Dear Serial Readers,
This third installment came out just before Dickens's death on 9 June 1870. I mention the coincidence because of the different ways death, or the culture of death, emerge in this number: allusions to Rosa's father's will, the ring from Rosa's mother's "dead hand" after drowning (kept by Mr. Grewgious who passes it on to Edwin for Rosa), and finally the "unaccountable sort of expedition" in the moonlit graveyard and the crypt (where Jasper again plies a companion with spirits of the alcoholic variety). All this attention to death and the realms and documents of the deceased does pave the way for an impending death. As Kari pointed out, the title sets up our expectations.
Although I had already read this installment before I read Julia's comment about nonverbal communication, her remarks do remind me of the many instances of what I'd call indirection, or oblique communication about what lies ahead (foreshadowing of sorts), as I'm compelled to read for clues. Take, for instance, the odd narratorial moment in chap 10 when Crisparkle visits Jasper and startles him awake: "Long afterwards he had cause to remember how Jasper sprang from the couch in a delirious state between sleeping and waking, crying out: 'What is the matter? Who did it?'" And then, during the conversation between Jasper and Crisparkle, the many times the word "perplexed" or "perplexing" describes Jasper's face from Crisparkle's perspective. Or later, Mr Grewgious's uneasiness about the ring he's given Edwin, or in the final chapter of the installment, the parenthetical remark about Jasper "always moving softly with no visible reason," after mentioning again the "unaccountable expedition" in the graveyard.
I was also struck by the attention to containers and receptacles and hidden or out-of-the-way spaces. My favorite passage comes early in this number, the description of Crisparkle's mother's "wonderful cabinet" in chapter 10. A comic version of the crypt of bones and ghosts a few chapters later, this "rare closet" has an usual locking mechanism that is a "double mystery," where the interior is "disclosed by degrees." Then the contents of condiments that people the shelves--I love this gorgeous little show of Dickens's descriptive powers which unfold a thick inventory of a Victorian kitchen cabinet! I wonder if this cabinet might work as an extended metaphor for the serial novel itself, a large container that houses many remarkably detailed small containers.
I want to invite everyone to think about how the serial format affects your process of reading here. I'd also love suggestions for links to other sites that might enrich our hypertextual networking around this Dickens novel! I'll post on #4 (chaps 13-15) in two weeks.
Looking forward to your comments--
Serial Susan
1 comment:
Very late as a response to Susan on serial-ity, in part--I keep wondering whether reading a serial novel is like watching a weekly television show with a continuing plot, such as Lost (which I don't watch) or Heroes or, in a different vein, Grey's Anatomy or House. On those latter shows, there is always a little plot element that gets wrapped up in the segment, so there is some sense of closure, as well as another plot element that is left open to continue in future episodes. I haven't noticed any plot elements getting resolved in each installment. Yet all of these--the shows and this novel--are ensemble pieces, much as the Victorian cabinet that Susan points out from chapter 10. There are various characters with their own stories and interactions with each other. It's almost as though there is not one plot with subplots but instead a variety of interwoven plots, much like the cabinet which is filled with condiments and ingredients but no main dishes. I love the introduction of Mr. Bazzard, for example, who adds an entirely new plot possibility, or possibilities, to the mix.
On a separate note, about the interaction of Grewgious and Edwin about using Rosa's nickname, I did look up whether Pussy had sexual connotations at the time, and it did. I was pleased that Edwin started to think about Rosa as a person and stopped using the nickname he gave her, which did so trivialize and sexualize her.
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