Professor David Peimer
Charles Dickens: Sentimentalist or Social Commentator?
Summary
In this lecture we look at whether Charles Dickens was a sentimentalist or social commentator, looking specifically at ‘Oliver Twist’, ‘Great Expectations’, and ‘A Tale of Two Cities’. We will also question if his stories and characters still fascinate today.
Professor David Peimer
David Peimer is a Professor of Literature, Film and Theatre in the UK. He has worked for the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, New York University (Global Division) and was a Fulbright Scholar at Columbia University. Born in South Africa, David has won numerous awards for playwriting and directing in New York, UK, Berlin, EU Parliament (Brussels), Athens, Budapest, Zululand and more. He has most recently directed Dame Janet Suzman in his own play, Joanna’s Story, at London Jewish Book Week. He has published widely with books including: Armed Response: Plays from South Africa, the digital book, Theatre in the Camps. He is on the board of the Pinter Centre (London), and has been involved with the Mandela Foundation, Vaclav Havel Foundation and directed a range of plays at Mr Havel’s Prague theatre.
Yes. I think that he under, because he also was in a workhouse, as I said, he knew these worlds. I don’t think he was glorifying them, but he knew the underbelly of this Victorian industrialised society in the home front. You know, others wrote about, you know, Conrad, but they wrote about England going out conquering the world, but he was writing, well what’s happening in our backyard.