Book · 2021 · Fiction
The Old Curiosity Shop
The Old Curiosity Shop: Charles Dickens' Endearing and Heartbreaking Novel
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You know, I was just reminded of, you know, the days when Charles Dickens used to publish his novels in serial form. And there'd be people standing, Londoners standing on the docks, waiting for the latest chapters of the old curiosity shop to be delivered.
Why people recommend it
The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens is a classic serialized Victorian novel following the tragic trials of Little Nell and her grandfather as they navigate poverty and hardship in nineteenth-century England. Jill Abramson referenced the famous novel on Freakonomics Radio during an August 2015 episode, later rebroadcast in June 2016, while discussing the modern public fascination with breaking news and narrative consumption. Abramson brought up Dickens's historical publishing model to remind listeners of the days when famous authors released their novels in periodic installments. She described how eager Londoners would physically gather at the docks, anxiously waiting for the arrival of incoming ships carrying the latest chapters of The Old Curiosity Shop because they were desperately dying to know what happened next to the characters. Abramson utilized this historical publishing anecdote to draw a parallel between nineteenth-century serial reading habits and contemporary human desires for continuous storytelling and real-time updates.
Every mention
Jill Abramson You know, I was just reminded of, you know, the days when Charles Dickens used to publish his novels in ser… 2
“You know, I was just reminded of, you know, the days when Charles Dickens used to publish his novels in serial form. And there'd be people standing, Londoners standing on the docks waiting for the latest chapters of the old curiosity shop to be delivered because they were dying to know, like, is Little Nell going to be all right?”
“You know, I was just reminded of, you know, the days when Charles Dickens used to publish his novels in serial form. And there'd be people standing, Londoners standing on the docks, waiting for the latest chapters of the old curiosity shop to be delivered”