On the much-discussed new list from The Guardian of the 100 greatest novels published in English,* Dickens has four entries (tied with Jane Austen for the second highest number, behind Virginia Woolf at five). I was annoyed to see no A Tale of Two Cities on the list and no Dickensian entries in the top ten, but pleased to see Our Mutual Friend on the list (#72) along with three of the regular heavy hitters: Great Expectations (#35), David Copperfield (#33), and Bleak House (#12). Of course, lists like these generally tend to annoy everyone, for various reasons!
Which Dickens novels would you add or leave off?
*It does say “in English” — I triple-checked — so I’m trying to figure out how Don Quixote and some of the others made it on there! Shorthand way of saying “published in English or translated into English,” I guess?
(Image courtesy of Suzy Hazelwood at Pexels.)
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