Review 'The Sparkler' by Alan Humm

                                  Very Poetic and Atmospheric  historical novel - Magnificent 

Alan Humm edits the arts journal 'One Hand Clapping' and has had two poetry collections published. 'The Sparkler' is his first novel, published by Vine Leaves Press. 

This is certainly quality writing. Alan Humm uses fiction as a means of  exploring what he considers to be 'gaps' in historians' knowledge of Dickens's life: A surprising challenge at first as Dickens has had so many biographers, and some potential readers may feel that the novel veers towards the 'unknowable' Dickens.At any rate, Mr Humm has cited the two books that have inspired him in creating 'The Sparkler' as being 'Becoming Dickens-The Invention of a Novelist' by Robert Douglas-Fairhurst and 'The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi, Laughter, Madness and 'The Story of Britain's Greatest Comedian' by Andrew Mconell Stott. And there is a clue in the title of the first work. Dickens has become a familiar figure to many people, but just like any individual, past or present, there are going to be inner drives and impulses which may be hidden even from the keenest of researchers. 

We are introduced to Dickens as a young  but perhaps not so happily married writer who can't stop wandering into the more disreputable London districts. Presumably  this would be the Summer of 1836 but the text is not dated as such. 'Sketches by Boz' was published  at the start of that year, featuring some 56 extracts of journalism from 1833 onward. So Dickens is on the threshold of his fame but plagued by a certain restlessness, and is soon tempted to sleep with other women besides his wife Catherine,  and even remembers a brothel. 

There are a series of scenes in a run down pub where Dickens meets the former clown Grimaldi, who by now is riddled with arthritis, he was to die in 1837. This scene is fictionalised; though Dickens, watched Grimaldi act in a pantomime when he was a child, here Dickens remembers Grimaldi's duck walk, which he then imitates, in fact there appears to be no record of the two men actually meeting. Dickens was paid 300 pounds to rescue a botched version of Grimaldi's memoirs in 1837 but the resulting work is not highly thought of. And in this novel Dickens starts an affair with a quite feisty barmaid  whom he has been stalking.Their affair is quite chaotic and entertaining.However, the only weakness in the novel appears. Dickens and Sarah the barmaid make love on a number of occasions with seemingly no concerns of unwanted pregnancy. A strange stance that many historical novelists adopt.

The directions in which the plot line takes the reader are quite appealing, not all time bound by any means. The figure of the towering intellectual who can't sort out their love life, the successful male professional who is led by their penis into comic and /or dangerous situations, both converge as Dickens becomes part aspiring genius/ part clown.

The novel peaks with Dickens committing a crime, which I am not going to divulge. Now some context is helpful, Dickens was virtually obsessed by crime, punishment and prisons. In 1835, whilst as a journalist, Dickens spent the day in Newgate and at one point tried to strike up a conversation with two men -James Pratt and John Smith- were about to hanged for sodomy. Of course Dickens's own father was in debtors prison, an important theme for 'Little Dorrit', and crime abounds in many of his novels. It seems strangely logical that eventually he would try his hand at some criminal behaviour. But of course there are unforeseen consequences.

The novel depicts Dickens career as a bullying stage director, as a playwright - with his largely forgotten farce 'Is She his Wife?' which lasted a couple of London performances in 1837. The tale ends in 1837 with Dickens's grief at the death of Mary Hogarth, and his move to Doughty Street- now the Charles Dickens Museum. Though Dickens a father, but the faultlines in his marriage remain. 

And there are other aspects of the novel to recommend. Mr Humm uses so much detail and imagery to evoke the London of the 1830's. He also tries hard to use the language of the day without the dialogue becoming obtuse and archaic. The characters Dickens meet in the more run down corners of London are not  presented as being sentimental objects of pity, and are quite abrasive.

Hope that Mr Humm returns to 19th century based fiction in the future. 

Sources 

22nd June 2024  : On line discussion between Alan Humm and  Robert Douglas-Fairhurst hosted by Charles Dickens Museum, London. 

There Was No Hope . Previous blogpost on James Pratt & John Smith  from 'Bleak Chesney Wold', looking at Dickens and crime. 

'The Oxford Companion to Charles Dickens' edited by Paul Schlicke, Oxford University Press, 1998.

Related Websites

Author website

VINE LEAVES PRESS  Publisher's website 

Charles Dickens Museum (London) 

Other Blogs 

A Burnt Ship  17th century War & Literature

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