Branch 197 • The Friends of Dickens New York • The Dickens Fellowship

Rob Clere led our September meeting, guiding us through the first eleven chapters of Barnaby Rudge. We began with the opening passage of the book, in which Dickens describes the Maypole Inn. In Chapter Two we saw Gabriel Varden, the locksmith of London, meet a mysterious stranger, and in Chapter Three, the locksmith came to the aid of a wounded man, helped by our title character, Barnaby Rudge. How odd that Dickens chose to name the entire book after a boy who has been "touched" and is mentally challenged. Barnaby is accompanied by his talking pet raven, Grip, a bird that later influenced a certain poem by Edgar Allan Poe. Kevin Quinn brought in a stuffed raven that "gripped" all of our attention. As Mike Quinn pointed out, Dickens himself owned several pet ravens, one of which has its taxidermied remains preserved at the Free Library of Philadelphia. Several of us saw that Grip during the Fellowship conference in Philadelphia in 2007. Skipping ahead in the book, we saw Sim Tappertit lead a meeting of apprentices bent on mischief, and met Miss Miggs, a servant in the Varden household who decided to play a trick on Sim. Another fascinating character, Hugh, shows up in Chapter 11, treated like an animal. Susan Romanoff, Mike Rosen, James Armstrong, Ken Wachtell, Warren Wyss, Lynn Manuell, and Dorothy Smith all read passages. Other members present included Gela Kline, Carrie Lee, Su Quinn, Bernardine Rick, Dennis Palladino, Joan Eisenberg, and Pamela Bauder.

Our Monthly Letter

October 2017

We Are Fun, Friendship and Learning

Our Monthly Quote

Edgar Allan Poe Jan. 19, 1809 - Oct. 7, 1849 American Writer and Poet

"Quoth the Raven, 'Nevermore.'"

The Raven (1845)

Branch 197 • The Friends of Dickens New York • The Dickens Fellowship

Be sure to join us on Saturday, October 7th at the New York Public Library Epiphany Branch, when we discuss chapters 12 through 20 of Barnaby Rudge. Kevin Quinn will moderate. In Chapter 12 we see a confrontation between those two old rivals, Geoffrey Haredale and John Chester. Haredale's daughter Emma has formed an "attachment" to Chester's son Ned, and the two decide to put aside their differences for once and work together... to keep the two lovers apart! And who has acted as Emma and Ned's go-between carrying letters and notes? None other than poor young Barnaby Rudge, we are told. As the novel continues, we find that another character, Joe Willet, has also been sympathetic to the two lovers. Alas, Joe has formed an attachment of his own to Dolly Varden, the beautiful locksmith's daughter with a flair for fine clothing. Unfortunately, his affections are unrequited. The action moves to London, where a mysterious figure wanders the streets at night. He forces his way into the home of Widow Rudge, who tries to keep him from the view of her son Barnaby. The man gets a look at the boy, however, and the mystery deepens as the ominous visitor tells the widow, "In him, of whose existence I was ignorant until to-night, I have you in my power." It was after reading about this incident that the American writer Edgar Allan Poe correctly deduced the ending of the novel. We might not be as quick as he was, but we can probably gather that the mysterious man has something to do both with Barnaby and the bloody events that occurred in the past at the Haredale estate, known as the Warren. All of the characters, of course, will also play a role in the anti-Catholic riots of 1780, still five years away. If you don't have a copy of the book yet, Penguin Classics copies of Barnaby Rudge can be purchased for about $12.00. We hope you can join us as we continue to discuss this fascinating novel!

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Our October Meeting Saturday, Oct. 7, 2017, 1:00pm-4:00pm Program: Barnaby Rudge NYPL Epiphany Branch Chapters 12 - 20 228 E 23 Street New York, NY 10010 Moderator: Kevin Quinn