The Dab of Dickens, The Touch of Twain, and The Shade of Shakespeare

By: Elliot Engel PhD

Narrated by: Elliot Engel, David Birney, Scott Brick, Grover Gardner, Joe Barrett, Stefan Rudnicki, Ralph Cosham

Selections from A Dab of Dickens, A Touch of Twain, Literary Lives from Shakespeare’s Old England to Frost’s New England by Elliot Engel, PhD, with Illustrative Literary Performances

They are icons of the literary world whose soaring works have been discussed and analyzed in countless classrooms, homes, and pubs. Yet for most readers, the living, breathing human beings behind the classics have remained unknown - until now. In this utterly captivating book, Dr. Elliot Engel, a leading authority on the lives of great authors, illuminates the fascinating and flawed members of literature’s elite. In lieu of stuffy biographical sketches, Engel provides fascinating anecdotes.

Elliot Engel has taught at the University of North Carolina, North Carolina State University, and Duke University. He earned his MA and PhD as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow at UCLA, where he won the Outstanding Teacher Award. He has written ten books, and his mini-lecture series on Charles Dickens ran on PBS stations around the country. His articles have appeared in numerous newspapers and national magazines, including Newsweek. He has lectured throughout the United States and on every continent.

©2002 Elliot Engel (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

A most educative work

I have learned so much about these great writers in this work than I ever thought possible.

Wonderful

Wouldn’t it enrich and enthuse high schoolers to have this presentation. Great actors, great background so enjoyable!

Mostly excellent

The parts where the author was telling us things about all three authors is excellent. The parts where Shakespeare was read was exhausting, and I had to skip half of it. I was confused, after he told us about Dickens’ early life, to then have a story of a totally different early life, with no introduction. Was this made up? The Twain part was all understandable (although how people thought the parts about the cruise were funny is beyond me).

Delightful surprise!

Would have loved to have had this professor when I was At NCSU. Funny, engaging, well put together with background I never knew about these writers. Enjoy!

More knowledge

Learning the history and the music selection. I sat and listened and the day just slipped away.

The key to Shakespeare, Dickens given his due,

This is so well put together and an entertaining introduction to three of the greatest authors of all time . I fell in Love with Dickens because of Martin Chuzzlewitt when I was 10 and Mark Twain became so ingrained in my view of the world at such a young age I don't remember life without him. It was my decades long search for the elusive key to enjoying Shakespeare is why I downloaded this book . King Lear here I come .

A wonderful Literature class

If only we could clone Mr Engel a thousand times over and dispatch him into every college and high school in our country. He has a spectacular grasp of the subject matter and presents it in a most entertaining manner. Kudos

Great insights

I loved the back stories of these authors and the author, an English teacher,is also obviously a true scholar and historian, with a wry sense of humor

Very entertaining!

Do you know what you don't know about Dickens, Twain and Shakespeare? Well, probably not....but I do! There is a lot! I have taught American and British lit for 30 years and read them much longer and I found that Elliot Engel informed me of a lot of stuff I did not know about these literary figures....and it was FUN!!! Odd facts such as the fact that Dickens invented the paperback book....and the cliff-hanger....and that he earned more money in his life than any other writer in history....and other stuff you will not find in the typical book on writers. Along with the info on the writers come samples from their works: some of Shakespeare's sonnets and part of King Lear and part of Dickens' David Copperfield. This is a very entertaining and humorous look at three of the greats from our past....fun, not boring.

Absolutely delightful

The backstories of the authors were fascinating. This was an entertaining and interesting view of each writer.