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An unprecedented boom in the UK! A 19th century British version of Don Quixote! Dickens' The Pickwick Club
The Pickwick Club is Dickens' first full-length novel, first serialized in 1836.
I read "The Pickwick Club" translated by Teiji Kitagawa, Chikuma Bunko.
This work is Cervantes'Don Quixote."Dostoevsky's masterpiece, written with an awareness ofThe Moron.This work has also had a great influence on the
Let's get right to the synopsis.
Mr. Pickwick, a wealthy gentleman retired from the business world, is a man of simple character and full of love for humanity. Wherever he goes, he tries his best to help people and put down evil. However, he is too good a person and instead always fails. ...... Dickens' first full-length novel, with the hope of human restoration at the bottom of his light-hearted, joyful laughter.
Chikuma Bunko, back cover of "The Pickwick Club" translated by Teiji Kitagawa
The figure standing up on the chair in this illustration is the good English "Don Quixote," Mr. Pickwick.
He has a distinctive appearance with a bald head, round glasses, and tight white pants around his plump belly.
The commentary at the end of the book gives a very clear overview of the "Pickwick Club".
Mr. Pickwick, the protagonist of this novel, is a wealthy gentleman retired from business, but he is a man of innocence and simplicity, an incarnation of charity and love for humanity. In the vanguard of his itinerant career, he seeks to bring down the wicked, save the afflicted, expose falsehoods, and right the wrongs of the world. But his character is so good, and his good intentions so pure, that he falls prey to the wiles of the wicked and makes nothing but comical mistakes. The laughter that he provokes is born of his chivalry and love of humanity, and thus a cheerful and joyful laughter always spreads around Mr. Pickwick.
He is accompanied by a squire named Sam Weller, an energetic, genuine Londoner who knows all about the world and serves his master faithfully. With such a follower, Mr. Pickwick resembles Don Quixote, who set out on his journey of self-training with Sancho Panza as his companion.
The laughter in "Don Quixote" is diverse and extremely complex, but the heart of the laughter comes from the conflict and discrepancy between Don Quixote's noble ideals and dreams, which are based on the ideals of chivalry, and the vulgar and prosaic reality of the world. In the case of "The Pickwick Club," the laughter is similarly generated when Mr. Pickwick's innocent good intentions and noble love of humanity clash with the vulgar reality of nineteenth-century England.
Chikuma Bunko, translation by Teiji Kitagawa, "The Pickwick Club," middle volume, p. 478-479.
Some line breaks have been made.
Indeed, this work bears a striking resemblance to "Don Quixote" in many respects.
Dickens' intention to revive Don Quixote in 19th century England is clearly visible.
And its giggle-inducing humor is also beautifully recreated.
In one of these amusing scenes, Mr. Pickwick, who had fallen asleep while drinking a chilled Pons liquor with his hunting companions, was left alone at just the right moment.
Moreover, just then, the owner of the land, Captain Pikwik, arrives and discovers Mr. Pikwik. He suspects him of being a trespasser.
Who are you, you scoundrel?" With a thick stick, the Captain poked Mr. Pickwick several times on the body. What's your name?"
Cool ponce," Pickwick murmured as he drifted off to sleep again.
What did you say?" Captain Baldwig asked.
No reply.
What did this guy say his name was?" The captain asked.
I think it's Pons," Wilkins replied.
That's his thick, damn thick," Captain Baldwig said.
He is now pretending to be asleep," said the Captain in exasperation. He's a drunkard, a drunkard commoner. Wilkins, get a car and take him away.
Chikuma Bunko, translated by Teiji Kitagawa, The Pickwick Club, vol. 1, p464-465
Thus he was taken away and left in an enclosure where the animals were kept.
When Mr. Pickwick woke up, he was surrounded by a crowd. He had become a complete spectacle.
One more thing,
At the inn where he was staying, Mr. Pickwick inadvertently returned to a different person's room in the middle of the night.
And what a bad time for a middle-aged woman to come back there.
The exchange between Mr. and Mrs. Pickwick at this time was also amusing.
I keep chuckling when I read the series of hunting scenes and Mr. Pickwick's mistaking this room for the other. I am still chuckling as I write this article.
The Pickwick Club" is that funny and humorously written. It is also very similar to "Don Quixote" in this area. Don Quixote" was also full of scenes that made me giggle.
Those who read it in England at the time laughed out loud, and the whole of England looked forward to seeing Mr. Pickwick in action week after week.
Relationship between Dostoevsky's "The Idiot" and "The Pickwick Club"
Now, Dickens' "The Pickwick Club" took England by storm, but Dostoevsky, who was in Russia, was also a fan of this work.
And this work is Dostoevsky's masterpiece.The Moron.This will have a significant impact on the the explanations at the end of the book.
Dostoevsky was a great admirer of Dickens' novels. It is said that Dickens' "The Pickwick Club" and "David Copperfield" (1849-50) were the only books he read regularly during his Siberian exile. In a letter to his niece when the first part of "The Moron" (1868) was completed, he said that the intention of "The Moron" was to portray "a very good man," and he went on to describe how difficult it was to portray a truly good man,
The only extremely good man in the whole world is Christ alone. The most perfect type of goodness in Christian literature is Don Quixote. But Lance is good only because he is at the same time funny. Dickens' Pickwick (less inspired than Don Quixote, but still a huge character) is also a comic figure and succeeds for this reason. For a good man who does not know his own worth and who becomes a target of ridicule, a feeling of pity is born. Thus, sympathy is aroused in the reader. This arousal of sympathy is the secret of humor.
He lambasts the Duke of Myshkin for his lack of humor, but his appreciation and criticism are sharp, and he deftly sees the deep connection between humor and goodness in Mr. Pickwick.
Chikuma Bunko, translation by Teiji Kitagawa, The Pickwick Club, middle volume, p478.
Some line breaks have been made.
In "The Moron," Dostoevsky aspired to write about the "perfectly beautiful person" in Russia.
The "Perfectly Beautiful Man" is, after all, Christ himself, whose most successful film to date was "Don Quixote," followed by "The Pickwick Club.
Dostoevsky will analyze Don Quixote and Mr. Pickwick in detail to capture their character traits. The result of his analysis would then give that characterization to the Marquis de Muyshkin, the protagonist of "The Idiot.
If you have read "The Moron," you may be surprised by the following sentence. Dickens scholar Keiko Shimada describes Mr. Pickwick's characterization as follows
The simple and innocent are able to see the reality of the world freely and without prejudice, with eyes that are not caught up in anything.
Waiting for the child's eyes, Mr. Pickwick takes everything as it is, without question, and reports as he observes it. Mr. Pickwick simply reports through his own lens and does not analyze or offer an opinion on the meaning of the people or things he observes.
When he first realizes that he has been duped by Jingle and Job Trotter, "he doesn't try to speak a word," but only becomes "bewildered and startled. Pickwick himself is merely amazed, not understanding the meaning of the world's depravity or its grotesqueness.
It gives the reader the feeling as if a foreigner has come to a strange country and is recounting the amazing events and failures he or she experienced there. They are, indeed, foreigners in this world.
Just as it is sometimes only through the eyes of a foreigner that one is made aware of the strangeness of one's own country, so through the innocent eyes of Mr. Pickwick, the reader is made aware of the reality of the deception, corruption, and neglect that pervade the legal, religious, media, political, academic, and artistic worlds of his country and is made aware of the corruption and grotesqueness of this world. They are made aware of the grotesqueness and depravity of the world.
Keiko Shimada, Sairyusha, "The Darkness and Light of Dickens' Literature: Stories of People Fascinated by the Light that Illuminates Evil," P45-46
Some line breaks have been made.
This is exactly the commentary that applies to the Marquis de Muyshkin, the protagonist of "Moron.
I too was surprised by this.
Indeed, Mr. Pickwick and the Marquis de Muyshkin are very similar in this respect.
Moreover, these two forgive the other, no matter how much they have been cheated or treated badly.
This character of "forgiving others" is also common because it is in the image of Jesus Christ.
Also, one last important story to share.
These are the words of Mr. Pickwick's faithful squire, Sam Weller, about his master, Mr. Pickwick.
Listen, I've never heard of an angel wearing tight-fitting trousers and a gaiter, nor have I read about it in a storybook or seen it in a picture - nor an angel with glasses, although, come to think of it, that guy might have had them on upside down. -but listen to me, Jop Trotter, that man is, nevertheless, a pure-bred angel at all. If anyone knows of a more noble man, I'd like to meet him for one thing."
Chikuma Bunko, translated by Teiji Kitagawa, "The Pickwick Club," vol. 2, p. 181
Squire Sam Weller, who kept the closest eye on Mr. Pickwick, fell in love with him wholeheartedly and marveled that he was as nice as a "purebred angel."
And it is not only Sam Weller, all the characters in the work have to like him. He is such a good person and so many people love him.
This is also true of Myshkin in "The Moron". He too has the magical power to be loved by all.
What has been described above is a property that has been clearly passed down from Christ-Don Quixote-Pikwik-Muyshkin.
Dostoevsky's "The Idiot" is an attempt to do in Russia what Dickens accomplished in 19th century England. (*This, of course, is not the only absolute motive.)
It is against this background that "The Pickwick Club" is said to have had such a profound influence on Dostoevsky.
Conclusion
Of Dickens' works, "The Pickwick Club" is the most important for studying Dostoevsky.
Aside from his influence on Dostoevsky's masterpiece "The Idiot," Dickens' humor would have been a major source of inspiration in his life.
I will end this article with a few words from Keiko Shimada on "The Pickwick Club.
This work became the most beloved of Dickens' works and the second bestseller after the Bible. It is a testament to the fact that many readers, suffering from the evil and injustice that infested society at the time and thirsting for hope, laughed out loud at the pinnacle of this comedic creation and saw hope in the possibility of the realization of the Kingdom of God in the world. They, too, would have followed Sam to new membership in the Pickwick Club.
Keiko Shimada, Sairyusha, "The Darkness and Light of Dickens' Literature: Stories of People Fascinated by the Light that Illuminates Evil," P60
Dickens' "The Pickwick Club" is not well known in Japan, but it has influenced not only Dostoevsky but the whole world.
I had not heard of this work until recently, but after reading it, I was convinced that it was very interesting.
The above is a synopsis of Dickens' "The Pickwick Club" - A powerful influence on Dostoevsky's "The Moron!" - 19th century England's version of Don Quixote! The above is a synopsis of "The Pickwick Club" by Dickens.
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