A $120m theme park that celebrates the life and writings of Charles Dickens has opened in Britain. It's built on derelict docks just east of London where Dickens lived for a time as a child. This report from Lawrence Pollard:

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The centrepiece is a boat ride through an elaborate interactive stage set of picturesque slums and their associated smells, to conjure up an illusion of real Victorian life - and misery. It's ignited a familiar debate of entertainment versus education. While critics have attacked the trivialisation of Dickens's legacy, the organisers reply that the writer was a great popular entertainer who would have heartily approved of such a theme park.

The critics say the real Dickens experience is in the books - and trips down fake Victorian sewers won't get people reading. But it is of course ultimately a business proposition, investing 120 million dollars, and predicting 300,000 visitors a year. That shows a lot of confidence in both the pulling power of Dickens and of theme park versions of misery and poverty.

Lawrence Pollard, BBC

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associated with
connected with (in people's minds)

a literary brand
a well known writer whose unique work can be used for commercial purposes

giving a flavour of life
letting people experience, but not for a long time, what it was like to live

centrepiece
main attraction

to conjure up
to cause to appear as if by magic

ignited a familiar debate
renewed a discussion that has already taken place before

trivialisation
making seem not very important

legacy
something done by a predecessor that continues to exist

heartily
sincerely and enthusiastically

the pulling power
the appeal