English Department hosts marathon reading of Dickens' The Old Curiosity Shop

From noon Feb. 19 to 9 p.m. Feb. 20, 68 people including faculty, students and Northfield residents read Charles Dickens' The Old Curiosity Shop in a continuous marathon organized by Professor Michael Kowalewski as a revival of a longstanding department tradition.

The English Department hosted a marathon reading of Charles Dickens' The Old Curiosity Shop on Thursday, Feb. 19 and Friday, Feb. 20. The reading ran from noon on Thursday to 9 p.m. on Friday and involved 68 readers taking turns without breaks. Professor Michael Kowalewski organized the event with help from other English faculty and student employees and said the marathon revives a tradition that dates to the early 1990s. The revival was inspired in part by an independent reading course on the novel that Kowalewski taught this term. Event details: - The marathon took place over about 33 hours, from noon on Feb. 19 to 9 p.m. on Feb. 20. - Sixty-eight participants included Carleton faculty, staff, students and members of the Northfield community. - Professor Michael Kowalewski organized the event; the department has held similar marathons in past years featuring long novels such as Middlemarch, David Copperfield and Tristram Shandy. - A special guest appearance was arranged via Zoom with Luncida Hawksley, described as a great-great-great-granddaughter of Charles Dickens, and students on the Living London off-campus program joined portions by Zoom. Peter Balaam, chair of the English Department, read the first ten pages. - Participants included current and emeritus faculty, community readers and students from multiple class years and majors. Summary: The marathon brought faculty, students and community members together to read a long novel aloud and to revive a familiar department event focused on the pleasures of shared reading. Undetermined at this time.