The English Language has Changed a Lot.

[pink-o]

41. There is a huge change in literature from before folks went to movies

And after. Seriously, even short novels like Dorian Grey or Dr Jekyll go into great detail to give the reader deep visual descriptions. Literature after the 1930s is far more concerned with pacing the story and moving it along quickly, because people have become acclimated to a cinematic medium.

It's true in this century as well. Our attention span is shorter, we need more stimulation and the social media reflects this. Even a movie like "Network" which is so brilliant (and scarily prescient) seems to lumber--by 21st century standards, anyway. Dickens' sensibilities come through to me, but they also reflect a slower time where folks were willing to sit still and ruminate over a writer's mordant musings.