“There were four albums in the first three or four years of Prince’s twenties. He got a lot of good reviews for the third album, Dirty Mind–in The Village Voice, Robert Christgau gave it an A rating and said that ‘Mick Jagger should fold up his penis and go home.'” (p. 42-43)
Nick Hornby–novelist whose High Fidelity, About a Boy, and Juliet, Naked are favorites of mine–loves Charles Dickens’s novels and Prince’s music. In Dickens and Prince Hornby compares the two geniuses, there are a lot of similarities, and shows why their work will endure.
Both Dickens and Prince were workaholics. Hornby estimates that Dickens wrote over 4 million words and Prince wrote over a thousand songs. But, despite their productivity, both Dickens and Prince had money problems. “Prince and Dickens both earned a lot, but they had a lot of commitments, too. Paisley Park, Prince’s private estates, with its studios and its soundstage, its wardrobe department and its vegan chef, cost him $2.5 million a month…” (p. 113)
“Dickens had his 10 children, a mistress and her family as well as a wife, and a feckless father who aways needed bailing out. His brothers could never support themselves. He had orphaned nieces and nephews. His sons were hopeless, and his sister-in-law looked after his household after his marital separation. He gave money to friends, and dependents of friends, and supported over forty different charities, with time or work or straightforward gifts of money.” (p. 113-114). Both men were Big Spenders.
Both men had complicated relationships with women. Hornby estimates Prince dated over 2000 women–and married two (neither marriage worked out). Prince also produced albums of songs for his current girlfriends…some good, some bad. Dickens separated from Catherine after 22 years of marriage (and who was the mother of his 10 children) after meeting 18-year-old Nelly Ternan. Dickens was in his 40s when this went down.
I found Dickens and Prince to be a fascinating book about two incredible artists. Are you a fan of Dickens and Prince? GRADE: A
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations xiii
Introduction 1
Childhood 17
Their Twenties 29
The Movies 55
The Working Life 71
The Business 93
Women 117
The End 135
Acknowledgments 163
Select Bibliography 165
Permissions 167
Credits 169
I like a lot of Prince. He was a very underrated guitarist. I must confess to having never read anything by Dickens. They offered a Dickens course in college but I was never able to schedule into my busy schedule. I did my last 60 credits in 12 months while working 6 days a week at Pontiac Motors who were footing the bill. I
Steve, let me know if you want some Dickens novels and I’ll send them to you. I liked Prince in the 1980s–especially “Little Red Corvette”–but last track of his music when he became a symbol and became “The Artist Formerly Known as Prince.”
Not a huge fan of Dickens—although I’ve read the “canon” (DAVID COPPERFIELD, GREAT EXPECTATIONS, several others, including my personal favorite, BLEAK HOUSE). I like Prince too—although my favorite song of his, “I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man” is rarely mentioned in his canon. If anyone is interested in Dickens’s secret life, I strongly recommend THE INVISIBLE WOMAN by Claire Tomalin, which covers Dickens’s relationship with Nelly Ternan, and shows how loathsome Dickens was in using his money to turn his family (including his children and in-laws) against his poor wife who had committed no greater sin than getting worn out from bearing and raising his ten children! Obviously, when it comes to Dickens I have trouble separating the dancer from the dance. Interestingly, Nelly’s sister was married to the brother of my favorite Victorian novelist, Anthony Trollope.
Deb, my first Dickens novel was A TALE OF TWO CITIES. It was required in 10th Grade English. I liked it, but didn’t really get into Dickens until College. My favorite Dickens novel is NICOLAS NICKLEBY.
Actually I’m more of a Nick Hornby fan than a fan of either Prince or Dickens, but this particular book has escaped my attention. Sounds interesting, and I’ll give it a try. I’ve never much listened to Prince, but I’ll agree with Steve that he’s a terrific guitarist. I’ve read DAVID COPPERFIELD and GREAT EXPECTATIONS, and BLEAK HOUSE is one I’ve been hoping to get to for years. Maybe Hornby will get me started.
Michael, my reaction to finishing Nick Hornby’s book is to listen to some Prince today…and read some Dickens! You will love DICKENS AND PRINCE!
Hornby is a good essayist so I will look for this. I have read quite a few Dickens’ books and saw Simon Callow do a great one-man show about him,. I know very little about Prince.
Patti, Prince was a genius who came to a Bad End. He wrote over a thousand songs. Prince also played all the instruments on his first album.
I’m a big Hoprnby fan too, so will read this. Yes, I’m a Dickens fan. Like George, the first thing I read was A TALE OF TWO CITIES (in junior high), followed by DAVID COPPERFIELD (a favorite) and GREAT EXPECTATIONS (which I read a second time in college). But, like Deb, I’d go with BLEAK HOUSE. I still have a number of his books unread. And yes, he is far enough in the past that I can read his books without being disgusted by the things he did in life. As for Prince, I don’t know all that much of his music. We’ve seen him doing what amounted to silent cameos joining other musicians on stage to play the guitar. I do like “1999” and “Raspberry Beret” and “Little Red Corvette.” Another one who threw his life away on drugs.
Jeff, I used BLEAK HOUSE and HARD TIMES in my college classes in Business. After a class where we finished BLEAK HOUSE, a student in his 20s came up to me and said, “Doctor Kelley, BLEAK HOUSE is the first book I’ve ever read from start to finish. It was great!” I rewarded him with a couple of Dickens novels that I always kept on my work desk to give away to students.
The Dickens I was assigned in school was HARD TIMES, which did not inspire me to read more. So I also avoided the movie and tv adaptations for years. Eventually I tried something on MASTERPIECE THEATRE, enjoyed it, and now look forward to the different tv mini-series. I’ve got a bunch of his novels on hand, but rarely read anything that long these days.
Prince — often like him when I hear him, but never search him out.
Jeff, Nick Hornby explores just the tip of the vastness of Prince’s songs that number over a thousand. I have six or seven Prince CDs I picked up over the past couple of years but have yet to listen to. Now I want to listen to them because of Hornby’s enthusiasm.
Not much of a Prince fan but I do enjoy Dickens and Hornby.
I’ll give this one a try. Thanks, George.
Beth, you’ll enjoy what Nick Hornby has to say about Dickens and Prince…and himself. Did your BIRTHDAY BOX arrive yet?