My Favourite Author:
It is really difficult to decide as to who is one’s, favourite author. The judgement requires a lot of studies. One has to read widely and intensively and understand the merits and demerits of different writers. No author is perfect or free from flaws. Therefore, comparisons are obvious. In spite of this, we can say that on the whole Mr so and so is our favourite. The choice also depends upon the personal taste of a reader. Some people can better understand and appreciate poetry. Others are fond of novels. Yet others prefer to read the short story.
For my part, I like Charles Dickens most of all. To be plain I began reading novels in my early childhood and developed a love for this form of literature. ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ was the first book that made a deep impression upon my mind. With the study of this, my interest grew in novel reading and I began to admire Dickens. I naturally have read his novels like David Copperfield, Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist etc.
The charming quality of Dicken’s novels is his realism. His characters are life-like and common- such people as we daily come across in our own sphere of activities. Dickens has genuine sympathy for his fellow beings. He fully understands their problems and difficulties. He has a deep insight into their nature. He is a keen observer of their habits and way of life. He displays a great curiosity about the world around him. He knows London intimately especially the middle classes and their circumstances. He gives vivid pictures of London life in all its aspects. No other writer equals him in this respect.
I am not all praise for Charles Dickens. Nobody is perfect in this world. To err is human. Therefore, Dickens is not flawless. His novels lack the quality of compactness. His plots are not well-knit. He gives loose, rambling or disjointed episodes. He does not bother about plot construction or technique. What appeals to me most is his rich, forceful and true account of the life and its wide and varied beauty. His imagination lends charm and grace to his narratives. It is, thus, the zest for life that makes him my favourites.
I admire Dickens for the charm of his humour also. His humour is free from a touch of hatred or taunt. It is pleasant and genial coming out of a loving tender heart. He laughs heartily at life as a strange, ridiculous, fun provoking sight. He never turns up his nose at it. His works abound in strange, funny and queer characters. He is also capable of creating strange and jovial situations. His humour is free, full and selfless meant to amuse and not to pain or humiliate.
Dickens wants to impress upon the reader an ideal life wherein the good must be rewarded and the evil punished. He believed in the final victory of virtue over vice and truth over falsehood. He chooses incidents of life that suits his purpose and conform to his moral standards.
The novels of Dickens provide both pleasure and instruction. He not only amuses the reader with his humorous themes and situations but also teaches him certain principles and moral lessons.
He ridicules many social evils- the public executions, the teaching shops, maltreatment of children, cruelty done to the poor, etc.
Although there is a hidden moral in his novels, yet he is an artist first and moralist second. Like a social reformer, he arouses the moral conscience of the English people to the evils existing in society.
Dicken’s characterisation is remarkable. Most of his characters are drawn from the lower middle classes and are marked by variety and vitality. Characters like Pickwick, David Copperfield, Sydney Carton, etc. have become immortal. His Pickwick Papers inspired Dr Tagore.
For all the above reasons, Dickens is my favourite author.
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