Dear Oscar,

I do not know if you were a fan of Charles Dickens, but his books in their serialised form would have been current to your own evolution. My suspicion is that, much as is the case with soap opera in our modern era, the supposedly educated classes would have looked down slightly on works that were popular, and so it would be no surprise to learn that a certain acerbic element of your wit would have been directed at this particular auteur.

In fact as a part of your legacy we have the quotation attributed to yourself that: “You would need a heart of stone not to laugh at the death of Little Nell”. I can imagine that the heightened realms of aestheticism would have had no truck with the melodrama of serialised story-lines, and that the belief that you saw Dickens as ‘overly sentimental’ would fit well with how you are yourself remembered. But you must admit that he was very popular, that his fame and success were undeniable, and that his impact has been far broader in its reach than your own.

All of its time, of course.

Philip ‘Pip’ Pirrip is a young lad of ‘great expectations’ in the novel ‘Great Expectations’ (1860), but all of those expectations are centred around himself. He will rise from a lowly state to a great one; he will become a ‘gentlemen’, and he will inherit a fortune, and he will marry the girl of his dreams, and despite his harsh upbringing and the suffering of his childhood, he will come to have all that he desires. In fact all of the ‘great expectations’ that are achieved by Philip ‘Pip’ Pirrip are entirely centred upon himself. He does little or nothing for the world that surrounds him.

Such a fantasised trope is still in evidence today, where lottery tickets are bought in the hope that a personalised realisation of dreams and aspirations can be reached, and where consumer goods are set in fairly easy reach in order to give the impression that individual lives are getting better. But I do wonder how people of today might word the ‘great expectations’ that might come from our age. I have a feeling that in very many cases they would not be centred upon self at all. In fact I have the impression that many, many subjects would rather see a peaceful and happy world, a calm and productive planet, acceptance and toleration between peoples, the subsuming of political and cultural difference, harmony, love. I think it is what future generations will look back upon and be thankful for in the days and ages to come.

Smiley face. Smiley face.

Best wishes, as always,

Algernon B. Duffoure.