Claire Tomalin
Claire Tomalin
Claire Tomalinis an English author and journalist, known for her biographies on Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Samuel Pepys, Jane Austen, and Mary Wollstonecraft...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionAuthor
Date of Birth20 June 1933
dealing feeling god subject
When dealing with a subject who is dead, you have this feeling of being God. You know who they're going to marry, when they're going to die. It's strange to feel so omniscient.
choose curious experience human popular programmed
Why do we read biography? Why do we choose to write it? Because we are human beings, programmed to be curious about other human beings, and to experience something of their lives. This has always been so - look at the Bible, crammed with biographies, very popular reading.
attention children dreadful flickering programmes
Today's children have very short attention spans because they are being reared on dreadful television programmes which are flickering away in the corner.
past garden years
I've been trying to garden all my life - it just happens that I haven't had a big garden until the past few years.
school autumn college
I enjoyed the whole process of learning and was always happy when autumn came and school or college started up again.
tired successful years
As he approached his 28th birthday in February 1840, Dickens knew himself to be famous, successful and tired. He needed a rest, and he made up his mind to keep the year free of the pressure of producing monthly installments of yet another long novel.
past two use
Biographers use historians more than historians use biographers, although there can be two-way traffic - e.g., the ever-growing production of biographies of women is helping to change the general picture of the past presented by historians.
self alive young
The young Dickens was so alive, so self-confident, so funny.
directed good shut towards trying writers
Writers don't make good spouses. When I am writing, I'm not a good wife. I shut myself away, and all my emotions are directed towards what I'm trying to write.
adopt obliged writers
Writers often feel obliged to adopt some sort of public appearance.
charles
Writing Charles Dickens' biography is like writing five biographies.
later music nobody passages poetry prose radio tells time
'Words and Music' on Radio 3 is always a treat. Actors read passages of poetry and prose interspersed with music, and nobody tells you what it is. Later you can look it up online, but at the time you can't cheat.