HOW TO READ A BOOK - The Start of a Book

[@ElaineDarlingtonBrown]

Perfect introduction to textual analysis. Many more, please.

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

Thanks for being so positive. I will endeavour to make more.

[@drhyshek]

No pressure there.

[@leafsonata]

I hope you make more content like this. This is how you get 💫reading afterglow💫

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

I hope to make more. Pleased you enjoyed it ☺️

[@travisgoolsby4280]

I wish you were my English teacher in school

[@juniperwool]

Me too!

[@jaysfarrell]

I keep thinking the same thing!

[@myrnaburgoyne2082]

Thank you for leading me away from scrolling and bingeing back to my true love, reading. I’ve had the book Circe on my shelf for over a year and picked it up the other day after watching one of your videos, set a timer for one hour, and sat down to read it. You cannot imagine (or maybe you can) the pure joy I felt at burning past my one hour goal as I remembered how satisfying it is to absorb new ideas and turns of phrase that I underlined with pure delight. Every day since has been punctuated by this awakened passion. Liked. Subscribed. Bell rung!

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

This was a delightful comment to receive. Thank you for sharing. I'm so happy for you.😀😊❤️

[@KSS709]

I’ve just unlocked a brand new hobby! Always loved annotating poetry, didn’t know I could apply similar analysis to books. Thank you so much. I will be starting pride and prejudice- would love a similar breakdown of it❤

[@phyllisriley1013]

At 77 I’m still learning thanks to you.

[@jilll3490]

Thank you so much, Tristan, for sharing your talent with us. This is exactly what I was looking for. You are the best!

[@Yesica1993]

That Bleak House passage felt like pure misery. I've struggled with reading Dickens. But there are passages like this that just get to me. I wish I had the gift for writing like that! Just a few lines and he's painted a whole world. You can see and feel and smell and taste it all. It really is extraordinary.

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

It's impressive, isn't it. You can tell that Dickens had a remarkable and colourful imagination. He more than describes, he captures the essence of things.

[@captainnolan5062]

This is a great video and a treat (and will be useful, as I examine another author to determine how he begins his books). Thank you for posting this. I would love to see more of these How to Read a Book analysis videos.

[@radiantchristina]

oh, I can tell I'm going to love this video! I'm saving it so that I can listen to it at work today :) (already hit like though, because i know its going be a good one )

[@RebeccaStamm]

Once again, you’re amazing!

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

And you are wonderful, Rebecca 😀❤️

[@saberwolf156]

I've struggled with Dickens in the past; I'm assuming it's a fault of my own. Maybe I should try again with a different book.

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

I do think Dickens is exceptional, however, you don't need to feel that it is a fault on your part if he doesn't resonate with you. Plenty of people don't get on with Dickens. There is no author that appeals to everyone. If it helps, I did a video on "The Humours" which might help you with understanding Dickens way of writing. 😀👍

[@KpopLovingPenguiin]

When I clicked on this video, I never thought that it would be this interesting! Thank you so much for this video. It was so very delightful to see you analyse the openings 😊

[@emanuelacerchie]

Good evening, I will definitely use some of your tips with my students on my next lesson on Dickens...and they will also appreciate a pure musical English accent. (I am an Italian teacher of English language and literature, I just stumbled upon your amazing channel).

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

Hi, Emanuela! I'm so pleased to meet you and that you found my little channel useful. What a rewarding job for you. To teach is one of the most admirable endeavours one can be in. I'm delighted that your students are getting to read Charles Dickens. They must be very proficient at speaking English. You have my deepest respect for your noble work. Is there any topic that you would like me to make a video on?

[@emanuelacerchie]

Well thank you so much, I have just finished Stevenson focusing on the theme of the double, my next author will be Oscar Wilde and in the second term we well be tackling Modernism.

[@Hfun7]

This has instantly become one of my favourite educational channels!

[@captainnolan5062]

In Dombey and Son: Dickens contrasts he "great" armchair against the "little" basket bedstead; again leading to the idea that Dombey is great and son is not (he is little by comparison). Also, Dickens uses a boxing metaphor at the end of the paragraph, where son "squares" up with his little "clenched fists" ready to feebly take on his new existence (son is portrayed as a fighter that you would not want to wager on, as if he is about to take on an opponent [life itself] who is more than he can handle).

[@kidus5431]

This was a lovely video. That Dombey & Son opening reminded me why Dickens is one of my favourites.

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

It is a great opening and the muffin analogy is so typical of Dickens.

[@Bloominjules]

A lozenge is a motif used in architectural ornamentation, usually diamond or rhombus shaped... also medieval heraldry such as a shield, or the shape of the shield itself. I'm enjoying your intro--Dickens is so dense, packed with interesting things!

[@kasiakwiatkowska5816]

Oh Tristan, so informative, and so utterly educational! I am so grateful for all your dedication to the channel, and our community. Even though I have been going through a whirlwind in my personal life, I was really looking forward to going back to reading and watching your videos 🙏💛 Greetings from Vegas!

[@lorryt8648]

So helpful!! You are an excellent teacher!

[@Dinadoesyoga]

This was brilliant. Thank you so much! I just finished Dombey and Son yesterday and saw these devices repeated throughout, and it was so vivid. I'm going to look at the introductions more carefully now.

[@captainnolan5062]

In Our Mutual Friend: The "two figures" also, without even mentioning the word 'fog,' gives us the impression that we are onlookers at a distance, and can not make out exactly who is in the boat, but we can distinguish that there are two figures. Like the opening of a movie where we see the 'establishing shot,' and we see the boat from a distance on the Thames, and through the fog, we can make out the boat and that there are two figures on it, but not much more (though we can see the bridges as well). In the next paragraph, we 'zoom in' and get more detail about the two figures.

[@Sman-eg1zs]

This was really interesting, I have David Copperfield, which I first read as a kid, I was given a copy a few years ago. I have just started war and peace again, so I think I'll read 10 pages of that in the day, and do DC as bedtime reading. You have made me want to read the other Dickens novels, Thanks.

[@jackiesliterarycorner]

I'll have to start looking at and studying the first paragraphs of novels and see what I comprehend in it.

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

It's such a pleasing exercise to do. I hope you enjoy yourself.

[@tonyspark]

Awesome video! Worth every minute of my time. Thank you.

[@robing.1336]

I really enjoyed this. Have you made other videos that look at other author's opening paragraphs? If not, please more. I found this fascinating.

[@KasiaSzatkowska]

I just couldn't help but notice, in the last one - Hard Times - the juxtaposition not only between facts and children, being humane and being scientific, but also the cunning usage of words right out of nature world: plant and root. And animal (although reasoning) for that matter. Plant - being verb in here, however as a noun, bringing to mind roses, trees, beautiful perennial borders and such. And roots, being the foundation of growth and providing their above-grounds parts with live-bearing water. Here we have "plant nothing" and "root out". I instantly shivered - so anti-nature this person is! He is a kind of man that would pave out the garden, because they would like to accommodate their lots of cars, only to find their cellar flooded with the next slightest rain, because in fact (FACT!) - one cannot fight nature (nor being human, in FACT, which is very much NATURAL way of being). Oh what a disgusting person that is! I have not read Hard Times and I cannot say I am being attracted by this paragraph. However knowing some Dickens, I know I will actually love it :-) Tristan, I enjoined this deep dive SO MUCH! Thank you!! I believe you have just showed me how much I have missed, reading as I did, eager to see the story being told, rather than to savour it a word at a time. Because in Dickens each word seems to be like a chocolate :-) Thank you again and very best wishes!

[@smkh2890]

A friend expressed surprise when I said 'I'm going to do some reading." Obviously a hang-over from student days where 'reading' meant 'work' !

[@gommine]

I absolutely love this line by line analysis. I have read a few of Dickens' novels so far (but only one recently) and never got so much out of the opening lines. I'm looking forward to re-reading soon!

[@Biber0315]

Sorry, couldn't make it very far into your analysis. It just angered me to hear you praise the very things I've been criticized for in my own writing.

[@ChrisHunt4497]

Thanks Tristan. I was never taught this and for me it is life changing.

[@gommine]

Mental note to re-read Bleak House. I didn't enjoy it back then but I think I read it in the wrong context and at the wrong time in my life.

[@paulhammond6978]

v. interesting. You made me go and read the opening of David Copperfield again, and I made a connection I hadn't thought of before - Copperfield with his "birth at the chimes of midnight" is clearly related to Midnight's Children, whose protagonist was also born at the chimes of midnight on the day that India became independent. And Midnight's Children is a bildungsroman that uses the lives of him and the other children that were born at the same time as a symbol for the life of the country of India that is the same age. I'm not sure if Rushdie made that connection deliberately or consciously, but Rushdie would certainly be aware of the influence of Dickens.

[@MaxZampieriCine]

Tristan. Thank you. This is wonderful.

[@masterprocrastinator7078]

Thanks Tristan! Wonderful!

[@xaviercrain7336]

Stirring staring also should be accounted for and Marseilles and Marshall sea prison

[@xaviercrain7336]

We should also be speaking of the macabre in dickens GE and its link to the gothic and how it plays off of the Arabic to which it is derived: cemetery

[@BookLover19]

Can you please elaborate on the Arabic?

[@xaviercrain7336]

@@BookLover19 look up the word in Arabic by looking at the dictionary and you will see how some traditions are corrupted when placed into modern contexts In Arabic gravesites are not places of fear or gothic pretense. They are places where the dead are communed with not made enlightened propositions over, propositions which are rather farcical even if childlike

[@Michajeru]

Wow! This was so informative.

[@SergeyA-x8s]

HOW TO DESTROY A BOOK

[@carolvoit8411]

This is great!

[@susprime7018]

Very fine.😊

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

Thank you, SuS 😀

[@LaJessChelle]

This is amazing content! Thank you! I took notes, and I learned so much. I have yet to read anything by Dickens, but I’ve moved a couple of his works to higher places on my “to read” list.

[@Kisstamasdr]

Thank you Tristan.

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

Thank you. I'm pleased that you enjoyed it ☺️

[@dianerademaker1896]

Tristan, you have changed my whole outlook on reading. I am so excited to have found your channel! From someone who read very quickly, and therefore missed a lot of the subtleties, I think, I have slowed down and appreciate what I read so much more! I am 76 - so much to read - appreciatively - and so little time. ☺

[@ToddSmith23]

Great video

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

Thanks Todd. I'm pleased you enjoyed it.

[@Whatever_Happy_People]

Hullo Tristan I have just finished the brother's karamazov. Loved it. Peace.

[@Laele267]

Such great way to explain analysis. Thank you Tristan, I hope you make more of these videos!

[@jallen418]

This was absolute gold. Thank you!

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@bad-girlbex3791]

Phantasmagorical, immersive allegorical.

[@katssketches1118]

Loved this.

[@dellh86]

This video needed a better title. I almost didn't click on it becuase "well I know how to read a book". Great video though. Coincidentally, I have Oliver Twist on my tbr for 2024. I have never read any Dickens and this video has me excited to read him

[@renatarocha5430]

Wonderful analysis of the text. I am from Brazil and your content is helping me a great deal analysing texts and studying English literature!!!!!!