From the Author to His Reader, and the Reader to His Audience

From the Author to His Reader, and the Reader to His Audience Charles Dickens, the reading tours, and the sixth sense of Sensation

The Final Reading: March 16, 1870

Two of the most powerful forces of the Victorian Era - a time, in itself, of both private passions and public performance - writers and their readerships joined in an act of reconstruction. As the nation and empire, as a whole, was engulfed in change, at once social, political, religious, and cultural, the roles of artist and audience were entirely transformed with the further merging of art and entertainment in the act of reading one's own work to one's own readership. The face of an author began to become just as much of a public sight as the work he published, and the idea of his readership became more than shillings in exchange for a periodical. The eyes on the page were suddenly breathing, crying, and laughing audience members. Thus, as the author became reader, the reader became spectator.

Shuddering under the crushing weight of his sensationally successful reading career and yet also all but leaping up with the energy of his stimulating audience, 58-year-old Charles Dickens said his final farewell.

SIX Senses: A Simulation

Just as there were multiple dimensions in the experience of Dickens's readings, both on the side of Dickens and of his audiences, there are further dimensions to be found in the identities of these two forces. In establishing a new form of entertainment stemming from the world of the finer arts, the Dickens reading tours also established reinvented identities for Dickens and his readers, as Dickens was found transformed from author to reader, and his invisible readership morphed into live audiences. Within each of these identities - Dickens the Author, Dickens the Reader, the Victorian Reader, and the Victorian Audience Member - one can reconstruct each of their individual experiences through the five senses: sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste.

In combining these senses, however, there is a sixth, of a different dimension entirely, that is discovered in the overwhelming impression left by the experience. Informed and utterly defined by the multi-dimensional consciousnesses of each of these identities, the sixth sense is the ultimate embodiment of its five preceding avenues of sensation. This sixth and conclusive sense is to be found in both Dickens's and his audience's shared experience, which ultimately, in its severity, left Dickens unable to go on: the sensation, itself.

In each of the four webs below - meant to represent each identity involved - each of the five original senses are examined. In the modern observer's exploration within each of these worlds, the sixth sense, as a final definitive phrase, is meant to signal - in its naming of the experience - an overarching and overwhelming manifestation of what Dickens could not survive - and of which his audiences could not get enough.

4x5: The Four Identities and What. They. Felt.

Dickens, the Author: An Overwhelming and Uncontrollable Fandom

"Out of Sight": Initially a celebrity hunted by the public (for only a glimpse) and most intimately known through ink on paper, Charles Dickens only showed himself socially as Charles Dickens, the author, in private readings of his work for friends and, eventually, charitable organizations (Murphy 299). This lack of direct interaction with his readers - the norm, previous to the introduction of reading tours - made Dickens an alien voice in the private rooms of his readers, as only his publicly released portraits and printed work allowed. Similarly, Dickens's readers became faceless reviewers and consumers, almost entirely without reactions to be directly experienced.

"The Voices of Critics and Gossips": Unable to visit each of his readers in their parlors to discuss his work or observe their physical features react to the words passing across their vision, Dickens experienced judgment of his work in only three forms: literary criticism, popular gossip and rumors passed to him from friends and family, and, most appallingly, the shadows and shouts of his most relentless readers. The private life of such a haunted Dickens became increasingly more public, as "his name alone could induce thousands of admirers" (Helms 2) to invade his privacy, forcing him to resort to using private stairwells and attendants outside his sitting-room door as protection (Helms 2-3). Although his readership became more of a physical entity in this case, Dickens still was not experiencing his readers as readers, but as fans entirely separated from the act of reading, itself.

"In Touch with...": Experiencing Dickens's work mostly through the initial periodical publishing, the Victorian readership "met" Dickens at his most productive, lively, and youthful self (Barnett) - outside of his reading rooms of the future, perhaps. With their hands on the words of a younger Dickens than they would later meet, the readers met him at, what Dickens might have claimed, his best.

"The Scent of Print": With a print culture continuing to explode more and more with time and "the consumer-based mass market" (Helms 2), the words written in Dickens's hand experienced a transformation of their own, as his readers find his script translated into type. This experience of his work, although untouched in content or meaning, was still ultimately mediated, as Dickens communicated with his readers through the medium of the day and not from his own mouth or hand.

"The Tasteful Artist": In opposition to his critics' later condemnations of his distasteful "eagerness to stage himself as a mass entertainment for the purposes of spectacle and celebrity" (Helms 1), the pre-reading image of Dickens was the epitome of the tasteful, popular Victorian writer. Note that it was not so much Dickens's own taste as a man that was in question, here, but the performance of his "visible celebrity" (Helms 1) in public.

Therefore...

THE SIXTH SENSE: The Overarching Experience of Fandom

The Victorian Reader: Of Private Spaces and Public Readership

"The Public Eye": At their first introduction to "Charles Dickens, author," Victorian readers met him through the ink of a printing press. In translating words to character, Dickens was initially found "quite strange" (Barnett 234) in the public's judgment of his character through the work and his public image, rarely made fully visual and thus more mysterious, just as in his writing. The only other informant of the public image of Dickens was his physical image, itself, as not often revealed due to fear of the fandom's restless need for such a visual (Barnett 235).

"The Sound of Whispers": Other than the internal whispers of personal praise and criticism of the moment at hand, the only sounds of interpretation heard by the isolated, domestic reader of Dickens's work would have been those either shared between family and friends or published by literary critics and other authors of the time. The interpretation of an author, himself, was quite difficult to access, unless informed by the rare interaction with Dickens unavailable to most readers, upper class or otherwise.

"Hands on the Heartbeat": Just as Dickens had injected his current self into the work produced at each moment in the life of his career, his readers also found themselves in possession of that particular Dickens as expressed through the words printed from those written by his hand. As the Victorian readers would later realize in their role as audience members, Dickens relied on his earlier texts in his reading selections (Barnett 236). Therefore, the words read in this earlier time of his published career were the essence of the Dickens, which the author, himself, would continue to hold onto even after he became Dickens the reader.

"The Perfume of the Private": Ultimately an "audience member" within one's own home, the Victorian reader experienced Dickens on an intimately personal level. As one would read his work for the first time, one would establish an emotional connection with the perceived creator of the work, and in the mind of the Victorian reader, specifically, Dickens was immediately found to be a "sympathetic friend" (Helms 3). One's immediate reading was thus independent of outside influence and Dickens's persona, as a man and as an author, were created by the reader in the moment and in their own domestic space.

"Taste Never Goes Out of Style": Although the initial reading of Dickens's work was a private experience, one's prevailing judgment of Dickens could be further informed by the social exchange of reading experiences, as readers would only naturally find themselves sharing their reactions and opinions together after-the-fact. A local community of friends and family would thus define the prevailing level of taste in an author's work, combining various personal experiences to create a mutual, yet individually revealed interpretation.

Therefore...

THE SIXTH SENSE: The Prevailing Personal Experience

Dickens the Reader: The Architect and the Recipient of Stimulation

"His Point of View": Dickens's experience of his readers as they transformed into audience members was doubled by their adverse reactions inside and outside the reading rooms in which he performed. In anticipation of each reading, Dickens was faced with "thousands of admirers [induced] to withstand several hours in below-freezing temperatures just so they could secure a ticket to one of his coveted public readings" (Helms 2). The public he had tried to escape in the privacy of sitting-rooms and private stairwells was suddenly waiting in line to engage in the spectacle of seeing Dickens. It was still chaos, but at least it was his to create and control (Helms 4). With his decision to begin public readings, Dickens was found to have multiple (conflicting) motivations for getting his readers in his audience. The initial idea came from financial interest, as he recognized that he could profit from his public "author" image by squeezing in as many "pounds" as possible into the seats, thus treating his readership as currency (Helms 4). Despite the monetary success to be found in reading rooms, Dickens was more passionately drawn to the connections to be made with both his readers, face to face, and his former self, the earlier Dickens of the work from which he read (Barnett 237-238). In the emotionally responsive eyes of readers-turned-audience-members, Dickens saw not only the direct feedback he wished to have received with the first publications, but also a human recognition of the similarly human Charles Dickens who had written those words.

"An Audible Audience": As he described in the March 16th farewell speech, Dickens found in his audiences' reactions to be of "the readiest response, the most generous sympathy, and the most stimulating support" (Sala 133). As he was able to directly interact with the flesh and blood of his readers, Dickens also found his strength reinforced. He was described to have laughed and cried with his audiences (Barnett 236), as moved by them as they were moved by him. Dickens also searched for deeper understanding in his audiences' responses, hoping to "drop into some hearts, some new expression of the meaning of his books" (Barnett 236), just as they were found to reciprocally give him new meaning in his own life and work.

"Their Touching Effects on Dickens": Along with receiving the emotional feedback and inspiring energy from his reader audiences, Dickens was also found to be in an act of self-haunting through the connections he made with them. Readings were an act of memory, or even "mourning," as he took the opportunity to "remember his former young self and bring it on to the stage as a memory to be mourned within the performing body of the older Dickens" (Barnett 236), as well as in the eyes of the readers who knew that younger Dickens in the words they had read before and the words they were hearing at that time. Even when Dickens found his 58-year-old body to be suffering at the head of his reading table, he was determined to organize a "Farewell Tour" to once more experience his readers, as well as his younger self (Barnett 235). Charles Dickens died less than three months after saying that final goodbye.

"A Joining of Perfumes": A requirement of Dickens's audiences was a mixing of classes. All reactions to his work were equally valued, but were found to be less than satisfactory if too monotonous and repetitive; Dickens even denied Queen Victoria a private performance (Murphy 305).

"A Tasteful Public Image...?": Dickens was found, in introducing his public readings, to be not only jeopardizing his public image as an artist, but also entirely manipulating and exploiting it, as he was seen to be submitting to lower "mass entertainment" (Helms 1-4). Dickens's experience of his public image was quite the opposite, however; he found it to be maintaining and taking control of his public identity. He recognized the "dehumanizing effects of mass modernity" (Helms 4) and felt that the only way to combat the commodification of his public identity was to become the mastermind behind an extremely publicized persona (Helms 3-4). Despite these calculating intentions, though, Dickens also "adamantly professed that their relationship [his and his audience's] was first and foremost rooted in 'friendship'" (Helms 4). Therefore, Dickens found himself to be ultimately making his image more tasteful.

Therefore...

THE SIXTH SENSE: Spiritual and Intellectual Stimulation

The Victorian Audience Member: A Shared and Indescribable Experience

"The Image of the Performing Dickens": As Theresa and Richard Murphy identify, Dickens's readings were "probably more fully an expression of his temperament and particular genius than were his writings" (300). Dickens was ultimately the spectacle for which his audiences had shown up, and yet it was not the physical image of him that was so spectacular, which, itself, was quite simply and "disappointingly" unhandsome and entirely subdued in appearance (Murphy 304). Dickens's most striking features were noted to be the "variety and quickness of impersonation" and a "surprisingly mobile" face, with his eyes "flashing changes of expression [that] arrested everyone's glance in a second" (Murphy 304). Dickens was not so much acting as he was interpreting, or "feeling," the work and the words that came from him (Murphy 304), and its was the audience's experience of that merging of a creator and his creation that most likely generated such emotional responses from both speaker and listener.

"The Effects of Hearing Together": Dickens's voice was described to have been not especially distinguished, but more "thick," "conversational," and "hoarse" (Murphy 305). It was the "agility in rising and falling inflection and a variety of emphatic tonal patterns" (Murphy 305) that seemed to truly engage his audience members, as the words were thus experienced as natural progressions of interpretation from the characters created by the man reading them. Also, as one member entirely surrounded by fellow audience members, the Victorian reader would not be provided the opportunity to experience Dickens's work alone, as he/she had in the privacy of the domestic sphere. By hearing the reactions of those around them, Dickens's audiences were, at least in part, reliant on those around them to create and experience a set mood or tone for the performance. Dickens's own interpretation and, consequently, emotional responses to his performance of the works would inform the audience member's, and he/she would feed off of his responses most directly.

"A Hold on Their Pulse": Along with Dickens's direct influence on his audiences' reactions to his work, his published reading editions gave his readers an opportunity for a more tactile experience, as they allowed the audience member to both follow along with his reading and make a separate memory of the text being read. Although Dickens initially created reading editions for the organization of his own performances, they quickly proved to be marketable, allowing Dickens to protect his work from transcription and piracy, as well as give his work a new form through which to be appreciated (Helms 14-15). By holding onto a reading edition before the performance, readers could make an initial connection with the performance prior to experiencing with it, similar to the private experience of reading the original text. During the performance, the reading editions could thus act scripts for Dickens and for the audience member. It could be imagined, though, that the publication would quickly become lost in the audience member's hand as Dickens, himself, took hold of their experience of the text. By keeping the reading edition after the performance, as well, the reader would experience that specific rendering of the text in response to how he/she had experienced it under the invigorating guidance of Dickens, himself.

"The Fragrance of Shared Spaces": Just as Dickens's audiences had great effects on each other with regard to sound, the mixing of scents would also be symbolic of their shared experience. With different classes sharing the same space, the mixing of perfumes and other scents would further reinforce the idea to an audience member of his/her identity as just that: one member of a greater audience and not an individual in the self-controlled atmosphere of one's sitting room.

"A Taste Unknown"

Because of Dickens's singular and overwhelming influence on each individual in each of his audiences, the personal narratives of such individual experiences would be expected to vary in different dimensions. Some audience members identified themselves entirely enraptured by the strength of Dickens's interpretation of his work, while others found their own experiences to be entirely indescribable (Murphy). One criticism of the level of taste in Dickens's reading "spectacles" is that of the implications they would have on his respectable readers. Some critics worried that Dickens, in creating a piece of "morally concerning" entertainment from his more artistic, tasteful original form, would be putting his readers at risk, as they would be signing up for an experience of which they would have no idea and eventually find themselves in a morally compromising position of a freak show audience member (Murphy). Such reviews, if they existed, have not claimed precedence in historical documentation of the readings' criticism.

What has ultimately prevailed is a sense of indescribable, overwhelming, and, quite simply, sensational connection between an author and his readers that was only separated by a few rows of seats, instead of the immeasurable distance on the printed page.

Therefore...

THE SIXTH SENSE: A Shared, Indescribable Experience

..................................................................................................................................................................................

Works Cited

Sources

Barnett, Ryan. “The Late Dickens: Mourning the Memory of the Early Dickens in the Reading Tours.” Dickens Quarterly, vol. 30, no. 3, Sept. 2013, pp. 233–243. MLA International Bibliography.

“Dickens the Performer.” The British Library, The British Library, 18 Feb. 2014, www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/dickens-the-performer.

Helms, Whitney. “Performing Authorship in the Celebrity Sphere: Dickens and the Reading Tours.” Papers on Language & Literature, vol. 50, no. 2, 2014. MLA International Bibliography.

Murphy, Theresa, and Richard Murphy. “Charles Dickens as Professional Reader.” Quarterly Journal of Speech, vol. 33, no. 3, 1947, pp. 299–307. MLA International Bibliography.

Sala, George Augustus. “The Farewell Reading.” Charles Dickens, G. Routledge, 1970, pp. 133–134.

Images

Image 1: Jabez Edwin Mayall, John. “Portrait of Charles Dickens, 1858.” Pinterest, Sartorial Splendor Open, www.pinterest.com/pin/507217976759216554/.

Image 2: Mason, R. H. “Charles Dickens Reading to His Daughters, 1863.” DickensLit.com, www.dickenslit.com/Life_of_Charles_Dickens/signaturesofcharlesdickens.html.

Image 3: London Express. “Exterior of Liverpool Street Station, 1890.” Vintage Everyday, Blogger, 23 Sept. 2013, www.vintag.es/2013/09/old-pictures-of-london-in-victorian-era.html.

Image 4: Alexander, Francis. “Charles Dickens, 1842.” Spartacus Educational, Spartacus Educational Publishers, Ltd., spartacus-educational.com/PRdickens2.htm.

Image 5: Dodd, G. “Applegarth and Cowper Press, 1827.” London Street Views, Baldwin Hamey, londonstreetviews.wordpress.com/2013/03/01/william-clowes/.

Image 6: Percival, Anthony. “Young Woman Reading, London, 1888.” Pinterest, i.pinimg.com/736x/c7/12/4a/c7124ab8b2d8bb1ac284a77dde19bd75--victorian-london-victorian-photos.jpg.

Image 7: Frith, William Powell. “A Private View at the Royal Academy, 1881.” Artistic Dress, WordPress, 19 Feb. 2015, artisticdress.wordpress.com/2015/02/19/artistic-dress-exhibits/.

Image 8: London Stereoscopic Company. “Regent Quadrant, London, 1890.” Vintage Everyday, Blogger, 23 Sept. 2013, www.vintag.es/2013/09/old-pictures-of-london-in-victorian-era.html.

Image 9: Munkacsy, Mihaly. “Conversation, 1881.” The Apricity: A European Cultural Community, VBulletin, 1 Dec. 2016, www.theapricity.com/forum/showthread.php?196802-8-Lessons-on-People-skills-from-Victorian-Ladies.

Image 10: Ilsted, Peter. “Woman Reading by Candlelight.” Five Minute History, fiveminutehistory.com/the-art-of-reading-in-the-victorian-era/.

Image 11: Hopkins, J. “Reading by the Window, 1897.” Victorian Short Fiction, WordPress, vsf.missouri.edu/wiki/.

Image 12: Toulmouche, Auguste. “In the Library, 1872.” Five Minute History, fiveminutehistory.com/the-art-of-reading-in-the-victorian-era/.

Image 13: Barns, C. A. “Charles Dickens Reading in New York, 1868.” Pinterest, www.pinterest.com/pin/421649583844363165/.

Image 14: “Spectators Buying Tickets for Dickens’s Reading at Steinway Hall, on 14th Street near Union Square, 1867.” Merchant's House Museum, merchantshouse.org/christmascarol2015/.

Image 15: Fildes, Luke. “The Audience in a Theatre.” Pinterest, www.pinterest.com/pin/171418329539860548/.

Image 16: Watkins, Herbert. “Charles Dickens.” Victoria and Albert Museum, www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/c/charles-dickens-at-the-v-and-a/.

Image 17: Dalziel, Edward G. “A Cheap Theatre, Sunday Night .” The Victorian Web, 10 Feb. 2013, www.victorianweb.org/art/illustration/dalziel/33.html.

Image 18: “Drawing of Charles Dickens Reading Sikes and Nancy on 16 March 1870.” The British Library, www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/dickens-the-performer.

Image 19: Watkins, John. “Charles Dickens by Watkins, 1860.” Wikipedia, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Charles_Dickens_by_Watkins_c1860s.png.

Image 20: “Covent Garden.” Victorian, www.angelpig.net/victorian/covent_garden.html.

Image 21: “Four Ladies Listening.” Victorian, http://www.angelpig.net/victorian/engagement.html.

Image 22: “Nine O'Clock P.M. : House Of Call For The Victoria Audience.” The Dictionary of Victorian London, www.victorianlondon.org/publications/sala-18.htm.

Image 23: “Victorian Women.” Caterbury Christ Church University, www.canterbury.ac.uk/arts-and-humanities/school-of-humanities/research/victorian-women-writers/centre-for-victorian-women-writers.aspx.

Image 24: "Mr. Charles Dickens's Reading, 1869." The British Library, https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/charles-dickens-reading-tour-ticket.

Created By

Claire Novak

Appreciate