Today, I finished the second of two back-to-back novels: Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield (1850), and Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead (2022) crafted as Dickens’s story in a modern setting.
Dickens’s autobiographical tale highlights child poverty in the England of his childhood, and Kingsolver addresses both poverty and drug-addiction, using Purdue Pharma opiate-saturated Appalachia as her setting. Despite humorous conversations and observations, both portray underlying situations that are rather grim.
I’m glad I read both books, although I tend to dislike obviously derivative works, often without a real reason to do so…one of my quirks—I may have to rethink that bias. I give Kingsolver huge points for reframing David Copperfield so cleverly and successfully. She uses some fabulous turns of phrase and imagery; I am in awe of such skill.
Weakly, the photo is a form of reframing. I took it two years ago today. Yay, 25 April.