Charles Dickens

Charles John Huffam Dickens was born in Portsmouth, England, on February 7, 1812. His mother taught him to read and to enjoy the pleasure of reading. At the age of 8, he wrote his first work. His dad was a spendthrift and usually lost all his money, so his family had to suffer from it. In 1824, at the age of 12, due to financial disaster, Charles had to leave school and was forced to start working in a factory while his father was sent to prison. These facts will be later captured in his works ‘David Copperfield’ and ‘Little Dorrit’. Living during the Industrial Revolution was very hard for little Charles. He noticed all the evils of hard-working and low wages, as people moved from the country to towns to get lower-paid jobs. Most of his work relates that awful period when he realised the miserable circumstances and terrible conditions people had to undergo, especially poor children. Orphans were always present in his books.

After his family recovered, Dickens finished school and became a clerk in a solicitor’s office when he was fifteen years old. In 1833, he started writing for several newspapers under the pseudonym of Boz. In 1836, he serialised ‘The Pickwick papers’. It was an immediate success. Dickens became so popular that he left the newspaper and started to edit a magazine, where he also serialised ‘Oliver Twist’. This technique was very interesting, as people could buy sketches or instalments weekly or monthly if they lacked the means to do it as a book. Dickens was quite aware of the hardships of London society, so he did his most to get reading closer to the lower classes. He even travelled the country and went to the States to read his works for those who could not afford them. ‘Oliver Twist’ was especially acknowledged because of its magnificent depiction of poor orphans who had to steal to eat and were sometimes abused in the big city. Dickens achieved something almost impossible: he made all these sad, forgotten and poor characters become visible to the world. Charles continued writing until his last days.

Other remarkable works are ‘A Christmas Carol’, ‘David Copperfield’. ‘A tale of two cities’, ‘Great expectations’, and ‘Our mutual friend’. He also wrote poetry, essays, plays and short stories.

Charles Dickens died on June 9, 1870.

 

Thanks to Jorge Juan and his family for this interesting information.