Brian Beise (Books Ningmaster)'s Blog Posts Tagged 'dickens' (4)

Listen Jena, I did my best to stay calm throughout The Dark Knight Rises. When Selina Kyle kicked Bruce’s cane out from under him, when I realized Bruce’s limp was from the fall at the end of The Dark Knight, when Alfred and Bruce discussed Rachel, and when Batman faced Bane in the sewer, I managed not to cry out or jump to my feet. But when Gordon quoted Dickens, when lines from A Tale of Two Cities were uttered in a Batman movie, I had to cover…

Listen, Jena, it turns out Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities was a key inspiration for The Dark Knight Rises. Seeing as the 200th anniversary of Dickens’ birth is this coming February 7, I thought it’d be nice to explore the themes Christopher Nolan might be drawing on.

It’s clear that Gotham explodes with civil unrest in the film. The trailer shows scenes of a wealthy house being  raided, the people inside it dragged down the stairs and…

Listen, Jena, I know I’ve gone on about Charles Dickens a bit this month, but it’s Christmas time, and no writer helps us define and celebrate the season like Dickens. So here are six interesting facts about his miniature masterpiece, A Christmas Carol.

1. Dickens wrote the book in just two months (October and November, 1843).
2. The first printing of 6,000 copies sold out in days.
3. Within six weeks of its publication on December 19, 1843,…

Listen, Jena, if you get around to reading this entry, it won’t be because the title pulled you in. It’ll be because you love me, for some reason. This got me thinking about writing and mortality, and made me wonder; who’s better suited to enjoy Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol: his wife Catherine, or me?

Dickens dabbled in mesmerism. He was an actor, a philanthropist, a maker of amazing punch, and able to read his works aloud so effectively that women…