Charles Dickens

Introduction

Charles Dickens

G. K. Chesterton described Charles Dickens as a man who possessed the qualities of a young boy with no boundaries—mischievous and irresponsible, yet passionately alive and relentlessly hopeful. Indeed, this prolific (he wrote novels, novellas, plays, short stories, fiction, and nonfiction) and popular (he was the most requested after-dinner speaker of his time) nineteenth-century author transformed his own life into vibrant, imaginative fiction; he wrote about everything he saw, and because his experiences led him from the depths of the poorhouse to the heights of popularity, his writing established universal appeal. By championing social causes in his works, creating vivid, unforgettable characters, and caring for his audience as much as he did for his pen, Dickens established himself as the immortal author of Victorian England.

Essential Facts

1. Dickens’ father would make young Charles stand upon a tall stool, sing songs, and create stories for the entertainment of other clerks in the office.
2. Dickens admitted that David Copperfield was his favorite work. It was also his most autobiographical.
3. In Boston, 4,000 people gathered at the dock to await the ship that carried chapter 71 of Dickens’ The Old Curiosity Shop. When the ship arrived, they asked the captain about a beloved character from the novel: “Is Nell dead?” When the affirmative response came back, a collective groan rose up from the massive crowd.
4. At the age of ten, Dickens was forced to work at a factory to pay off his father’s debts. Although Dickens himself spoke of this traumatizing experience only twice in his life, critics and readers agree that the two years he spent there forged much of the material for his later novels.
5. Edgar Allan Poe is said to be the only person who was ever able to predict the conclusion of the complex plots in Dickens’ novels.