of the American public, who stared at him and his wife, and
the press, which reported his every move. He found Americans to be
rude and vulgar, characteristics Americans ascribed to him after he
began delivering after-dinner speeches chastising them for reading his
works through pirated copies (there was no international copyright law
at the time).
To make matters worse, once he returned to England, Dickens published
even harsher views of the United States in American Notes and the
fictional Martin Chuzzlewit, particularly condemning the American
habit of
spitting and the institution of slavery (although he would support the
Confederacy during the Civil War). Americans were furious, with
critics panning American Notes and residents of New York City
burning copies of Martin Chuzzlewit. Nevertheless,
Dickens's later publications gained a wide readership in
America.
With some trepidation and against the advice of friends, the ailing
author returned to the United States in November 1867, 25 years after
his first unfortunate trip. Dickens's main motivation was to make
money. He was supporting four households and many family members
at the time, and was aware that his failing health meant his years were
numbered. When the publisher of Atlantic Monthly, James
Field, offered to pay him £10,000 up front, Dickens agreed to a series
of public readings of his works in the United States.
In 1858, Dickens had become the first major author to read from his
works in public for profit (an enterprise soon copied by Mark Twain and
others). For the evening performances, he would take the roles of
narrator and up to 20 characters from each selection (usually two or
three). The readings (472 in all; 27 for charity) were both very
popular and very profitable for the author. Critics raved, the
public flocked to the performances, sales of his books rose after each
reading, and he earned more for the public readings than from all his
book sales combined. In fact, he was arguably as famous for the
readings as for his books. His final performance at St. James Hall
in March 1870 was attended by 2000, who rose to their feet cheering at
its conclusion.
The return of Charles Dickens to the United States in 1867-1868 was
an unqualified triumph. Many Americans were too young to remember
Dickens's first tour of their country, while others had apparently
chosen to let bygones be bygones. Dickens, like America, had
matured and changed, and this time, he kept to himself any negative
reactions (like his contempt for the freed slaves). The author
gave 76 public readings over six months, earning him $3000 for each
performance and $228,000 total (in today's dollars, approximately
$50,000 per night and $3,800,000 total). In New York City, 5000
people stood in a mile-long line for tickets, while 40,000 attended his
performances there. His reception was equally enthusiastic in the
rest of the country.
On April 18, 1868, at a banquet in his honor hosted by the press in New
York City, Dickens delivered an after-dinner speech in which he
acknowledged the positive transformation which the United States had
undergone and apologized for his previous peevish reaction on his visit
decades before. Furthermore, he announced that he would have the
speech appended to each future edition of American Notes and Martin
Chuzzlewit, and the volumes have been so emended ever since.
Robert C. Kennedy
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