An increasingly pressing issue in the US
Regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era, Charles Dickens was far more than just a writer. His literature also provided social commentary.
Born Charles John Huffam Dickens on February 7, 1812 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, Dickens read voraciously as a child and had an excellent memory of people and events, a talent he later used in his writing. His birthplace in now an engaging museum.
The second of eight children of Elizabeth and John Dickens, the young Charles enjoyed a relatively comfortable early childhood. But that all changed when his debt-ridden father was forced by his creditors into the notorious Marshalsea debtors' prison in Southwark, London, this in 1824. Dickens was compelled to leave school and work in a shoe-blacking factory, an experience that would later influence his fiction and essays. He is seen here at the factory in an illustration published in the 1892 edition of 'Forster's Life of Dickens.'
By 1832 Dickens was working as a political journalist, and made rapid progress both professionally and socially.
By 1836 and writing under the pseudonym "Boz," a family nickname, Dickens began publishing his journalism in the form of sketches in periodicals. One of these publications was called 'Sketches by Boz.' Its success led to an offer to write a story that would eventually become 'The Pickwick Papers.'
Published as a serial from 1837 to 1839 as 'Oliver Twist; or, the Parish Boy's Progress' and then as a book in 1838, Dickens' second novel is remarkable for its unromantic portrayal of criminals and their unsavory lives. But more importantly, it is an early example of the social novel.
Considered the last of his episodic style novels, 'Martin Chuzzlewit' is partly set in the United States.
In 1841, Charles Dickens published his first historical novel, 'Barnaby Rudge.' Largely set during the anti-Catholic Gordon Riots of 1780, it is one of his less popular novels. But Dickens was already working on his next book, and one of his best-loved.
'A Christmas Carol' was published to widespread acclaim on December 19, 1843. By Christmas Eve, the first edition (pictured) had sold out.
Each of these themes is displayed through Scrooge's transformation from a miserly, greedy, and lonely man into an empathetic and kind individual. By extension, Dickens inspires several aspects of Christmas, including family gatherings, seasonal food and drink, dancing, games, and a festive generosity of spirit.
The novel explores the relationship between money and happiness. Themes also include the possibility of redemption, the damaging effects of isolation, and the importance of love and compassion.
The prison scenes in 'The Pickwick Papers' are claimed to have been influential in having the notorious Fleet Prison shut down in 1842. In the book, Samuel Pickwick is imprisoned in the Fleet for refusing to pay fines. The novel contains a vivid description of the life, customs, and abuses of the prison. Dickens followed 'The Pickwick Papers' with a novel that would announce him as a literary genius.
Dickens' first novel was 'The Pickwick Papers.' Already published in 1836–1837 as a sequence of loosely related adventures written for serialization in a periodical, the book version (pictured) was Britain's first real publishing phenomenon.
With 'Oliver Twist,' Dickens highlights poverty, the effects of industrialism on 19th-century England, the injustice of child labor, the recruitment of minors as criminals, and the presence of street children—social themes he would return to repeatedly throughout his career.
Forty-two years after his father was imprisoned there, Marshalsea debtors' prison became the setting for 'Little Dorrit.' The story features Amy Dorrit, youngest child of her family, born and raised in the Marshalsea. Pictured is the original title page of the first edition showing Amy leaving the Marshalsea. Imprisonment—both literal and figurative—is a major theme of the novel: most of the characters are trapped within the rigidly defined English social class structure of the time.
The prison courtyard photographed around 1897, when the buildings were being rented out as rooms and shops after its closure in 1847. His father's incarceration and his own experience working in a factory became the foundation of his interest in the reform of socio-economic and labor conditions, the rigors of which he believed were unfairly borne by the poor.
Considered by many to be his masterpiece, and autobiographical in tone, 'David Copperfield' was, in fact, Dickens' favorite among his own novels.
In 'Bleak House,' first published as a 20-episode serial between March 1852 and September 1853, Dickens explores several themes relating to legal identity and appearances. At the center of the novel is a long-running legal case in the Court of Chancery, which comes about because a testator has written several conflicting wills.
Pictured is Westminster Hall, where the Court of Chancery sat almost continuously from the reign of Edward III until its dissolution in 1875. 'Bleak House' helped support a judicial reform movement that culminated in the enactment of legal reform in the 1870s, after which the Court of Chancery ceased to exist.
'Hard Times' was published as a serial in 'Household Words' in 1854, and is the shortest of Dickens' novels.
The book surveys English society and satirizes the social and economic conditions of the era, something Dickens did by educating readers about the working conditions of some of the factories in the industrial towns of Manchester and Preston. The novel also examines the divide between capitalist mill owners and undervalued workers during the era.
Dickens' best-known work of historical fiction, 'A Tale of Two Cities' is regularly cited as the best-selling novel of all time. The story is set against the conditions that led up to the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror.
Tyranny and revolution, secrecy and surveillance, fate and history, and sacrifice and resurrection are themes that run throughout this influential work. Put simply, the reader is shown that the poor are brutalized in France and England alike.
The story of an orphan called Pip and his quest for education received near universal acclaim. The "great expectations" of the protagonist and narrator in Dickens' penultimate completed novel, together with a colorful cast of characters, have entered popular culture.
The moral theme of 'Great Expectations' is quite simple: affection, loyalty, and conscience are more important than social advancement, wealth, and class. The book's deeper social concerns, however, revolve around England's unjust penal system and imperialism.
'Our Mutual Friend' is the last novel completed by Charles Dickens.
While greed is an important theme in the novel, Dickens suggests that worrying about social status and class is the root of all immorality.
First appearing in monthly parts, after which it was issued in one volume in 1839, the writer's third novel explored themes of poverty and cruelty in boarding schools. But Dickens also developed a parallel theme, that every human being—no matter what his or her defects—deserves love and friendship.
Printed in book form in 1841, 'The Old Curiosity Shop' is a study in contrasts: the goodness and virtue of Little Nell as compared to the evil Quilp. Essentially, the theme is that of family and affection and the lengths one would go through for their loved ones.
There actually is a Bleak House, pictured here on a hill in Broadstairs, Kent, where Dickens wrote 'David Copperfield' and other novels.
During Dickens' lifetime, the campaign against child labor culminated in two important pieces of legislation—the Factory Act (1833) and the Mines Act (1842). These two acts effectively brought to an end the systematic employment of young children. The amended Factory Act of 1878 prohibited work before the age of 10 and applied to all trades. It was bolstered by the Education Act of 1880, which introduced compulsory schooling up to the age of 10. These and many other social justice causes were championed by Dickens in his work as a writer and as a reformer.
See also: Thirty books that influenced the world
Pictured is the remaining wall and gate arches of the Marshalsea in Southwark. A plaque on the wall reminds visitors of the prison's association with Dickens and the inspiration it created for one of his most famous novels, more of which will be discussed later.
Dickens' chalet in Rochester, Kent, where he was writing the last chapters of 'Edwin Drood' the day before he died.
Pictured: the house at 48 Doughty Street in Holborn, London, where Dickens lived with his wife Catherine and the eldest three of their 10 children from 1837 to 1839. It's now a museum.
Familiar themes run through the novel, including the plight of the weak, wealth and class, and, significantly, equality in marriage.
The character of nurse Sarah Gamp from 'Martin Chuzzlewit' became a stereotype of untrained and incompetent nurses of the early Victorian era, before the reforms of Florence Nightingale.
Meanwhile, Dickens married Catherine Hogworth. They were to have 10 children together before separating in 1858. She died in 1879.
Charles Dickens is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. Recognized at an early age by critics and scholars as a literary genius, his works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime. Dickens' novels have never gone out of print and are still widely read today. Many of his works were adapted for the stage while he was still alive, and have been adapted continually for the screen since the invention of cinema.
Charles Dickens is also remembered as a social critic. Through his work he became an influential spokesman of the conscience of his age, and he often highlighted in his novels the urgent need to reform socio-economic and labor conditions, the rigors of which he believed were unfairly borne by the poor. In fact, the myriad themes running through his novels read like a social reform charter.
Click through the following gallery for an appreciation of this literary giant who campaigned for children's rights, education, and other social reforms.
The true story of Charles Dickens
The great English author and social critic was born on February 7, 1812
LIFESTYLE Authors
Charles Dickens is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. Recognized at an early age by critics and scholars as a literary genius, his works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime. Dickens' novels have never gone out of print and are still widely read today. Many of his works were adapted for the stage while he was still alive, and have been adapted continually for the screen since the invention of cinema.
Charles Dickens is also remembered as a social critic. Through his work he became an influential spokesman of the conscience of his age, and he often highlighted in his novels the urgent need to reform socio-economic and labor conditions, the rigors of which he believed were unfairly borne by the poor. In fact, the myriad themes running through his novels read like a social reform charter.
Click through the following gallery for an appreciation of this literary giant who campaigned for children's rights, education, and other social reforms.