Dickens, Charles "Nicholas Nickleby"

Dickens, Charles "Nicholas Nickleby. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby" - 1838/39

For the Classics Spin #39, we received #3 and this was my novel.

I have read most of the books by Charles Dickens by now but there are still a few left. So, I was happy that this number got drawn. So, here was the chance to devour one more of his fabulous books.

And fabulous it was. It had everything a Dickens novel needs: villains and virtues, rogues and good people, a helicopter mother from the Georgian era, just a caleidoscope of people from his time with lots of intrigues. Not to forget the great names he gives his characters: The Cheerybles, The Crummles, Sir Mulberry Hawk, Newman Noggs, Peg Sliderskew, Wackford Squeers, one of them funnier than the last.

Of course, this is a novel against social injustice. And while we might think that is better today, some things never change.

Obviously, a lot happens in the story, much of it is already given in the synopsis, so I wouldn't want to add to that in order not to spoil it for the first-time readers. Therefore, I finish with a quote from Oscar Wilde (in "The Importance of Being Earnest"): "The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means".

From the back cover:

"When Nicholas Nickleby is left penniless after his father's death, he appeals to his wealthy uncle to help him find work and to protect his mother and sister. But Ralph Nickleby proves both hard-hearted and unscrupulous, and Nicholas finds himself forced to make his own way in the world. His adventures gave Dickens the opportunity to portray an extraordinary gallery of rogues and eccentrics, such as Wackford Squeers, the tyrannical headmaster of Dotheboys Hall, a school for unwanted boys; the slow-witted orphan Smike, rescued by Nicholas; and the gloriously theatrical Mr. and Mrs. Crummles and their daughter, the 'infant phenomenon'. Like many of Dickens's novels, Nicholas Nickleby is characterised by his outrage at cruelty and social injustice, but it is also a flamboyantly exuberant work, revealing his comic genius at its most unerring."

Here are all the books on my original Classics Club list.
And here is a list of all the books I read with the Classics Spin.

Happy December!

Happy December to all my Friends and Readers

New Calendar picture with this
beautiful watercolour painting by Frank Koebsch

"Wenn der Schlitten kaputt ist - Weihnachtsmann an der Ostsee"

"When the sled is broken - Santa Claus at the Baltic Sea"

Frank says to this picture:

"In the harbour of Althagen, in a landscape of snow, ice and sunshine, there was a bright red coastal fisherman's boat. When I started thinking about a motif for a Christmas watercolor, I converted the fisherman's boat into a boat for Santa Claus and that's how my watercolour came about."

"Im Hafen von Althagen lag in einer Landschaft mit Schnee, Eis und Sonnenschein ein knallrotes Boot der Küstenfischer. Als ich dann begann, über ein Motiv für ein Weihnachtsaquarell nachzudenken, funktionierte ich dann das Boot der Fischer in ein Boot für den Weihnachtsmann um und so ist mein Aquarell entstanden."

Read more on their website here. *

It's nice to think about Father Christmas coming by boat. In the Netherlands, that's exactly how the story goes, he comes by boat from Spain on St. Nicholas' Eve (though a little posher than this one). Mind you, he looks a little more like a bishop, as he did everywhere when I was little.

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We had some nice days in November but also some not so nice ones, as usual in this month. Some days were pretty grey but I like the calmness this part of autumn brings.

Probably not the highlight of the month, but certainly a great day was our annual charity week in the Industrial Museum in our town. They sell each donated book for €1, children's books for €0,50. So, I got myself a nice stash of classics and some newer ones.

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Did you know that Germany has a lot of different names in different languages?

Well, first of all, Germans call it Deutschland from the Old High German diutisc, Dutch Duitsland, Scandinavians Tyskland.

The Romanic languages call it Allemagne in French or Alemania in Spanish, from the Alamanni tribe that settled in today's Alsace, parts of Baden-Württemberg and Switzerland, and hence they were the neighbours of those regions.

In Italy it is known as Germania from the Latin Germania (where also the English word comes from), it describes fertile land for farming behind the Limes (the Roman border defence in Germany).

In Polish it is called Niemcy from the Protoslavic nemets for meaning "mute, unable to speak" but also foreigner/stranger.

In Finnish and Estonian they call it Saksa and Saksamaa respectively from the name of the Saxon tribe. 

And there's a reason, of course, why we have all these different names. Germany as one country has only existed since the 1866 when Prussia and other northern and central German states created the North German Confederation, which was the forerunner to the German Empire. Before, the neighbouring country just called the people by the state they belonged to then.

 

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We had two book club meetings this month, one at the beginning, one at the end. And we read two lovely books, the first one was a re-read for me:

Ivey, Eowyn "To The Bright Edge of the World" - 2016

 and the second one was a German book that hasn't been translated, unfortunately:
Knöppler, Florian "Kronsnest" - Kronsnest [Name of Village] - 2020

 

My favourite book last month was "Stone in a Landslide" by Maria Barbal i Farré.

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The old German words for December are
Julmond, Heilmond, Christmond, or Dustermond.

Jul is the old-Germanic celebration of the winter solstice, also known as Yule.

Heil is healing, so the healing moon who gives us time to relax.

Christ should be self-explanatory.

Duster means dark, unfriendly. There is also a word "zappenduster" which I explained in August 2022.

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* You can also have a look under my labels Artist: Frank Koebsch and Artist: Hanka Koebsch where you can find all my posts about the two artists. 

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🎄 I wish you all a Happy December 🎄
🎄 and a Merry Christmas! 🎄