In 1812, Charles Dickens was born in the parish of Hardwick, Essex, England. Dickens’s parents were both Quakers and his father was a weaver. When Dickens was just four years old, he and his brother were sent to live with their uncle in Manchester. Dickens first became interested in writing when he heard about Tom Jones from a Sunday school friend. He took up writing as an escape from school, but after a year of trying, he gave up and started again the following week. After two more years of trying, Dickens found success with one of his short stories. He published it in 1837 and it soon became a sensation. In 1838, Dickens left school and started working as a clerk for a bookseller in Holborn Square. In 1840, he married Ellen Browning. They had two children: Charles (1841-1902) and Emma (1843-1894). In 1847, Dickens won the first award for writing for the BBC.
Charles Dickens in his full Charles John Huffam Dickens (born February 7, 1812 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England - died June 9, 1870 at Gad's Hill near Chatham, Kent), English novelist. He is generally considered to be the greatest Victorian author. Some of his many works include A Christmas Carol, Bleak House and A Tale of Two Cities. Great Expectations and Our Mutual Friend are just a few of the others.
Clifton Fadiman will help you explore the early Victorian literature and novelist Charles Dickens.
Clifton Fadiman will help you explore the early Victorian literature and novelist Charles Dickens.
Clifton Fadiman examines the inspiration Charles Dickens took from Victorian England with its striking contrasts of morality, hypocrisy and splendour, poverty and squalor. This 1962 production is by Encyclopaedia Britannica Educational Corporation.
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Dickens was more popular than any other author during his lifetime. His work appealed to both the wealthy and the poor, and technology and his unique qualities enabled him to quickly spread his fame worldwide. His long career was marked by fluctuations in sales and reception of individual novels. However, none of these were significant or unusual. Even though his admirers now give less weight to certain aspects or phases of his work, his popularity has not slowed down. He was more than just a comical English author. His ability to see the problems in society and his compassion made him a great writer.
Early years
Dickens left Portsmouth in infancy. He spent his happiest childhood years in Chatham (1817-22), a place to which he frequently reverted in his fiction. He lived in London from 1822 to 1863, before moving permanently to Gad's Hill in Chatham in 1860. Although his origins were middle-class, he had a precarious and secure status. His grandfathers were both domestic servants and embezzlers. Although his father was a navy clerk, his excesses and ineptitude led to financial ruin or embarrassment for the family. In the partially autobiographical David Copperfield, Mr. Micawber shows some of his failures and his ebullience.
The family had reached its lowest point in 1824. Charles, the oldest son, was withdrawn from school. He was now set up to work in a factory and his father was sent to prison. These shocks profoundly affected Charles. Charles was deeply affected by these shocks, even though he hated the brief descent into working class life. However, he started to understand its lives and privations which informed his writings. Many novels feature images of prisons and bewildered children. This period shaped his character and art in many other ways, such as, according to Angus Wilson, his later difficulties as a man and writer in understanding women. His bitter resentment towards his mother may have been due to her failure to understand his sufferings at the time. He was to remain at work after his father was released from prison. The family's financial situation improved, and the boy was able to return to school. The father's views prevailed, and it was a happy outcome.
He finished his schooling at 15, after a grueling and interrupted education. After his schooling, which was interrupted and unimpressive, he became a clerk at a solicitor's offices, then a reporter in the courtcourts, and finally, as other family members, a newspaper and parliamentary reporter. He developed a deep love for journalism, and a contempt for Parliament over the years. His political outlook was greatly affected by his manhood in 1830s reformist times, particularly his work on the Liberal Benthamite morning Chronicle (1834-1836). His rejection of Maria Beadnell as his suitor because his prospects and family were not satisfactory was another influential event. Both his disappointment at losing her and his hopes of winning made him more determined to succeed. David Copperfield's feelings about Beadnell and her later disillusioning return into his life reflect this. Arthur Clennam, a middle-aged man, discovered (in Little Dorrit), that Flora Finching was "diffuse, silly" and that Flora, "whom the he had left as a lily had become a peony"
The beginning of a career in literature
Dickens was a great fan of theatre and almost became a professional actor by 1832. He began to contribute stories and descriptive essays in 1833 to newspapers and magazines. These were published as Sketches By "Boz", February 1836. He was also invited to write a comic serial narrative that would accompany engravings by a well known artist. Seven weeks later, the first issue of The Pickwick Papers was published. Pickwick became the hottest author in a matter of months, while Dickens was the most well-known. He also wrote two plays, a pamphlet, and a play about a topical matter (how the poor should enjoy the Sabbath). After resigning from his newspaper job he began to edit a monthly magazine called Bentley's Miscellany in which he serialized Oliver Twist (1837-1839). He had two serial installments per month. He had already given birth to the first of his nine children; he had also married Catherine (April 1836), the eldest daughter and respected Scottish journalist, George Hogarth.
Dickens, Charles
Dickens, Charles
Charles Dickens.
Hulton Archive/Getty Images
His life was intense for many years. He found serialization profitable and enjoyable and he continued to do so in Nicholas Nickleby's 20-monthly Pickwick parts (1838-39). Then he tried shorter weekly installments for The Old Curiosity Shop (1840-41) or Barnaby Rudge (1841). He was exhausted and took a five-month vacation to America. He traveled extensively, received quasi-royal honours for his literary celebrity, but he also protested against copyright protection. He was a radical critic of British institutions and expected more from "the Republic of my imagination." But he found more vulgarity, sharp practice, and social arrangements to hate than he did social arrangements to be admirable. These feelings are reflected in American Notes (1842), and Martin Chuzzlewit (1843–44).
From Martin Chuzzlewit to The Pickwick Papers, Novels
His writing was diverse and resourceful during these prolific years. Pickwick's first work was a high-spirited farce that included many traditional comic butts or jokes. It, like other early works of fiction, was clearly indebted both to contemporary theatre and 18th-century English novelists. There were also a few foreign classics such as Don Quixote. Pickwick was able to give new life to stereotypes. He also displayed many of the characteristics that would be mixed in various proportions throughout his fiction. These included attacks on social evils or incompetent institutions, topical references, an encyclopaedic knowledge about London (his preferred fictional location); pathos; a vein for the macabre; a delight at the demotic joys Christmas; a pervasive spirit benevolence; a strong narrative impulse; and prose that, even though it. Pickwick is a rapid improvised novel that was written weeks or days before its serial publication. This partly reflects Dickens's speed in developing his craft as an author and publishing it. It is amazing that Pickwick's first novel was written in such circumstances. Not only did it establish Dickens overnight, but it also established a new tradition in popular literature.
Oliver Twist was a testament to his self-assurance and artistic ambition. He refused to follow the Pickwick method. Although Oliver Twist still contains comedy, it is much more focused on social and moral evil (the criminal world and the workhouse) and culminates with Bill Sikes's killing of Nancy and Fagin in Newgate's condemned cell. This episode was immortalized in an engraving by George Cruikshank. The imaginative power of Dickens's characters is due to his original illustrators (Cruikshank, Oliver Twist and Phiz for Sketches by Boz, and Hablot K. Browne for the majority of the novels up until the 1860s). His fiction's popularity was due to its ease of adaptation into stage-worthy versions. His latest story was being adapted by as many as 20 London theatres at once. This made it easy for non-readers to get familiar with his works. His fiction often included theatre, such as the Crummles troupe of Nicholas Nickleby. The Pickwick style and atmosphere were retained in this novel, but the indictment against the brutal Yorkshire schools (Dotheboys Hall), continued the important innovation in English fiction that was seen in Oliver Twist: the spectacle of the child who is lost or underprivileged as an opportunity for social criticism and pathos. This theme was amplified by The Old Curiosity Shop. The death of Little Nell was deemed overwhelmingly powerful at that time. However, a few decades later, it would become a common term for "Victorian sentimentality." Barnaby Rudge attempted a different genre, the historical novel. It was set in late 18th century, and featured large-scale mob violence.
Oliver Twist
Oliver Twist
Illustration by George Cruikshank of Mr. Bumble & Mrs. Corney for Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist.
Mary Evans Picture Library
Dickens's serial publishing made it even harder to create an artistic unity from the many moods and materials in each novel. There were often multiple complicated plots that involved scores of characters. Martin Chuzzlewit was his attempt to resist the temptation of the Monthly Number and keep a steady eye on the overall purpose and design (1844 Preface). However, the American episodes were unplanned. He had suddenly decided to increase the sales disappointment by doing some America-baiting, and to retaliate against the insults and injuries he received from the American press. Dombey and Son (1846-1848) was his next novel. However, he had more success focusing on the "general purpose and design", though he had gained greater coherence from writing shorter and less-publicized Christmas books.
Charles Dickens invented the Christmas books
A Christmas Carol was written by a man who had just a few weeks to write it. This book, which is a new genre of literature, was created in an instant. It was a remarkable achievement, the one-great Christmas myth of modern literature. He was distracted by Chuzzlewit and was unable to concentrate on it. Later, his view of life was called "Christmas philosophy", and he spoke of "Carol philosophy", as the basis for a projected work. Although his "philosophy" was never elaborated on, it involved more than wishing for the Christmas spirit to prevail throughout all of the year. However, his strong attachment to Christmas in his family and writings is significant and has contributed greatly to his popularity. A London costermonger's daughter exclaimed, "Dickens are dead!" in 1870. "Then will Father Christmas also a tribute to both his association with Christmas as well as to the mythological status and his work. The Carol was immediately a hit with the public. William Makepeace Thackeray in a contemporaneous review called it "a national advantage, and to each man and woman who receives it a personal kindness," and continued to publish Christmas stories, essays, and books every year (except 1847) until 1867. Although none of them are as potent as the Carol, some have enjoyed great popularity. They are a celebration of Christmas that no other great author has attempted.
Charles Dickens's Early Life and Work
Dickens was born in 1812, which means he was quite young when he started writing. However, his writing career didn't start until after he had already been published. Dickens's first publication was a short story in 1837. He continued to write and publish regularly until the early 1840s. In those years, Dickens wrote for many different publications and won many awards. His most famous work is undoubtedly A Tale of Two Cities, which is considered one of the greatest books of all time.
Dickens's Life as a Writer
Dickens's life as a writer started in a difficult situation. He was rejected by many publishers for his writing. However, he continued to write and in 1849 he won the first award for writing for the BBC. In 1850, Dickens moved to London and started working as a clerk at the Westminster Stationers' Company. In 1851, he published A Tale of Two Cities, which became a sensation and made him one of the most famous writers of the Victorian era. In 1857, Dickens won the Nobel Prize in Literature. In 1859, he moved to New York City and started working as an editor at HarperCollins Publishers. From 1861-1870, Dickens wrote The Pickwick Papers and Great Expectations. In 1872-1873, he wrote A Tale of Two Cities again and it was accepted into the English Library Collection. He died on 13 May 1870 at the age of 64 years old.
Dickens's Work in the BBC
Dickens wrote many of his famous novels, including Bleak House, Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, and Hard Times. He also wrote several non-fiction works, including Pickwick Papers and The Life and Death of Charles Dickens. In 1847, Dickens was made an Officer of the Order of Merit. In 1892, he died at the age of 82.
The Significance of Dickens's Works
Dickens is one of the most well-known and well-loved authors in history. His works have been adapted for stage, screen, and other forms of entertainment. In addition, his books have been used to teach about different aspects of society and human behavior. Dickens has been a major influence on many people, including Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Toni Morrison.
The Relationship between Dickens and His Wife Ellen Browning.
Dickens and Ellen Browning had a tumultuous relationship. They divorced in 1849 but continued to live separately. In 1853, they both won awards for writing. But their final years were very unhappy. Dickens died in 1902 at the age of 66. His wife died in 1894 at the age of 72.