Timeless workss
All-time classics, though not seeped in moral lessons, sent across the message

Dr Shradha Kaul
As school children we get a peripheral or rather a ringside view of writers and their works. A novel or any other literary form, say a poem, a play or a short story is presented with a preconceived notion to us. We are served literary works on a platter, so to speak, a package deal with the moral thrown in for good measure.

The purpose of this piece is not to lament or criticise the way we deal with literature in our formative years but to ponder on and highlight some important things we may miss out on because of this perfectly fitted approach. The method is typical, and in fact can almost be replicated in every piece that we tackle - we have a story and we have some action and then comes in the moral or the fall out of the action that takes place in the piece.

The stress on meaningful may make us wonder as children if all literature were limited to incursions into the moral world.

In school, stories with bathos were essentially the ones by Charles Dickens. Dickens and his gut-wrenching and heart-rendering Oliver Twist left us all asking for ‘more’, the abridged version gave way to the complete novel. In our times access to movie versions was rare and it was a rare occasion when as a school kid I saw the movie version of Oliver Twist. My dedication to the book and the author was complete and established. I went on to read all the books by Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist was fraught with helpless orphan and destitute children. Loveless and luckless Oliver went on to ignite solidarity within me to fight for the cause. Dickens in his time was criticised for introducing the somber and real world through Oliver Twist after his light hearted Pickwick Papers. The fact that his own story was no different from the characters and the times he depicted lends his work the vividness only experience could render, making the depiction of contemporary life unforgettable. Dickens, due to family problems, had to give up school and work in a blacking factory where he had to bear harrowing conditions as well as loneliness and despair. This experience finds reflection in David Copperfield and Great Expectations. His father who was imprisoned for bad debt inspired the character of Mr Micawber in David Copperfield. It’s little wonder that the realism seems to seep through the pages of his novels. England of his times was going through difficult times; in fact most literary works of this era take cognisance of this fact.

In a way it would be honest to declare that it was the abridged version itself that brought one near to the great master. So, there is definitely a design in this kind of exposure to the works of great people after all! If English were taught only through language, its components would not be able to sustain the interest of many of us. It is this weaving in of literature that makes it enduring and forges a life-time association with books and the language.

My affection for Dickens had another effect; we pestered our school librarian to procure some of the classics by Dickens. One must realise that once you make this association with books, you will see the frontiers opening up. The complete works of Dickens were procured for us.

Another school favourite is A Tale of Two Cities. The title has been quite misleading. One could ostensibly imagine it to be a just some story about two cities, but it is one of the most profound statements on the years leading to the French Revolution. What better way to understand socialism and economic disparities in life? The tale is seemingly replete with dark humour, but Dickens has many themes running through it. The story epitomises the need for change and the value of sacrifice. On reading it as a grown up, one gets to realise that it was much more than a superficial story of hatred of the rich by the poor.

A Christmas Carol is a commentary on society and through the spirit of Christmas, Dickens is able to pass on a social message, which remains relevant till today. Scrooge, the protagonist, undergoes a transformation, which symbolises the agility of the human race and its possibility for hope. This book has been an all-time favourite, and figures in our schoolbooks even now. Novels written with a purpose have an immortal quality and figures like Uncle Scrooge are not hard to find in society at any time. It is perhaps this timeless quality of great literary works by these great visionary authors that make the world of books so worthy of our love and affection. n