American Notes for General Circulation, by Charles Dickens
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American Notes for General Circulation, by Charles Dickens
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American Notes for General Circulation is a travelogue by Charles Dickens detailing his trip to North America from January to June, 1842. Whilst there he acted as a critical observer of North American society, almost as if returning a status report on their progress. This can be compared to the style of his Pictures from Italy written four years later, where he wrote far more like a tourist. His American journey was also an inspiration for his novel Martin Chuzzlewit. Having arrived in Boston, he visited Lowell, New York, and Philadelphia, and travelled as far south as Richmond, as far west as St. Louis and as far north as Quebec. The American city he liked best was Boston – ”the air was so clear, the houses were so bright and gay. The city is a beautiful one, and cannot fail, I should imagine, to impress all strangers very favourably.” Further, it was close to the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind where Dickens encountered Laura Bridgman, who impressed him greatly. Throughout the narrative, finding much to admire in Americans he met and in their way of life, he also notes what he sees as their faults, sometimes jocularly. Then, in a conclusion, he gives his considered analysis of what he views as major flaws in US society. First and most serious is slavery. Apart from its corruption of both whites and blacks in slave states, the free states are complicit in the system. In particular, he is horrified by the physical violence vented on both male and female slaves. Next, he places violence. The ideals of liberty and equality seem to include the freedom to shoot or knife any other American. Third, he cites what he calls universal distrust, the extreme individualism that leads people to suspect others and to seek advantage over them. With a few exceptions, the scandal-seeking press contributes by undermining private life and destroying confidence in public life.
American Notes for General Circulation, by Charles Dickens- Published on: 2015-09-28
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.00" h x .70" w x 6.00" l, .92 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 308 pages
About the Author Arguably one of the greatest writers of the Victorian era, Charles Dickens is the author of such literary masterpieces as A Tale of Two Cities (1859), A Christmas Carol (1843), David Copperfield (1850), and The Adventures of Oliver Twist (1839), among many others. Dickens' s indelible characters and timeless stories continue to resonate with readers around the world more than 130 years after his death. Dickens was born in 1812 and died in 1870.
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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful. Excellent piece of history By Seth Davidson By the time Dickens made his first trip to the U.S., he had already achieved extraordinary fame, having completed The Pickwick Papers, Nicholas Nickleby, The Old Curiosity Shop, and Barnaby Rudge. He was 30, and at the peak of his energy, if not yet at the height of his literary powers.American Notes has a few passages that qualify as some of Dickens's very best. It's worth reading just for his account of the Atlantic passage, as the combination of humor, terror, and blunt-trauma reality of sailing across the Atlantic in a wooden ship is one of the finest pieces of nautical writing ever done.American Notes is exactly what the title suggests: a compilation of disconnected observations that are loosely tied together by what is ostensibly a fact finding mission to learn about progressive institutions such as prisons and homes for the handicapped. These jottings come to fruition in a full blown novel when Dickens writes Martin Chuzzlewit.By itself, American Notes is a brilliant journal of how the U.S. appeared to a liberal Englishman in the middle of the 19th Century. Dickens's comments on slavery, on the lives of African-Americans in New York, on the prairie, and on spitting are as interesting and occasionally funny to read today as they must have been 160 years ago. The best thing about American Notes is that you can buy it as part of the 200+ Works of Charles Dickens collection for your Kindle, and sample as much or as little of it as strikes your fancy.
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful. Dickens and the Unvarnished America of 1842 By M. PFAUTZ This is Charles Dickens' unvarnished view of America in 1842 when our Revolution was less than 70 years old. For six months he toured the northeastern states, venturing as far west as Cincinnati and south to Richmond, while collecting observations of American folkways that he lampooned in typical Dickens fashion. His descriptions of Washington D.C. and its lawmakers should not be missed and are prescient of what would be Mark Twain's satiric sense. Referencing Washington's street design of boulevards and avenues Dickens related that it was often referred to as the "City of Magnificent Distances", but Dickens thought "City of Magnificent Intentions" might be a better descriptor - perhaps still a figurative portrayal for our time.Dickens pulls no punches in his account of a country mired in the slavery controversy between Free States and Slave States, and additionally describes the dismal situation in American prisons and asylums. For me it was most difficult to assimilate the Slavery chapter which included American newspaper clippings of slave sales and "Runaway Slave" classifieds - truly a sad report on the pre-Civil War United States.Reading this as an historical document I strongly recommend the Kindle version so you can utilize the e-dictionary and Internet as you experience Dickens vivid command of the English language in this remarkable journey.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Comparing America to England in 1850's By Carol One needs to get accustomed to the English and Charles Dickens speech of the 1850's. I found it eye opening of American cities and their beginnings, and of Charles Dickens' opinion of places, compared to England. The boat and train rides would have been tough to endure, The atrocities he saw of the Black Slaves, and his sympathies toward them was, as always to me, appalling. He saw so much in his travels, some were very humorous, but his descriptions were very vivid.
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