Evelyn Waugh's 1934 novel A Handful of Dust follows "civilized man" Tony Last deep into the Amazon jungle, where he falls ill, loses his guide, and is "saved" by Mr Todd, an illiterate man with a deep and abiding passion for Dickens. In this clip, from the 1988 film, Tony Last (played by James Wilby) comes to understand his new position in Mr Todd's (Alec Guiness) world.
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Dickens Forever
Evelyn Waugh's 1934 novel A Handful of Dust follows "civilized man" Tony Last deep into the Amazon jungle, where he falls ill, loses his guide, and is "saved" by Mr Todd, an illiterate man with a deep and abiding passion for Dickens. In this clip, from the 1988 film, Tony Last (played by James Wilby) comes to understand his new position in Mr Todd's (Alec Guiness) world.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I especially enjoyed the moment in the clip where Tony reads about the "confused little crowd of people, principally children" over an image of the native people (3:06). This shows us how Mr. Todd could be drawing parallels between the texts and his own life. However, I wonder how reading Dickens influences or fails to influence his decision to keep Last captive. Is this strange power play something Dickens' fictional world condones? Does Todd see himself as an all-powerful manipulator, a la Miss Havisham?
ReplyDelete