My Night walk, based on Charles Dickens Night walk, takes me on a circumference between Westminster bridge to the west, waterloo bridge at the centre and London bridge to the east. Westminster, the ginormous building that is difficult to take a shot off up close, alludes to the power London holds now as it did then as well the history of its power. On the other hand, Oscar Wilde, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf complained of a lack of psychological depth, loose writing, and a vein of saccharine sentimentalism.

Trafalgar square and Covent garden to the north west and the Old Bailey, Bank station and billingsgate market to the north east. Twel hundred men are working at her now; twelve hundred men working on stages over her sides, over her bows, over her stern, under her keel, between her decks, down in her hold, within her and without, crawling and creeping into the finest curves of her lines wherever it is possible for men to twist.He starts his walk close to Waterloo Bridge, at the time, a toll bridge, and walks on in the direction of London Bridge, Westminster, and ends at Covent Garden. Any one familiar with Dickens' later novels can see the ideas here which are developed in his later work. The sheer joy that accompanies reading anything by the pen of Dickens is one that must not be missed by a single soul with complete disregard to their affiliation to an age group. Even if you now the City of London very well (like me) you will get new inspiration by joining Dickens on his walks through town. A good read and a nice collection to dip into if you have never read any Dickens before and just want to have an idea of his writing style, before embarking on his, much longer, novels.

Dickens est sans aucun doute un très grand auteur, mais les nouvelles ne sont peut être pas son plus grand talent.

Charles Dickens es universalmente conocido por sus novelas y sus cuentos; no obstante, este autor abordó un sinfín de géneros, incluidas las crónicas de los paseos que realizaba cuando, embestido por el insomnio, se dedicaba a rondar por la capital inglesa durante la madrugada, las cuales aparecen en “Paseos nocturnos”. Even at times during desolate hours this area was in state of restlessness with cleaners (as well as arguable the mouse) cleaning the streets for the morning tourists and workers, builders repairing streets and as Matthew Beaumont describes the people at this as those either ‘running out of time or those with time to burn’. But the river had an awful look, the buildings on the bans were muffled in black shrouds, and the reflected lights seemed to originate deep in the water, as if the spectres of suicides were holding them to show where they went down. I have fallen insensibly into this habit, both because it favours my infirmity and because it affords me greater opportunity of speculating on the characters and occupations of those who fill the streets.

This collection of essays shows Dickens as one of the greatest visionaries of the city in all its variety and cruelty. Dickens was always interested in social reform and his walks tend to take him to the seedier parts of the capital.With just over a hundred pages this is a great introduction to Dickens, and a great insight into life in Victorian London.

A surprisingly excellent little collection of Dickens thoughts and observations on Victorian society. Describing the Debtor’s door as the death door, at this point, Dicken’s talks about his father dealings with debt when he was younger. It's eye-opening to read Dickens' short pieces, and remember that before he became a part of foundational literature, he wrote odd pieces to help him process his insomnia and pay the bills. This was a replacement copy for one I already had, following the exhibition at the Museum of London on Dickens' London. The last piece in particular is still capable of making one stop and think, and that's the one that will particularly stay in my mind.These essays are touching and engaging, without the presence of that melodrama that can exhaust the reader of his fiction.