Aventures De Monsieur Pickwick, Vol. II

The Pickwick Papers made Charles Dickens famous at twenty-four, and Volume II captures that miraculous early moment when a young writer's joy in people became literature. Samuel Pickwick, that absurdly benevolent gentleman with a round face and even rounder heart, continues his misguided travels across England, accompanied by the indispensable Sam Weller whose Cockney wit and loyalty elevate every scene. This volume opens on Christmas Day, with Pickwick eager to meet two young medical students whose "dubious activities" spark a chain of misunderstandings so delightful you can see why Victorian readers waited breathless for each monthly installment. Here is Dickens before the shadows oflater work, when his mockery came from affection and his satire felt like playground teasing. The oversized personalities, the comic verbal sparring, the gentle exposure of social pretensions all pulse with an energy that would soon transform the novel itself. If you want to understand how a twenty-four-year-old journalist became the most beloved writer in English, start here. If you just want to laugh at human folly rendered with precision and tenderness, start here.