David Copperfield Lecture: Tempest (Vol. III, Ch. XXXVIII-LXIV) (Patreon)

‘And now, as I close my task, subduing my desire to linger yet, these faces fade away. But, one face, shining on me like a Heavenly light by which I see all other objects, is above them and beyond them all. And that remains.'

Happy Holidays, Book Club Readers! I hope you've been enjoying the festive spirit, doing something special around this time, and managing to get a nice bit of reading in. Today we're discussing the enthralling final volume of David Copperfield by Charles Dickens.

We’re talking about the golden rules of Dickens’ writing success, how to know true love, the language of Shakespeare, British migration to Australia, anagnorisis, revelation, redemption, justice, sea narratives, the glory of peripheral characters, how trifles make the sum of life, and much more.

As always, please do feel free to listen to this discussion regardless of where you are in the novel as I continue to be mindful of spoilers for later in the narrative.

Timestamps:

0:00 reaching the climax of David Copperfield

2:00 the growth of Charles Dickens’ alter-ego

4:00 symphonic foreshadowing in the novel

6:00 the language of Shakespeare in Dickens

8:00 ‘the anchor of my tempest-driven bark’

10:00 how to know if you’re really in love

12:00 Dora & David’s relationship dynamic

14:00 inspiration of Dickens’ real life pain

16:00 David’s response to Spenlow’s death

18:00 how to write a good bildungsroman

20:00 Dickens’ financial morality tale

21:00 altering others vs altering yourself

22:00 Agnes as voice of David’s heart

24:00 the personal life of Charles Dickens

26:00 hearing the voice of Dickens himself

28:00 succeeding despite personal problems

29:00 the secret of Dickens’ writing success

32:00 unconscious drives & latent vs manifest

34:00 David Copperfield becomes an author

36:00 reflecting on the career of Dickens

38:00 set-piece wedding of David & Dora

40:00 the musicality of Dickensian prose

42:00 what do we make of David & Dora?

44:00 the life advice of Betsey Trotwood

46:00 complex multi-character narrative

48:00 novels as heroic wish-fulfilments

50:00 the redemption arc of Little Em’ly

52:00 Steerforth & fallen woman narrative

54:00 David Copperfield vs Rosa Dartle

56:00 ‘Elegy in a Country Church-yard’

58:00 stories of life are stories about death

1:00:00 Martha Endell down by the river

1:01:00 why the obsession with the sea?

1:02:00 rejecting society’s definitions of us

1:03:00 revelation & redemption at the end

1:05:00 the origin of Aunt Betsey’s wisdom

1:07:00 character constantly revealed in action

1:08:00 the story of the prodigal niece

1:10:00 the anagnorisis of Little Em’ly

1:12:00 British emigration to Australia

1:13:00 on feeling like a stranger at home

1:14:00 the glory of great peripheral characters

1:16:00 on being the hero of your own life

1:18:00 resolving the justice arc of Uriah Heep

1:19:00 humility as ironical inversion of pride

1:20:00 why Dickens loves a good underdog

1:22:00 Uriah’s place in Dante’s Inferno?

1:23:00 the tragic death scene of Dora

1:25:00 reaching the climactic tempest scene

1:26:00 sublime Dickensian pathetic fallacy

1:28:00 the death of Ham & Steerforth

1:29:00 travelling after life-changing trauma

1:30:00 significance of David’s Europe trip

1:31:00 David’s loving reunion with Agnes

1:32:00 happy ending of David Copperfield

1:33:00 aligning our reading with the seasons

1:34:00 restless motion arriving at stillness

1:36:00 appreciating the final passage together

1:37:00 an early review of David Copperfield

1:38:00 discussing our first big read of next year

1:39:00 how was your reading journey this year?

1:40:00 expressing my gratitude for you

1:41:00 what did you make of David Copperfield?

Resources & Exercises:

• Film Appreciation: We have already recommended some great film and television adaptations of this phenomenal novel, but, if you haven't watched any yet, I would like to take another moment to encourage you to do so. Reward yourself for finishing this sprawling work with a private screening of a great adaptation. I have enjoyed a recent film adaptation, an older, classic film adaptation, and a tremendous BBC television series and can heartily recommend them all.

• A Christmas Carol: Did you get a moment to reread this classic festive story again this year? Did you watch any film adaptations? Did you read or watch any other festive works? If you read A Christmas Carol, you might enjoy hearing my commentary on this masterful short work here.

• Sifting Literature: Tolstoy said: 'If you sift the world’s prose literature, Dickens will remain; sift Dickens, David Copperfield will remain; sift David Copperfield, the description of the storm at sea will remain.' Do you agree? And what other writers, stories, and scenes do you think would remain?

• Reflection: We will very shortly have a discussion reflecting on all of the books we read together this year, so try to claim a moment of calm during this festive period to look back on what you have accomplished this year. You should feel incredibly proud of the great books you have read and how thoroughly you have brought your self to them. What books, writers, and insights remain in your mind and heart at the end of this year?

• Challenge: Towards the end of the novel, David realises the profound truth that 'trifles make the sum of life.' Around this time of year, there is much talk of big goals and setting new habits. But what about the small trifles that compose our lives? When the small things are taken care of, the big things often come into place. So how can you improve the small day-to-day habits that comprise your life going into the new year? My challenge to you, and myself, is to list these small trifles out and brainstorm some ways to make them more meaningful and fulfilling.

• Journals: A new year is a great opportunity to start some new journals. You likely already know my recommended journals by now. They are the Leuchturrm1917 bullet journal range with dotted graph paper, and the pen of choice for me is the Japanese Muji ballpoint gel pens. Journals are great for those ideas that require much more space and reflection than can fit in the margins of the actual books.

• Our Next Masterpiece: As mentioned at the end of the above discussion, we are keeping it simple going into next year with the same weekly release rhythm for our big read lectures. This weekend coming we will have our 'how to read' introductory lecture for Gabriel García Márquez' One Hundred Years of Solitude. The following weekend we will have our introduction to Ovid's Metamorphoses, and we will move back and forth in that fashion between García Márquez and Ovid. We will talk about our approach, pacing, themes, and more in that first dedicated introductory video, and all you need to do at this point is secure your copies. Although, if you want to get started now, I recommend deep-reading the very first chapter of Solitude this week, which runs to eighteen pages in the Penguin edition. I've put my recommended translations and editions in a downloadable document you can access at the bottom of the schedule post here.

Questions for You:

1) What did you make of the ending of David Copperfield?

2) How would you persuade another to read the novel? And what advice would you give to facilitate a meaningful reading experience?

3) What was your favourite part of the story? What resonated with you the most? And what will you remember most vividly from your reading?

4) How does this novel compare with the other works of Dickens you have read? If this is your first Dickens novel, are you excited to read more of his stories?

Happy Holidays and love to you all!