Charles Dickens (7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870)[1] was an English writer and a social critic who is regarded as one of the great English writers of the 19th century.
Charles Dickens | |
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| Born | Charles John Huffam Dickens 7 February 1812 Portsmouth, England |
| Died | 9 June 1870 (aged 58) Kent, England |
| Cause of death | Stroke |
| Resting place | Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey |
| Nationality | English |
| Occupation | Writer. Social Critic |
| Notable work | Sketches by Boz, Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, A Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield, Great Expectations |
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Early life
changeCharles Dickens was born in Portsmouth, England.[1] His parents were John Dickens (1785-1851),[2] a naval pay clerk, and Elizabeth Barrow (1789–1863).[2]
When Dickens was born, he had dyslexia and so he could not read or write properly, unlike other kids. When Charles was 12 years old, his family moved to Camden, London. He worked in a blacking (shoe polish) factory there while his father was in prison for debt. Dickens's hard times in the factory served as a foundation of ideas for many of his novels. Many of them, like Oliver Twist, later became famous. When his great-grandmother died and transmitted money, Charles' father paid off his debts and was released from prison. Charles did not like working and wished to stop after his father had been released. However, his mother said that the family needed the money and so Charles was forced to continue working. Charles then finished his schooling and got a job as an office boy for an attorney. After finding that job dull, he taught himself shorthand and became a journalist that reports on the government. Dickens was a Unitarian.[3]
Author
changeHis first book was Sketches by Boz in 1836, a collection of the short pieces that he had been writing for the Monthly Magazine and the Evening Chronicle.[4] This was followed by The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club in 1837.[1] Both books became popular as soon as they were printed.[1]
The high production costs of making A Christmas Carol led to reduced profits, and the first edition brought him only GB£230 (equivalent to £22,746 in 2019)[5] rather than the GB£1,000 (equivalent to £98,897 in 2019)[5] he expected.[6] A year later, the profits were only GB£744, and Dickens was deeply disappointed.[7][n 1]
Charles Dickens died of a stroke on June 9, 1870. He was buried in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey. He died 5 years and 3 days after getting into a horrible train accident that killed 10 people and injured another 49.
Books
changeCharles Dickens wrote many books, including:
- Sketches by Boz (1836)
- The Pickwick Papers (1837)
- Oliver Twist (1838)
- Nicholas Nickelby (1838)
- The Old Curiosity Shop (1840)
- Barnaby Rudge (1841)
- Martin Chuzzlewit (1843)
- A Christmas Carol (1843)
- Dombey and Son (1846—1848)
- David Copperfield (1849—1850)
- Bleak House (1851—1853)
- Hard Times (1854)
- Little Dorritt (1855—1857)
- A Tale of Two Cities (1859)
- Great Expectations (1861)
- Our Mutual Friend (1865)
- The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1869—1870) (unfinished)
Notes
change- ↑ Dickens's biographer, Claire Tomalin, puts the first edition profits at £137, and those by the end of 1844 at £726.[8]
References
change- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Lansbury, Coral. Dickens, Charles (1812-1870). Australian National University. Retrieved 2010-03-16.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ↑ 2.0 2.1 Dickens Family Tree website
- ↑ "Charles Dickens". 25.uua.org. Archived from the original on November 23, 2013. Retrieved November 30, 2013.
- ↑ Cousin, John W. (1910). "Charles Dickens (1812-1870)". A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. University of Adelaide. Archived from the original on 2009-08-26. Retrieved 2010-03-16.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 UK CPI inflation.
- ↑ Kelly 2003, p. 17; Douglas-Fairhurst 2006, pp. xx, xvii.
- ↑ Kelly 2003, p. 17.
- ↑ Tomalin 2011, p. 150.
Other websites
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Source texts from Wikisource |
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- Works by Charles Dickens at Project Gutenberg
- Charles Dickens mobile ebooks Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
- Charles Dickens Archived 2021-06-24 at the Wayback Machine at the British Library
- "Archival material relating to Charles Dickens". UK National Archives.
- Charles Dickens on IMDb