Charles Dickens

September 2007

Charles Dickens is remembered and loved for his contribution to English Literature. Often described as the quintessential author of the Victorian era, his unforgettable array of epic tales, exhaustive depiction of contemporary life and vivid characters rocketed him to success in his own rags to riches story.

His ability to grasp the imagination of the Victorian people was largely down to his wit, observation and command of language. In a period of industrial revolution and rising literacy Dickens provided an introduction to fiction for many of the poor and working classes, which provided a voice for the frustrations of class boundaries and poverty.

Dickens was himself born into poverty in February 1812. The son of John and Elizabeth Dickens, he grew up in Portsmouth with his siblings. At nine he was sent to school but was forced to leave when his father was arrested for debt. Charles was sent to work in a blacking factory, where the conditions were appalling, for three years. Despite his return to school, Dickens never forgot the loneliness experience of those years and fictionalised it in David Copperfield and Great Expectations.

Like many other authors of the time, Dickens began his literary career as a journalist with The Mirror of Parliament and The True Sun. In 1833 he moved to The Morning Chronicle as their parliamentary reporter. Such access to the press brought Dickens contacts, and he managed to publish a series of sketches under the pseudonym of "Boz". Bt it was in April 1836 that Dickens' literary career began in earnest. Within a month of marrying Catherine Hogarth, the daughter of George Hogarth who had edited Sketches by Boz, the highly successful The Pickwick Papers was published.

A factor that aided Dickens rise in popularity was the method of publication he and his publishers decided on. All of his major novels were serials, published in weekly or monthly instalments. This allowed his fiction to reach a wider audience as the price of a full length novel was unaffordable to the average worker.

The arrangement of instalments worked well for the workaholic Dickens, as his unlimited imagination enabled him to keep producing material for the tight schedule. Each novel was written with future sales in mind so many of the instalments ended with gripping cliff-hangers that acted as a hook to keep the readers interested in, and thus purchasing, the next chapter. In almost thirty five years of serial publication Dickens only missed two deadlines, one when his sister-in-law died, the other being his own death in 1870.

In those thirty-five years Dickens produced sixteen major novels:

Sketches by Boz (1836)
Pickwick Papers (serialized monthly 1836-37)
Oliver Twist (serialized monthly 1837-39)
Nicholas Nickleby (serialized monthly 1838-39)
The Old Curiosity Shop (serialized weekly 1840-41)
Barnaby Rudge (serialized weekly 1841)
Martin Chuzzlewit (serialized monthly 1843-44)
Dombey and Son (serialized monthly 1846-48)
David Copperfield (serialized monthly 1849-50)
Bleak House (serialized monthly 1852-53)
Hard Times (serialized weekly 1854)
Little Dorrit (serialized monthly 1855-57)
A Tale of Two Cities (serialized weekly 1859)
Great Expectations (serialized weekly 1860-61)
Our Mutual Friend (serialized monthly 1864-65)
The Mystery of Edwin Drood - unfinished (serialized monthly 1870)

In addition to his prolific novel output, Dickens published an autobiography, edited periodicals, wrote travel books and played an administrative role in charitable organisations. Furthermore, a theatre enthusiast, he penned plays and even appeared before Queen Victoria in a performance. Dickens' energy was inexhaustible and he managed to spend time abroad lecturing against slavery, or touring Italy with companions.

In 1870 he suffered a stroke and died. He is buried in Poets Corner at Westminster Abbey. His grave reportedly overflowed with flowers from admirers as testament to his enduring popularity.