The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club—usually referred to simply as The Pickwick Papers—is the first and the most Dickensian of Charles Dickens’s novels. That means wonderful comic characters, lots of good cheer and a long, leisurely tale of a world of coaches and comfortable inns. For me it is the ultimate comfort book, the one I turn to when the challenges of life begin to wear. It won’t appeal to everyone to the same extent, but I can’t see how anyone who enjoys reading could read this one without joy.
Critics, being critics, have minor criticisms about the book: It doesn’t have a plot and its main character, Samuel Pickwick, changes during the course of the story from something of a buffoon to a wise paternal figure. It is true that there isn’t much of a plot; just a couple of story lines holding things together enough to provide a happy ending. But I don’t see this as a defect. A plot implies conflict and tension, and there is little if any tension in The Pickwick Papers; just pleasure. And as for Mr. Pickwick’s evolution, I prefer to think that we just get to know him better over the course of the book.
A few people have objected to the amount of drinking in The Pickwick Papers. That’s like saying the Sistine Chapel is a nice place except that somebody painted the ceiling.
The accidental novel
Whatever the shortcomings of this book, they are more the fault of the publishers than of Dickens. As a young journalist he had achieved his first success with Sketches by Boz, and Chapman & Hill tapped him to write another series of sketches to accompany humorous sporting illustrations by the artist Robert Seymour. The focus was on the illustrations. Dickens was to supply the gray stuff that went in between.
Fortunately this arrangement did not last long. The sketches were being published serially (like all of Dickens’s books), and when the original illustrator died after the first two installments Dickens seized control of the project, shifted the focus to the story and finished the book with another illustrator, Hablot Knight Browne (Phiz).
This explains the lack of a real plot and the shift in tone and in the characters. Some find this shift distracting. Me, I’m just happy to go along for the ride, wherever Mr. Pickwick wants to take me.
The plot (such as it is)
Samuel Pickwick, Esq., is the founder of the club bearing his name and is charged, together with three companions, with making journeys of observation around England and to “forward, from time to time, authenticated accounts of their journeys, and investigations, of their observations of character and manners, and of the whole of their adventures” to the club. These accounts make up the Pickwick papers.
Samuel Pickwick is the very soul of propriety, but he and his companions become involved in a continuing series of mishaps and repeated run-ins with a pair of conmen. Early in the book Pickwick acquires a manservant in the person of Sam Weller, a street-smart Cockney. Sam is willing enough to take a job that offers a “change of air, plenty to see, and little to do,” but soon develops a deep affection for and loyalty to his master, who is too good hearted and naïve to survive very long without Sam looking after him. Sam, just about everybody’s favorite character, quickly becomes central to the book.
A large cast of supporting characters, romantic entanglements and the machinations of a pair of villainous lawyers hold the narrative together. In the end misunderstandings are cleared up, love prevails and virtue (and even villainy) is rewarded. But The Pickwick Papers is about the journey, not the destination. The book is not a small one—it runs to around 800 pages—but the joyful imbibing of ale, punch, port, gin, and brandy and water could go on for twice as long and only leave you wanting more.
The Pickwick Papers is available in a variety of editions. Check your local library or bookstore for one (just don’t get an abridged version) and the next time you are having a bad day, week or year sit down with a dish of mac & cheese and open the book.