Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens

I'm nearing completion on Barnaby Rudge, the fifth of Dickens' novels.  Some notes for consideration:

Largely credited as his most professional novel to date, it was one of his two historical works of fiction (the other being A Tale of Two Cities), centering on London's Gordon Riots of 1780.  Although it doesn't figure into the story, it's interesting to note that the story takes place during the height of the American Revolution.

The Gordon Riots were spurred by disaffection between the Protestant majority in England, and a fear that the Catholic minority were receiving preferential treatment.  As a total coincidence, Protestant vs. Catholic animosity centers on one of the other two books I'm reading in parallel, a biography of the 16th-17th century French King, Henry IV.  Although more than 150 years had passed since Henry's life, it seems that Europe still hadn't become completely comfortable with the idea of multi-religious states.

As a historical novel, Rudge struck me as a bit of a departure in its emphasis on story over character.  Although it works in this case, I'm glad that it's the exception rather than the norm.  Put simply, I love Dickens because I love his characters and the world he has created; plots are secondary.  In Rudge, a great story evolves to the detriment of his uber-rich characters.

The multiplicity of story lines is immense, with some of them on seemingly different planes altogether until the last quarter of the book.  The central story of Rudge and his mother's dilemma, although lovable and brilliant, seemed almost completely disconnected from Varden, Tappertit, Chester, Haredale and so many others for more than half of the book.  Sure enough, the plot lines do connect in the end, albeit through the device of some semi-miraculous coincidences.  Not quite the deus ex machina, but slim coincidences nonetheless.

The departure from the established norm of Twist, Nickleby, Curiosity Shop and Copperfield (the latter coming later in sequence, but first in my order of reading) was welcome.  As wonderful as those three novels are, I was beginning to wonder if all of Dickens' novels followed the same downtrodden-child overcomes poverty and maltreatment to achieve true happiness storyline.  Even diamonds becomes boring without something to contrast them against.

Two themes from the book to consider, starting with one of my own observation: The story shows how a movement of political thinking can quickly morph into a series of irrational actions, inflamed by heated emotions, knee-jerk reactions and animistic behavior.  What started as a political movement and petition with Parliament quickly evolved into mass riots, killing, an inferno that nearly destroyed London and the sacking of its prisons and release of all prisoners into the streets of the city.  Even poor Barnaby Rudge, a docile man-child with mental retardation, becomes a key player in the riots even though he has literally no clue of the political motivations of the movement.

A second theme, admittedly borrowed from another review of the book has to do with the maltreatment of sons by their fathers, often resulting in separation and estrangement.  Apparently Dickens had recently experienced a major dispute with his own father, who had used Dickens' fame and fortune to try to absolve his own debts.  This apparently manifested itself in Joe Willet's running away from his abusive father, both Ed Chester and his half-brother Hugh's estrangement from their father Sir John Chester (albeit the former by choice, the latter without his knowledge), and Rudge's separation from his murderous father.

Anyhow, I enjoyed Rudge, and am genuinely excited to follow Dickens' path as a novelist and writer.