Life of charles dickens biography
The Life of Charles Dickens, Vol. I-III, Complete by John Forster
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Charles Dickens
Who Was Charles Dickens?
Charles Dickens was a British author, journalist, editor, illustrator, and social commentator who wrote the beloved classics Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, and Great Expectations. His books were first published in monthly serial installments, which became a lucrative source of income following a childhood of abject poverty. Dickens wrote 15 novels in total, including Nicholas Nickleby, David Copperfield, and A Tale of Two Cities. His writing provided a stark portrait of poor and working class people in the Victorian era that helped to bring about social change. Dickens died in June at age 58 and is remembered as one of the most important and influential writers of the 19 century.
Quick Facts
FULL NAME: Charles John Huffam Dickens
BORN: February 7,
DIED: June 9,
BIRTHPLACE: Portsmouth, England
SPOUSE: Catherine Thomson Hogarth ()
CHILDREN: Charles Jr., Mary, Kate, Walter, Francis, Alfred, Sydney, Henry, Dora, and Edward
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Aquarius
Early Life and Education
Charles John Huffam Dickens was born on February 7, , in Portsmouth on the southern coast of England. He was the second of eight children born to John Dickens, a naval clerk who dreamed of striking it rich, and Elizabeth Barrow, who aspired to be a teacher and school director. Despite his parents’ best efforts, the family remained poor but nevertheless happy in the early days.
In , they moved to Chatham, Kent, where young Dickens and his siblings were free to roam the countryside and explore the old castle at Rochester. Dickens was a sickly child and prone to spasms, which prevented him from playing sports. He compensated by reading avidly, including such books as Robinson Crusoe, Tom Jones, Peregrine Pickle, and The Arabian Nights, according to The World of Charles Dickens by Fido Martin.
In , the Dickens family moved to Camden Town, a poor neighborhood in London. By then, the family’s financial situation had g Illustration of Charles Dickens ©Charles Dickens is much loved for his great contribution to classic English literature. He was the quintessential Victorian author. His epic stories, vivid characters and exhaustive depiction of contemporary life are unforgettable. His own story is one of rags to riches. He was born in Portsmouth on 7 February , to John and Elizabeth Dickens. The good fortune of being sent to school at the age of nine was short-lived because his father, inspiration for the character of Mr Micawber in 'David Copperfield', was imprisoned for bad debt. The entire family, apart from Charles, were sent to Marshalsea along with their patriarch. Charles was sent to work in Warren's blacking factory and endured appalling conditions as well as loneliness and despair. After three years he was returned to school, but the experience was never forgotten and became fictionalised in two of his better-known novels 'David Copperfield' and 'Great Expectations'. Like many others, he began his literary career as a journalist. His own father became a reporter and Charles began with the journals 'The Mirror of Parliament' and 'The True Sun'. Then in he became parliamentary journalist for The Morning Chronicle. With new contacts in the press he was able to publish a series of sketches under the pseudonym 'Boz'. In April , he married Catherine Hogarth, daughter of George Hogarth who edited 'Sketches by Boz'. Within the same month came the publication of the highly successful 'Pickwick Papers', and from that point on there was no looking back for Dickens. As well as a huge list of novels he published autobiography, edited weekly periodicals including 'Household Words' and 'All Year Round', wrote travel books and administered charitable organisations. He was also a theatre enthusiast, wrote plays and performed before Queen Victoria in His energy was inexhaustible and he spent much time abroad - for example lecturing against slavery in the Charles Dickens ( - )
Charles Dickens online
After a few months Dickens's father was released from prison and Charles was allowed to go back to school. At fifteen his formal education ended and he found employment as an office boy at an attorney's, while he studied shorthand at night. From he worked as a shorthand reporter in the courts and afterwards as a parliamentary and newspaper reporter.
In Dickens began to contribute short stories and essays to periodicals. A Dinner at Popular Walkwas Dickens's first published story. It appeared in the Monthly Magazinein December In , still a newspaper reporter, he adopted the soon to be famous pseudonym Boz. Dickens's first book, a collection of stories titled Sketches by Boz, was published in In the same year he married Catherine Hogarth, daughter of the editor of the Evening Chronicle. Together they had 10 children before they separated in
Although Dickens's main profession was