After reading "The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club" by the ubiquitous Charles Dickens, I knew I had to snatch up the title for a blog.
A blog, really?
Of all the things I could name; a stuff animal (Picky, for short), the plant nearing the end of its life on my balcony, or....a blog.
Then I realized, it wasn't just the title that caught my eye, it was the life within those words. The people who represented the "Pickwickians".
So what is The Pickwickian Life? It is...
To follow the traveling footsteps of Samuel Pickwick, the founder of The Pickwick Club and his fellow Pickwickians; Mr. Nathaniel Winkle, Mr. Augustus Snodgrass and Mr. Tracy Tupman. It is their goal in life to make journeys to the remote places of England and report on their discoveries to the other members of the club.
"I am ruminating," said Mr. Pickwick, "on the strange mutability of human affairs." "Ah! I see — in at the palace door one day, out at the window the next. Philosopher, Sir?" "An observer of human nature, Sir," said Mr. Pickwick. "Ah, so am I. Most people are when they've little to do and less to get." - Chapter One, The Pickwick Papers.
So here will be my own narrative of my own journeys with my fellow Pickwickians. I hope to meet my very own Samuel Weller and rejoice in his various sayings and inspiring quotes. I also want to avoid any devious mischiefs that may be caused by the Alfred Jingles of my travels.
I hope to create memories of all the characters I may meet in life, to tell the stories of the hearts and minds of people, and to explore what is beyond the windows of technology that seems to be caving much of society today.
So join me, have a cup of tea and rest your tired feet upon the newly upholstered footstool and become one of the members of The Pickwickian Life.
Hello
ReplyDeleteI was delighted to discover that you had called your blog after The Pickwick Papers! But then a little disappointed that you don't seem to have updated it for a couple of years. Anyway, I have subscribed in the hope that you might return to the blog. I too have lived a Pickwickian life, for over a decade – but my travelling actually took place within the world of Mr Pickwick himself. By that, I mean that I immersed myself in research and writing about Dickens’s first novel – and the result is something which I hope might be of interest to you: I have written a novel about the origins and history of The Pickwick Papers. It’s called Death and Mr Pickwick and it will be published in May by Random House (in the UK) and in June by Farrar, Straus & Giroux (in the USA). You can find out more at www.deathandmrpickwick.com
I also hope that I will make many new friends and associates by writing the novel, so if you feel like getting in touch, please do so. I can be contacted at the website. Best wishes Stephen