Charles Dickens
Novels
A Christmas Carol, 1843
Bells, 1844
The cricket behind the hearth, 1845
Collections of stories
Sketches by Boz, 1836
The Mudfog Papers, 1837
The Uncommercial Traveler, 1860-1869
Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812 in Portsmouth, England. The boy learned early about poverty and calamity. In 1824, the novelist's father fell into a terrible debt trap, the family was sorely lacking money. According to the state laws of England at that time, creditors sent debtors to a special prison, where John Dickens ended up. The wife and children were also held every weekend as debt slaves.
Life circumstances forced the future writer to go to work early. At the wax factory, the boy received a paltry salary: six shillings a week, but fortune smiled at the unfortunate Dickens family. John inherited the property of a distant relative, which allowed him to pay off his debts.
After his father's release, Charles continued to work in the factory and study. In 1827 he graduated from Wellington Academy, and after young man took to the law office as a junior clerk with a salary of thirteen shillings a week. Here the guy worked for a year, but having mastered stenography, he chose the profession of a free reporter.
Dickens made his debut in the novel The Pickwick Papers. This book, which is a cycle of genre sketches, revealed his talent as the creator of grotesque characters that express the most ingrained characteristics of the British as a nation. It was Dickens who opened for literature and poeticized the world of slums and the customs of their inhabitants. Sympathizing with the heroes, he leads the action to a happy ending that rewards them for suffering and humiliation. Possessing an outstanding acting talent, he performed with public readings of his works, and he was invariably accompanied by great success.
The novels of the writer represent a panorama of the English life of the Victorian era, unique in the richness of observations and the variety of human types captured. "The Adventures of Oliver Twist", "Antiquities Shop", "Dombey and Son" create an exhaustively complete portrait of society, exposing its vices and flaws. As a result, the imperfection of society becomes clear to the characters who find their ideal in the comfort of their home and family traditions.
The perception of the world expressed in Dickens's books does not recognize hopelessness and despair, although cruel and even catastrophic situations are often described. However, the most painful circumstances are not capable of undermining the heroes' faith in the ultimate triumph of good or reward beyond the grave, if earthly justice is unattainable.
Humor, encouraging not only to create farcical plot positions, in which the true human nature of the characters is most clearly visible, but also to recognize the miraculous under the ugly appearance of things, forcing horror and disgust to recede before joy, the most important writing property of Dickens. Dostoevsky highly appreciated the work of Dickens, calling him an unsurpassed master of "the art of depicting contemporary, current reality."
Charles Dickens was paralyzed on June 8, 1870; the next day, June 9, the writer died. His body is buried in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey.
Charles Dickens
Novels
Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, published monthly issues, April 1836 - November 1837
The Adventures of Oliver Twist, February 1837 - April 1839
Nicholas Nickleby, April 1838 - October 1839
Antiquities shop (eng. The old Curiosity Shop), weekly issues, April 1840 - February 1841
Barnaby Rudge, February-November 1841
The Christmas books:
A Christmas Carol, 1843
Bells, 1844
The cricket behind the hearth, 1845
The Battle of Life, 1846
Possessed, or Deal with a Ghost, 1848
Martin Chuzzlewit, January 1843 - July 1844
Dombey and Son Trading House, Dombey and Son, October 1846 - April 1848
David Copperfield, May 1849 - November 1850
Cold house March 1852 - September 1853
Hard Times: For These Times, April-August 1854
Little Dorrit, December 1855 - June 1857
A Tale of Two Cities, April-November 1859
Great Expectations, December 1860 - August 1861
Our mutual friend, May 1864 - November 1865
The Mystery of Edwin Drood, April 1870 - September 1870. Published only 6 of 12 issues, the novel is not finished.
Charles Dickens is deservedly considered the greatest English writer, prose writer, humanist and classic in world literature. In this short biography of Charles Dickens, we have tried to summarize the main milestones of his life and work.
The early years and the family of Charles Dickens
The writer Charles Dickens was born in 1812 in Landport. Charles's father was a very wealthy government official, and his mother was a housewife who tenderly cared for the welfare of the Dickens family. Mr. Dickens loved his son very much and protected him in every possible way. Although his father was a rather windy and simple-minded person, he had at the same time a rich imagination, lightness of speech and kindness, which was fully inherited by Charlie's son.
The talent of acting began to unfold in Charles from the very early childhood, which Dickens Sr. encouraged in every possible way. Parents not only admired the son's abilities, but also cultivated vanity and narcissism in him. The father demanded that Charlie teach and publicly read poetry, act out theatrical performances, share his impressions ... Ultimately, the son really turned into a little actor, in which, moreover, creative abilities were clearly expressed.
Quite unexpectedly and unexpectedly, the Dickens went bankrupt. Due to debts, the father went to prison, and the mother got a difficult share - from a wealthy and well-to-do woman, she turned into a beggar, and was forced to completely take care of food and further existence. Young Dickens found himself in new and difficult circumstances. By that time, the boy's character was formed - he was vain, effeminate, full of creative enthusiasm and very painful. In order to somehow alleviate the fate of the family, Charles had to get a low-honor and dirty job - he became a worker for the production of wax in a factory.
Becoming a writer and a creative career in the biography of Charles Dickens
Later, the writer terribly disliked remembering that terrible time - this disgusting Wax, this factory, this humiliated state of his family. And despite the fact that Dickens even preferred to hide this page of his life, since then he has learned many lessons for himself and determined his guidelines in life and work. Charles has learned to deeply sympathize with the poor and disadvantaged and to hate those who are mad about fat.
The first thing that began to be revealed at that time in the great writer was his reporting ability. When he tentatively wrote several articles, he was immediately noticed and amazed. Not only the leadership was quite a find, but colleagues did not hide their admiration for Dickens - for his wit, style of presentation, excellent author's style and breadth of speech. Charles quickly and confidently began to move up the career ladder.
When compiling a biography of Charles Dickens, it is imperative to mention the fact that in 1836 Dickens wrote and published his first serious work with a deeply moral bias - Essays on Bose. Although all this at that time was at the level of the newspaper, the name of Dickens sounded loudly. In the same year, the writer published "The Pickwick Papers", and this brought him much greater success and fame. Two years later, the author had already published "Oliver Twist" and "Nicholas Nickleby", which won him real fame and respect. The following years were marked by the fact that Dickens published one after another of the greatest masterpieces, worked hard and hard and sometimes brought himself to exhaustion.
In 1870, at the age of 58, Charles Dickens died of a stroke.
If you have already read Charles Dickens's CV, you can rate this writer at the top of the page.
In addition, we bring to your attention the Biographies section, where you can read about other writers besides the biography of Charles Dickens.
The consummate classic of English literature, Charles Dickens (1812-1870) is renowned, for the most part, as a social critic of 19th century morality. This was the time of the most intensive development of the productive forces in Britain, when it became the leading power in the world economy.
Of course, all this could not but affect industrial relations, which were subjected to a rather harsh assessment by Charles John Huffam Dickens.(this is full name this master of the artistic pen). However, the maestro is also known as the creator of comic characters.
The birthplace of the future classic - Landport, he was born into a large (8 children) family on February 7. Little Charlie's mother taught his first reading lessons, and he quickly re-read all the cheap publications in the house.
His father had to constantly change jobs, so the family moved frequently, and eventually took root in London, where it vegetated. Having started to go to school, Charles abandoned it and, like many of his peers, went to work at the age of 12.
The first place of work of the future writer was a wax factory. Four months of exhausting work prompted him to have a keen desire to make his way up the social ladder in any way.
A visit to a private school was a big help in this, two years of study at Wellington House Academy contributed to the fact that by the age of 18, Dickens managed to work in a law office, studied stenography and prepared himself for the field of reporting.
The reporter's path, the beginning of writing
His first steps here were as an independent court reporter and a reporter for the Parliamentary Mirror and True Sun newspapers. Already at the age of 20, he stood out among the writing fraternity accredited in the House of Commons.
At the same time, his first love visited him, and since Dickens chose Maria Bidnell from the family of the bank manager as the subject of his adoration, this circumstance contributed to the strengthening of his ambitious aspirations.
Alas, a relationship with a commoner did not attract a girl from a wealthy family.... Apparently, in vain, because at this time the writer's biography of young Charles begins its countdown. He started with fictional sketches depicting the life and customs of the then London.
Dickens began to publish in the journal "Montly Magazine" (December, 1832) under the pseudonym Bose (this was the nickname of his younger brother)... By this time he had already become a brilliant reporter for The Morning Chronicle, a reputable and respected publication. George Hogarth, who released it, had very extensive connections in literary circles, and had a friendship with Walter Scott himself.
It so happened that his daughter Catherine liked the talented reporter and aspiring writer. Apparently, old Hogarth liked the marriage to her, and as a gift for his 24th birthday, Charles received his first book from his wife's dad. They were Essays by Bose.
Already here, despite the ill-conceivedness and frivolity understandable for youth, the undoubted talent that Charles Dickens possessed is noticeable.
These sketches of London life began the countdown of most of the directions that Dickens then developed throughout his life: the reality of courts and prisons, parliament and the politicians inhabiting it, as well as the fate of lawyers, snobs, the poor and the oppressed.
Features of national humor and "Oliver Twist"
Oddly enough, but the next significant step of the writer was his legendary issues of "The Pickwick Club". Their popularity was initially low, but later the reader appreciated the author's English humor, which was an outlandish cocktail of all its shades, including crude farce and high comedy, and conscientiously flavored with satire.
It could not yet be called a novel as such.... However, the indescribable charm of joy and gaiety, developing according to a completely distinguishable plot, distinguish this work from the abundance of opuses by Dickens's contemporaries.
With the end of the Pickwick Club, Charles accepted Richard Bentley's offer and became the head of Bentley's Almanac... The choice turned out to be accurate (I must say that the reporter's path brought good luck to the fate of the writer), and when little Charles Jr. appeared in the Dickens family, the Almanac began publishing the first chapters of The Adventures of Oliver Twist.
It was such a striking contrast that when you read both books, you feel doubt that they were written by the same author.
From that time on, Charles's literary biography began to literally choke on the overwhelming events. Oliver Twist was started when Pickwick was just unrolling its plot. But he did not manage to fully form, as Dickens grabbed the Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, which was published over 20 issues of Chapman and Hall magazine.
And at the same time, Charles managed to publish a book about the clown Grimaldi, write farces and librettos.
While working on Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens changed his now unusable family life bachelor den on big house... Here Katherine gave birth to Mary and Kate, and Dickens himself made acquaintance with John Forster, who became his best friend.
This theater critic from "Examiner" later acted as an adviser to the writer and his executor, he also owns the laurels of the first biographer.
From that moment on, Dickens became his own in the writing society and at the same time tried himself as a businessman, successfully investing the money earned in the field of the novelist. He left Bentley, and now all his new items came out under the Chapman and Hall publishing brand.... The "Antiquities Shop" and "Barnaby Raj" saw the light here, and their author became a member of such prestigious clubs as "Garrick" and "Athenaeum".
"Antiquities Shop", "Dombey and Son" and other books
In the "Shop of Antiquities", according to critics, Charles turned out to be too sentimental, although the grotesque of the novel is impeccable. After his writing, the biography of the writer turned out to be associated with America, where Charles resented slavery and literary piracy.
The "American Notes" written by him during this period garnered accolades in the writer's homeland, but caused outrage in the States themselves. As well as "Martin Chuzzlewit" written after them. And no wonder: Dickens remains true to himself here, and his satire becomes even sharper and more sophisticated.
The image of the Scrooge duck, now known all over the world from Disney cartoons, was first captured in Dickens's Christmas stories.
Unfortunately, a brief biography of the writer's work does not make it possible to list all the merits of this brilliant author. However, it is this "economic man" named Scrooge who most clearly embodies the image American businessman... And Charles, true to himself, castigates his selfishness and greed. In subsequent Christmas stories, Dickens encourages the reader to be generous and loving.
Tired of publishing and politics, he travels around Europe and focuses on writing novels. Lausanne was where he started Dombey and Son, and in 1849-1850, Dickens wrote one of his best works - "David Copperfield".
This is the most autobiographical of the works that Charles created, here many events are consonant with those that fell to his own lot, and especially his first love.
On the eve of the birth of his ninth child in the Dickensian family, the writer moves again and begins Bleak House (1852-1853). This work can be considered the pinnacle of his work, and in both the qualities traditional for Dickens - satirist and social critic.
But the "Hard Times" that followed it turned out to be far from perfect... Dickens unleashes his satire on the industrialization process - and, alas, misses the mark. However, he does not despair, but, on the contrary, rolling up his sleeves, writes "Little Dorrit" (1855-1857).
Oddly enough, but considered successful, the writer's marriage collapsed as soon as he fell in love - this time the actress Ellen Ternan became his love stumbling block.
The divorce did not prevent Charles from continuing his literary pursuits. He writes Great Expectations and his last novel Our Mutual Friend (1864-1965). Alas, such activity affected his health, and on June 8, 1870, Dickens died. The Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey became his last refuge.
Charles John Huffam Dickens. Born February 7, 1812 in Portsmouth, England - died June 9, 1870 in Hyeme, England. English writer, novelist and essayist. The most popular English-speaking writer during his lifetime. The classic of world literature, one of the greatest prose writers of the 19th century.
Dickens's work is considered to be the heights of realism, but his novels reflect both sentimental and fabulous beginnings. The most famous novels of Dickens (published in separate issues with a sequel): "The Pickwick Papers", "Oliver Twist", "David Copperfield", "Great Expectations", "A Tale of Two Cities".
Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812 in the Portsmouth suburb of Landport. He was the second child of eight children of John Dickens (1785-1851) and Elizabeth Dickens, née Barrow (1789-1863).
His father served as an officer at the Royal Navy naval base; in January 1815 he was transferred to London, in April 1817 the family moved to Chatham. Here Charles attended the school of Baptist Pastor William Gilles, even when the family moved to London again. Living in the capital, beyond his means, brought his father to debt prison in 1824.
His older sister continued to study at the Royal Academy of Music until 1827, while Charles worked at Warren's Blacking Factory, where he received six shillings a week. But on Sunday they were also in prison with their parents. A few months later, after the death of his paternal grandmother, John Dickens, thanks to the inheritance received, was released from prison, received a pension in the admiralty and a place of parliamentary reporter in one of the newspapers. However, at the insistence of his mother, Charles was left in the factory, which influenced his attitude towards women in later life. After some time, he was assigned to the Wellington House Academy, where he studied until March 1827.
In May 1827 he was admitted to the Ellis & Blackmore Law Office as a junior clerk, at 13 shillings a week. Here he worked until November 1828. After studying stenography according to the system of T. Garnier (Thomas Gurney), he began to work as a freelance reporter, - along with his distant relative, Thomas Charlton.
In 1830, Charles was invited to the Morning Chronicle. In the same year, Charles Dickens met his first love, Maria Bidnell, the daughter of a bank director.
Dickens found himself primarily as a reporter. As soon as Dickens completed - on trial - several reporting assignments, he was immediately noticed by the reading public.
Literature was now the most important thing for him.
The first moralistic essays by Dickens, which he called "Essays by Bose", were published in 1836. Their spirit was quite consistent with social status Dickens. It was, to some extent, a fictional declaration of the interests of the ruining petty bourgeoisie. Psychological sketches, portraits of Londoners, like all Dickensian novels, were also first published in newspaper versions and had already brought the young author enough fame.
Dickens had a dizzying success in the same year as the chapters of his "The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club" were published.
In this novel, he paints old England from its most diverse sides, admiring her good nature and the abundance of lively and attractive features inherent in the best representatives of the English petty bourgeoisie. All these traits are embodied in the good-natured optimist, the noblest old eccentric, whose name - Mr. Pickwick - was established in world literature somewhere near the great name of Don Quixote. If Dickens wrote this book of his as a series of comic, adventure pictures, with deep calculation, first of all, to win the English public by flattering it, letting it enjoy the beauty of portraying such purely English positive and negative types as Pickwick himself, the unforgettable Sam Weller - a wise man in livery , [Alfred Jingle], etc., then even then one would marvel at the fidelity of his instinct. But most likely here the unbridled energy of the author's youth took its toll and the effect of unexpected success, which had an inspiring effect on him. This novel by Dickens caused an extraordinary rush of readers' interest, and the author must be given justice: he immediately used the high tribune of the writer - which he ascended, making the whole of England laugh colossally at the cascade of Pickwickiada curiosities - for more serious tasks.
Two years later, Dickens performed with "Oliver Twist" and "Nicholas Nickleby" (The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby) 1838-1839.
The Adventures of Oliver Twist (or, The Parish Boy's Progress), (1838) is the story of an orphan who was born in a workhouse and lived in the slums of London. The boy meets on his way baseness and nobility, criminal and respectable people. Cruel fate gives way to his sincere desire for an honest life.
On the pages of the novel, pictures of the life of the English society of the 19th century are captured in all their living splendor and ugliness. A broad social picture from workhouses and criminal dens of the London bottom to a society of wealthy and Dickensian kind-hearted bourgeois benefactors. In this novel, Charles Dickens acts as a humanist, affirming the power of good in man.
The novel caused a wide public outcry. After its release, a number of scandalous proceedings took place in the workhouses of London, which, in fact, were semi-prison establishments, where it was mercilessly used child labour.
Dickens' fame grew rapidly. Liberals saw him as their ally, because they defended freedom, and conservatives, because they pointed to the cruelty of the new social relations.
After traveling to America, where the public greeted Dickens with no less enthusiasm than the British, Dickens wrote his "Martin Chuzzlewit" (The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit, 1843). In addition to the unforgettable images of Pecksniff and Mrs. Gump, this novel is a remarkable parody of Americans. The novel caused violent protests from the overseas public.
A Christmas Carol came out in 1843, followed by The Chimes, The Cricket on the Hearth, The Battle of Life, The Obsessed "(The Haunted Man).
At the same time, Dickens became editor-in-chief of the Daily News. In this newspaper, he got the opportunity to express his socio-political views.
One of his best novels is “Trading House“ Dombey and Son ”. Wholesale, retail and export trade ”(Dealings with the Firm of Dombey and Son: Wholesale, Retail and for Exportation, 1848). The endless string of figures and life situations in this work is amazing. There are few novels in world literature, which, in terms of the richness of colors and variety of tone, can be put on a par with "Dombey and the Son", not counting some of the later works of Dickens himself. Both petty-bourgeois characters and representatives of the London poor were created by him with great love. All of these people are almost always eccentric, but the eccentricities that make you laugh make these characters even closer and cuter. True, this friendly, this harmless laugh makes you not notice their narrowness, limitations, difficult conditions in which they have to live; but this is Dickens ... It should be noted, however, that when he turns his thunder and lightning against the oppressors, against the arrogant merchant Dombey, against scoundrels like his senior clerk Carker, he finds words of indignation so staggering that they sometimes border on revolutionary pathos.
The humor is further weakened in Dickens's next greatest work, David Copperfield (The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery (Which He Never Meant to Publish on Any Account), (1849-1850).
This novel is largely autobiographical. His topic is serious and carefully thought out. The spirit of glorification of the old foundations of morality and family, the spirit of protest against the new capitalist England resounds loudly here too. Many connoisseurs of Dickens's work, including such literary authorities as Charlotte Brontë, Henry James, Virginia Woolf, considered this novel to be his greatest work.
In the 1850s, Dickens reached his zenith. He was a darling of fate - a renowned writer, a ruler of thoughts and a wealthy person - in a word, a person for whom fate was not stingy with gifts.
Dickens often spontaneously fell into a trance, was subject to visions and from time to time experienced states of déjà vu.
Another oddity of the writer was told by George Henry Lewis, Chief Editor Fortnightly Review (and close friend of the writer George Eliot). Dickens once told him that every word, before going to paper, is clearly heard at first, and his characters are constantly next to him and communicate with him.
While working on the Antiquities Shop, the writer could neither eat nor sleep: little Nell was constantly spinning underfoot, demanding attention, appealing for sympathy and jealous when the author was distracted from her by talking to someone from outside.
While working on the novel "Martin Chuzzlewit", Dickens bored Mrs. Gump with her jokes: he had to fight her off by force. "Dickens has warned Mrs. Gump more than once that if she does not learn to behave herself and does not appear only on call, he will not give her another line at all!" - wrote Lewis. That is why the writer loved to wander the crowded streets. "In the daytime, somehow you can still do without people," Dickens admitted in one of his letters, "but in the evening I simply cannot free myself from my ghosts until I get lost from them in the crowd."
“Perhaps it is only the creative nature of these hallucinatory adventures that keeps us from mentioning schizophrenia as a probable diagnosis,” says parapsychologist Nandor Fodor, author of The Unknown Dickens (1964, New York).
Dickens's social novel Hard Times (1854) is also permeated with melancholy and hopelessness. This novel was a tangible literary and artistic blow inflicted on capitalism of the 19th century with its idea of irrepressible industrial progress. In its own way, the grandiose and creepy figure of Bounderby is written with genuine hatred. But Dickens does not spare in the novel the leader of the strike movement - the chartist Slackbridge, who is ready for any sacrifice in order to achieve his goals. In this work, the author for the first time questioned - undeniable in the past for him - the value of personal success in society.
The end of Dickens's literary career was also marked by a number of significant works. The novel Little Dorrit (1855-1857) was followed by Dickens's historical novel A Tale of Two Cities (1859), dedicated to the French Revolution. Recognizing the need for revolutionary violence, Dickens turns away from it as from madness. It was quite in the spirit of his worldview, and, nevertheless, he managed to create in his own way an immortal book.
The Great Expectations (1861), a novel with autobiographical features, dates back to this time. His hero - Pip - rushes between the desire to preserve petty bourgeois comfort, to remain faithful to his middle peasant position and the desire upward to glitter, luxury and wealth. Dickens put a lot of his own tosses, his own anguish into this novel. According to the original plan, the novel was supposed to end in tears for the protagonist, although Dickens always avoided catastrophic outcomes in his works and, by his own good nature, tried not to upset especially impressionable readers. For the same reasons, he did not dare to lead the hero's "great hopes" to their complete collapse. But the whole concept of the novel suggests a pattern of such an outcome.
Dickens reaches new artistic heights in his swan song - in a large multi-faceted canvas, the novel Our Mutual Friend (1864). This work, as it were, guesses Dickens' desire to take a break from tense social topics. Fascinatingly conceived, filled with the most unexpected types, all sparkling with wit - from irony to touching, gentle humor - this novel was supposed, according to the author's plan, to come out easy, sweet, funny. His tragic characters are displayed as if in semitones and are largely present in the background, and the negative characters turn out to be either philistines wearing a villainous mask, or such small and funny personalities that we are ready to forgive them for their treachery; and sometimes so unhappy people who are able to excite in us, instead of indignation, just a feeling of bitter pity. In this novel, Dickens's appeal to a new style of writing is noticeable: instead of ironic verbosity, parodying the literary style of the Victorian era, there is a laconic manner reminiscent of cursive. In the novel, the idea of the poisonous effect of money - a garbage heap becomes their symbol - is carried out on social relations and the meaninglessness of the vain aspirations of members of society.
In this last completed work, Dickens demonstrated all the powers of his humor, shielding the wonderful, funny, cute images of this idyll from the gloomy thoughts that took possession of him.
Apparently, gloomy reflections should have found a way out again in detective novel Dickens' The Mystery of Edwin Drood.
From the very beginning of the novel, one can see a change in Dickens's creative manner - his desire to amaze the reader with a fascinating plot, to immerse him in an atmosphere of mystery and uncertainty. Would he succeed in this in full - it remains unclear, since the work remained unfinished.
On June 9, 1870, fifty-eight-year-old Dickens, exhausted by colossal work, a rather chaotic life and a lot of troubles, died of a stroke in his home, Gadshill Place, located in the village of Highham (Kent).
Dickens' fame continued to grow after his death. He was turned into a true idol of English literature. His name began to be called next to the name of Shakespeare, his popularity in England in the 1880-1890s. overshadowed the glory of Byron. But the critic and the reader tried not to notice his angry protests, his peculiar martyrdom, his tosses among the contradictions of life.
They did not understand and did not want to understand that humor was often a shield for Dickens from the overly wounding blows of life. On the contrary, Dickens acquired first of all the fame of the jolly writer of jolly old England.
A crater on Mercury is named after Dickens.
On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the birth of the writer, a postage stamp of the USSR was issued (1962).
The portrait of Dickens was featured on the English £ 10 banknote, issued in 1993-2000.
For the 200th anniversary of Dickens's birth, the Royal Mint of Great Britain issues a commemorative coin in denomination of two pounds sterling with a portrait of Dickens, composed of lines with the names of his works - from "Oliver Twist" to "David Copperfield" and "Great Expectations".
Despite the fact that in his will the writer asked not to erect monuments to him, in 2012 it was decided to erect a monument on the main square of Portsmouth. The monument was opened on June 9, 2013, by Martin Jeggins.
Charles Dickens novels:
The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, published monthly, April 1836 - November 1837
The Adventures of Oliver Twist, February 1837 - April 1839
Nicholas Nickleby (The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby), April 1838 - October 1839
The Old Curiosity Shop, weekly issues, April 1840 - February 1841
Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of "Eighty", February-November 1841
The Christmas books: A Christmas Carol, 1843
Bells (The Chimes), 1844
The Cricket on the Hearth, 1845
The Battle of Life, 1846
The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain, 1848
Martin Chuzzlewit (The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit), January 1843 - July 1844
Dombey and Son Trading House, wholesale, retail and export (Dombey and Son), October 1846 - April 1848
David Copperfield, May 1849 - November 1850
Bleak House, March 1852 - September 1853
Hard Times: For These Times, April-August 1854
Little Dorrit, December 1855 - June 1857
A Tale of Two Cities, April-November 1859
Great Expectations, December 1860 - August 1861
Our Mutual Friend, May 1864 - November 1865
The Mystery of Edwin Drood, April 1870 - September 1870. Published only 6 of 12 issues, the novel is not finished.
Collections of stories by Charles Dickens:
Sketches by Boz, 1836
The Mudfog Papers, 1837
The Uncommercial Traveler, 1860-1869.
Known throughout the world for his surprisingly kind and sentimental novels, the English writer Charles Dickens was born in 1812 near the city of Portsmouth.
He was the second boy in a large family of an officer of the naval base of the United Royal Navy. The family did not have enough money to live on, and in 1815 the father of the family, John Dickens, secured a transfer to London, and in 1817 to Chetem. It was here that little Charles began his education at the private school of a Baptist pastor, whose love and respect he carried throughout his life.
But in the capital of England, John Dickens was unlucky, delighted with the increase in his salary, he allowed himself to live beyond his means and ended up in a debt prison.
As a teenager, due to problems with money, Charles worked in a wax factory, and on Sundays he and his sisters visited their parents in prison.
In 1827, after the death of a distant relative and receiving an inheritance, John paid off his debts and was released from prison, and also found a job as a reporter in one of the major newspapers.
The family situation changed in better side, but Charles remained to work in the factory at the request of his mother Elizabeth. Of course, such injustice could not help but hurt the teenager, and did not change his attitude towards women for many years.
And only after a long time he resumed his interrupted education and then entered the law office as a junior clerk. At the same time, the young man tried to achieve success as a report on the secular and criminal chronicles.
In 1830, after several successful articles, he was invited to work permanently at the Morning Chronicle. It was here that he experienced the feeling of first love, the daughter of the bank's director, Maria Bindle, became his beloved.
The creative path of young Dickens
The first literary work, which was published in 1836, was a collection of short stories called "Essays by Bose." These original, slightly comic, slightly sentimental stories reflected the picture of life and the circle of interests of the petty bourgeoisie, rentiers and merchants. But even the first published work had a huge impact on the further development of the young man's literary talent.
Glory to the writer began to come as the chapters from the novel The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club were published in one of the major newspapers, which was then repeatedly published as a separate publication.
Thanks to Dickens' talent, the name of old Mr. Pickwick became as famous as Don Quixote or Tartarin of Tarascon. This literary hero- good-natured and crafty, rustic and cunning - reflects the character of old England with its unusual humor and conservatism, love for traditions and impatience with meanness and hypocrisy.
On a completely different side, Charles' talent was revealed in 1838 with the release of The Adventures of Oliver Twist. The story of an orphan from a workhouse who fell into the hands of criminals who wanted to mold a poor child into the same criminal, but their plans collapsed, faced with his courage and desire to work honestly. This extremely realistic, short novel reveals the social ulcers that existed in an apparently prosperous state.
The pen of the writer Dickens is moved by humanism and mercy, he paints pictures of the life of all strata of society without embellishment: the splendor and luxury of the nobility, and poverty and ugliness in the social lower classes.
This literary masterpiece played its role: there were several high-profile legal proceedings over the maintenance of children in workhouses in England. Instead of raising and educating orphans, they used child labor and plundered public funds.
The apogee of creativity
Dickens quickly became famous: he was recognized by both liberals, because they believed that he was fighting for the rights of the people, and by conservatives, because his novels denounced cruelty. public relations... It was read with equal interest in richly decorated living rooms, and in poor houses, both children and adults - all read novels that gave hope for happiness in the future and the triumph of justice.
In the early forties, Charles visited America, where he enjoyed no less respect than in England. Glory was ahead of the writer and marched around the world. After this trip, he wrote the novel "The Life of Martin Chelzwith", where he portrayed the Americans in a rather comical way, which, of course, caused an explosion of indignation from the overseas brothers.
In 1843, a collection of Christmas stories was published, which are still very popular in the world today. Several films have been shot based on the novellas "Cricket on the Stove" and "Christmas Tale" and are successfully broadcast all over the world.
The two critically acclaimed novels by Dickens, The Trading House: Dombey and Son (1848) and The Life and Wonderful Adventures of David Copperfield, Written by Himself (1850), have some autobiographical moments.
And the time spent in debt prison with his father and mother, and working in a factory with other little boys, and serving in a law office and working as a reporter, and meeting with by different people- all this is reflected on the pages of books that do not lose their relevance today.
The novel "David Copperfield" was recognized by such masters of the pen as F. Dostoevsky, L. Tolstoy, Charlotte and Emilia Bronte, Henry James and others. Readers wholeheartedly sympathize with the hardships of little Davy, left to fend for themselves at a young age, and condemn the cruel morality of those in power.
The last years of creativity
One of recent novels the author of Hard Times (1854) is imbued with reflections on the fate of the labor movement and the inevitability of progress. For the first time, doubts appear in the work: is personal success so necessary for a person's happiness and recognition by society?
In 1857, the novel "Little Dorrit" was published, in which we see the image of a debt prison and the lost childhood of a girl forced to earn her living from early childhood.
One of the most famous novels "Great Expectations" (1861) shows the changes taking place in the worldview of the writer. For the first time, he wanted to end the book tragically with the death of the protagonist, but not wanting to upset the readers, he does not completely destroy Pip's "unfulfilled hopes", but gives hope and faith for the future.
And finally, his swan song, the novel Our Common Friend, debunks bourgeois ideals: the desire for profit and power, reveals the true value of love and friendship. This is probably why a huge garbage heap becomes a symbol of lost wealth.
In 1870, at the age of 58, Charles Dickens died at his home in Keth, leaving behind one unfinished novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood.
The writer left, but left us his soul, his fame continued to grow even after his death. His name is on a par with Shakespeare and Byron, it is he who is considered a real English writer, reflecting the true England.
Modest during his lifetime, Dickens in his will mentioned his desire not to have monuments, but in 2012 a monument to the great writer was opened in Portsmouth, who, with his works, knew how to make laugh, and make everyone cry and, most importantly, think, regardless of gender, age and time. reading. Charles Dickens's novels will live forever as long as soft humor, nobility and honesty, love and true friendship will live.
