Dickens

Dickens, Charles, was born at Landport, Portsmouth, February 7th, 1812. He was a son of John Dickens, then stationed in Portsmouth Dockyard as a clerk in the Navy Pay Office. In 1814 the elder Dickens was recalled to London, and two years later he went to Chatham, where the future novelist attended a school in Gibraltar Place. As a child he read deeply, and is even said to have attempted original writing. Owing to reforms in the Admiralty, John Dickens lost his post and most of his income in 1821. Hemoved with his family to London; and in the suburb of Camden Town Charles Dickens experienced that pinch of poverty to which frequent reference is made in his works. The father was soon arrested for debt, and Charles was placed in ablacking manufactory in Hungerford Market, where he was employed in putting labels on the blacking bottles. The degradation of his surroundings made a deep and lasting impression upon his mind. When the father recovered his liberty, the boy was sent to a private school in the Hampstead Road. On leaving school he entered a solicitor's office, where he taught himself shorthand, and in his seventeenth year he became a reporter at Doctors' Commons. At this time he ardently longed to go upon the stage, but fortunately for the future of literature his desires remained unfulfilled. In 1831 he joined the reporting staff of the True Sun, and in 1834 he became a reporter for the Morning Chroniele. Dickens began his real career, however, in December, 1833, when he published in the Old Monthly Mayazine his first original article, entitled "A Dinner at Poplar Walk." Other papers succeeded, and he made ? profitable engagement with the conductors of the Morning Chronicle to supply a series of papers for the evening issue of that journal. These papers were reprinted in 183C under the title of Sketches by Boz. A comic opera, The Village Coquettes, appeared the same year. The success of the Sketches by Boz led Dickens to undertake in 1837 the production of a serial, in monthly parts, entitled The Posthumous Papersofthe Pickwick Club. The monthly numbers of this immortal work attained almost at once a phenomenal popularity, and that popularity has never since declined. Oliver Twist (which first appeared in Bentley's Miscellany, oi' which Dickens was for a time editor) was published in 1838. This powerful story lifted the veil upon life in the provincial workhouses and in the London slums. It was succeeded by Nicholas Nicltleby (1839), one of the best as well as one of the most widely appreciated of the novelist's works. In 1840 Dickens undertook a serial collection of stories, called Master Humphrey's Clock. The Old Curiosity Shop (1840), which contains for its central figure that exquisite and pathetic creation, "Little Nell"; and Barnaby Budye (1841), a tale associated with the Lord George Gordon Riots, appeared in this series, together with a number of shorter stories and sketches In 1842 Dickens visited the United States, and on his return published his American Notes for General Circulation, a work which gave great offence in the States for its too caustic pictures of Transatlantic society. Martin Chuzzleivit, which appeared in 1843, also contained unflattering representations of American character. Though regarded as one of the most masterly of the author's works, it was received with less favour than its predecessors. It has since advanced largely in the public estimation, however, and several of its characters, including Mrs. Gamp and Mr. Pecksniff, are as famous as any the novelist has drawn. The "Christmas Books" - which included The Christmas Carol, The Chimes, The Cricket on the Hearth, The Battle of Life, The Haunted Man, and The Gliost's Bargain - were issued at intervals from 1843 to 1848. In 1845-46 Dickens visited Italy, and the result of his travels appeared in a series of sketches, Pictures from Italy, which were published in the Daily News. Dickens was the editor of this new journal, but finding the work uncongenial, he relinquished it, and returned to his creative work in literature. What may be termed his second period in fiction began with the publication of Dombey and Son, in monthly numbers, in 1846-48. Then came David Copperfield (1849-50), which is usually regarded as one of the finest of his works. In great part it was a record of the novelist's own experiences, so that its humorous and pathetic revelations possess an autobiographic interest. Dickens established in 1850 a cheap weekly periodical, called Household Words, but this was superseded in 1859 by All the Year Bound, which he conducted until his death. Bleak House, a novel depicting the abuses of the Court of Chancery, was published in 1852-53; and The Child's History of Enyland and Hard Times, a tale dealing with questions affecting the working man, in 1854. Little Dorrit, which depicts the self-sacrificing devotion of a daughter for a worthless parent, appeared in 1855-57; and during its progress Dickens removed from London to Gad's Hill Place, near Rochester, where he ever afterwards resided. A Tale of Two Cities, which graphically describes the horrors of the French Revolution, was published in 1859. At this time, Dickens undertook his first series of public readings. Though extremely popular and profitable, the readings undoubtedly sapped his physical strength; and his intellectual productiveness from this period was not so great as in previous years. Great Expectations appeared in 1860-61; The Uncommercial Traveller in 1861; Our Mutual Friend, the last of his lengthy completed works, in 1864-5; while Christmas stories, mainly from his pen, appeared at the close of every year in All the Year Bound. The novelist paid a second visit to the United States in 1867-8, and was received everywhere with the greatest enthusiasm. The success of his public readings was equal to that which he achieved in his native land. After his return to England he began the composition of The Mystery of Edwin Drood, which was destined to be the last of his works. The first numbers of the new serial were published in 1870, but the story remained unfinished at his death. In March, 1870, Dickens gave his last reading in St. James's Hall, the scene being a very memorable one. Medical advisers frequently warned the novelist that he was overtaxing his strength and energies, but his nature never permitted him to rest, and he literally died in harness. On the 8th of June he was seized with a fit at his residence, Gad's Hill Place, and never recovered from the attack. He expired on the following morning, June 9th, 1870, in his fifiy-ninth year. On the 14th of June he was interred in Poet's Corner, Westminster Abbey. The news of his death was received with profound and universal regret throughout the English-speaking world. Dickens married in 1838 a daughter of George Hogarth, the well-known musical critic and writer. For the encouragement of young authors the novelist was especially distinguished, and he was associated with Bulwer Lytton and others in founding the Guild of Literature and Art. He also took an active part in the administration of the Royal Literary Fund.

Dickens was one of the greatest and most original of English novelists. Notwithstanding the tendency to caricature in his writings, the characters in his vast portrait gallery are, in the main, true to life. They are distinct types, creations as graphic as they are human. In the pages of this prince of storytellers comedy and tragedy jostle each other as they do in human existence, and he has equal command over the springs of laughter and of tears. Were there no other preservative qualities in his works, their intensity of feeling alone would ensure them the continuous appreciation of posterity.