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
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.
children vulnerable fortune
Everybody is vulnerable through love of their children. Hostages to fortune.
people remember quiet
By the time I went up to Cambridge, I was extremely quiet and well behaved, although I now meet people who remember me as not like that at all.
self alive young
The young Dickens was so alive, so self-confident, so funny.
people closest written
All the people I have written about remain with me - perhaps they are my closest friends.
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.
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.
school autumn college
I enjoyed the whole process of learning and was always happy when autumn came and school or college started up again.
people behave
All writers behave badly. All people behave badly.
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.
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.
dickens felt hated spoke worked
As a young man, Dickens worked as a reporter in the House of Commons and hated it. He felt that all politicians spoke with the same voice.
dickens great multiple
After Shakespeare, Dickens is the great creator of characters, multiple characters.
jane likely
I think it's about as likely Jane Austen was gay as that she was found out to be a man.