Charles Dickens
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{{Infobox Writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox Writer/doc]] -->
| name = Charles Dickens
| image = Charles Dickens 3.jpg
| imagesize = 200px
| caption = Charles Dickens is acclaimed as one of history's greatest novelists
| birthname = Charles John Huffam Dickens
| birthdate = {{birth date|1812|2|7|df=yes}}<br>[[Portsmouth]], [[England]]
| deathdate = {{death date and age|1870|6|9|1812|2|7|df=yes}}<br>[[Gad's Hill Place]], [[Higham, Kent]], England
| occupation = [[Novelist]]
| notableworks = ''[[Oliver Twist]]'', ''[[A Christmas Carol]]'', ''[[A Tale of Two Cities]]''
| influences = [[Honoré de Balzac]], [[Miguel de Cervantes]], [[Victor Hugo]], [[Washington Irving]], [[William Shakespeare]]
| influenced = [[T. Coraghessan Boyle]], [[Fyodor Dostoevsky]], [[George Gissing]], [[Thomas Hardy]], [[John Irving]], [[Edgar Allan Poe]], [[Tom Wolfe]], [[G. K. Chesterton]], [[George Orwell]], [[Ray Bradbury]]
| signature = Charles_Dickens_signature.jpg
}}
'''Charles John Huffam Dickens''', [[Royal Society of Arts|FRSA]] ({{IPAEng|ˈtʃɑrlz ˈdɪkɪnz}}; [[7 February]] [[1812]] – [[9 June]] [[1870]]), [[pen-name]] "Boz", was an [[England|English]] [[novelist]] of the [[Victorian era]] as well as a vigorous social campaigner.
Critics [[George Gissing]] and [[G. K. Chesterton]] championed Dickens's mastery of prose, his endless invention of unique, clever personalities, and his powerful social sensibilities, but fellow writers such as [[George Henry Lewes]], [[Henry James]], and [[Virginia Woolf]] faulted his work for sentimentality, implausible occurrences, and [[grotesque]] characterizations.<ref>[http://humwww.ucsc.edu/dickens/OMF/james.html Henry James, "Our Mutual Friend", ''The Nation'', [[21 December]] [[1865]]- a scathing review]</ref>
The popularity of Dickens's [[novel]]s and [[short story|short stories]] has meant that not one has ever gone [[Out-of-print book|out of print]].{{Fact|July 7, 2008|date=July 2008}} Many of Dickens's novels first appeared in [[periodical]]s and magazines in serialized form — a popular format for [[fiction]] at the time — and, unlike many other authors who completed entire novels before serial production commenced, Dickens often composed his works in parts, in the order in which they were meant to appear. Such a practice lent his stories a particular rhythm, punctuated by one minor "[[cliffhanger]]" after another, to keep the (original) public looking forward to the next installment.<ref>Stone, Harry. ''Dickens's Working Notes for His Novels'', Chicago, 1987</ref>
==Life==
===Early years===
Charles Dickens was born in [[Landport]], [[Portsmouth]] in [[Hampshire]], the second of eight children to John Dickens (1786 – 1851), a clerk in the Navy Pay Office at Portsmouth, and his wife Elizabeth Dickens (née Barrow, 1789 – 1863) on [[7 February]] [[1812]]. When he was five, the family moved to [[Chatham, Kent]]. In 1822, when he was ten, the family relocated to 16 Bayham Street, [[Camden Town]] in London.
[[Image:ChathamOrdnanceTerrCrop.jpg|left|thumb|Ordnance Terrace, Chatham - Dickens' home from 1817 to 1822]]
Although his early years seem to have been an idyllic time, he thought himself then as a "very small and not-over-particularly-taken-care-of boy".<ref>[http://lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~matsuoka/CD-Forster-1.html John Forster, ''The Life of Charles Dickens'', Book 1, Chapter 1]</ref> He spent his time outdoors, but also read voraciously, with a particular fondness for the [[picaresque novel]]s of [[Tobias Smollett]] and [[Henry Fielding]]. He talked later in life of his extremely poignant memories of childhood and his continuing [[photographic memory]] of the people and events that helped to bring his fiction to life. His family was moderately wealthy, and he received some education at the private William Giles' school in Chatham. This time of prosperity came to an abrupt end, however, when his father, after spending far too much money entertaining and retaining his social position, was imprisoned at [[Marshalsea]] [[Debtor's prison|debtors' prison]].
The 12-year-old Dickens began [[Child labor|working]] ten hour days in a Warren's boot-blacking [[factory]], located near the present [[Charing Cross railway station]]. He earned six [[shilling]]s a week pasting labels on the jars of thick [[Shoe polish|polish]]. This money paid for his lodgings in [[Camden Town]] and helped him to support his family. The shocking conditions of the factory made an ingrained impression on Dickens.
After a few months, his family was able to leave Marshalsea, but their financial situation did not improve until later, partly due to money inherited from his father's family. Dickens's mother did not immediately remove him from the boot-blacking factory, owned by a relation of hers, and he never forgave her for this. Resentment of his situation and the conditions under which [[working class|working-class]] people lived became major themes of his works, championing the causes of the poor and oppressed. As Dickens wrote in ''[[David Copperfield (novel)|David Copperfield]]'', his personal favourite as well as his most patently autobiographical novel,<ref>[http://www.enotes.com/authors/charles-dickens eNotes.com "Charles Dickens", accessed November 15, 2007]</ref> "I had no advice, no counsel, no encouragement, no consolation, no assistance, no support, of any kind, from anyone, that I can call to mind, as I hope to go to heaven!" He eventually attended the Wellington House Academy in [[North London]].
In May 1827, Dickens began work in the office of Ellis and Blackmore as a [[law clerk]]. This was a junior office position, but it came with the potential of helping him up to the Bar. It was here that he gained his detailed knowledge of the law and the poor's suffering at the hands of its many injustices, together with a loathing of inefficient bureaucracy which stayed with him for the rest his life. He showed his contempt for the lawyer's profession in his many literary works.
At the age of seventeen, he became a court [[stenographer]] and, in 1830, met his first love, Maria Beadnell. It is believed that she was the model for the character Dora in ''[[David Copperfield (novel)|David Copperfield]]''. Maria's parents disapproved of the courtship and effectively ended the relationship when they sent her to school in [[Paris]].
===Journalism and early novels===
[[Image:charles dickensyoung.jpg|thumb|upright|A young Charles Dickens]]
In 1834, Dickens became a political journalist, reporting on parliamentary debate and travelling across [[Great Britain|Britain]] by [[stagecoach]] to cover election campaigns for the ''[[Morning Chronicle]]''. His journalism, in the form of sketches which appeared in periodicals from 1833, formed his first collection of pieces ''[[Sketches by Boz]]'' which were published in 1836 and led to the serialization of his first novel, ''[[The Pickwick Papers]]'', in March 1836. He continued to contribute to and edit journals throughout much of his subsequent literary career. Dickens's keen perceptiveness, intimate knowledge and understanding of the people, and tale-spinning genius were quickly to gain him world renown and wealth.
On 2 April 1836, he married Catherine Thompson Hogarth (1816 – 1879), the daughter of George Hogarth, editor of the ''[[Evening Chronicle]]''. After a brief honeymoon in [[Chalk, Kent]], they set up home in [[Charles Dickens Museum, London|Bloomsbury]], where they had ten children:
* [[Charles Culliford Boz Dickens]] ([[6 January]] [[1837]] – 1896). C. C. B. Dickens, later known as [[Charles Dickens, Jr]], editor for ''[[All the Year Round]]'', author of the ''[[Dickens's Dictionary of London]]'' (1879).
* Mary Angela Dickens ([[6 March]] [[1838]] – 1896).
* Kate Macready Dickens ([[29 October]] [[1839]] – 1929).
* Walter Landor Dickens ([[8 February]] [[1841]] – 1863). Died in [[India]].
* [[Francis Jeffrey Dickens]] ([[15 January]] [[1844]] – 1886).
* Alfred D'Orsay Tennyson Dickens ([[28 October]] [[1845]] – 1912).
* Sydney Smith Haldimand Dickens ([[18 April]] [[1847]] – 1872).
* (Sir) Henry Fielding Dickens ([[15 January]] [[1849]] – 1933).
** Henry Charles Dickens (1882 – 1966), barrister. ''(Grandson)''
*** [[Monica Dickens]] (1915 – 1992). ''(Great-granddaughter)''
* Dora Annie Dickens ([[16 August]] [[1850]] – April 1851).
* [[Edward Bulwer Lytton Dickens]] ([[13 March]] [[1852]] – [[23 January]] [[1902]]). He migrated to [[Australia]], and became a member of the [[New South Wales]] state parliament. He died in [[Moree]], New South Wales.
Catherine's sister Mary entered Dickens's [[Doughty Street]] household to offer support to her newly married sister and brother-in-law. It was not unusual for the unwed sister of a new wife to live with and help a newly married couple. Dickens became very attached to Mary, and she died after a brief illness in his arms in 1837. She became a character in many of his books, and her death is fictionalized as the death of Little Nell.<ref>[http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/dickens/maryhogarth.html victorianweb.org] - Mary Scott Hogarth, 1820-1837: Dickens's Beloved Sister-in-Law and Inspiration</ref>
Also in 1836, Dickens accepted the job of editor of ''[[Bentley's Miscellany]]'', a position that he would hold until 1839, when he fell out with the owner. His success as a novelist continued, however, producing ''[[Oliver Twist]]'' (1837-39), ''[[Nicholas Nickleby]]'' (1838-39), ''[[The Old Curiosity Shop]]'' and, finally, ''[[Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty]]'' as part of the ''[[Master Humphrey's Clock]]'' series (1840-41)—all published in monthly instalments before being made into books. Dickens had a pet [[raven]] named Grip; it died in 1841 and Dickens had it stuffed (it is now at [[Free Library of Philadelphia|The Free Library of Philadelphia]]).<ref>http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/exlibris/1999/07/msg00399.html</ref>
Dickens made two trips to [[North America]].
In 1842, Dickens travelled with his wife to the [[United States]] and [[Canada]], a journey which was successful in spite of his support for the abolition of slavery.
During this visit, Dickens spent time in [[New York, New York| New York City]], where he gave lectures, raised support for copyright laws, and recorded many of his impressions of America. He toured the City for a month, and met such luminaries as [[Washington Irving]] and [[William Cullen Bryant]]. On [[14 Feb]] 1842, a Boz Ball (named after his pseudonym) was held in his honour at the [[Park Theater (Manhattan)|Park Theater]], with 3,000 of New York’s elite present. Among the neighbourhoods he visited were [[Five Points, Manhattan|Five Points]], [[Wall Street]], The [[Bowery]], and the prison known as [[The Tombs]]<ref name="Citycyclopedia">'''Kenneth T. Jackson: ''The Encyclopedia of New York City''''': The New York Historical Society; Yale University Press; 1995. P. 333.</ref>.
The trip is described in the short [[Travel literature|travelogue]] ''[[American Notes|American Notes for General Circulation]]'' and is also the basis of some of the episodes in ''[[Martin Chuzzlewit]]''. Shortly thereafter, he began to show interest in [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] Christianity, although he remained an [[Anglican]], at least nominally, for the rest of his life.<ref>http://www.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/charlesdickens.html</ref> Dickens's work continued to be popular, especially ''[[A Christmas Carol]]'' written in 1843, the first of his Christmas books, which was reputedly a [[potboiler]] written in a matter of weeks.
After living briefly abroad in [[Italy]] (1844) and [[Switzerland]] (1846), Dickens continued his success with ''[[Dombey and Son]]'' (1848); ''[[David Copperfield (novel)|David Copperfield]]'' (1849-50); ''[[Bleak House]]'' (1852-53); ''[[Hard Times]]'' (1854); ''[[Little Dorrit]]'' (1857); ''[[A Tale of Two Cities]]'' (1859); and ''[[Great Expectations]]'' (1861). Dickens was also the publisher and editor of, and a major contributor to, the journals ''[[Household Words]]'' (1850 – 1859) and ''[[All the Year Round]]'' (1858-1870).
===Middle years===
In 1856, his popularity had allowed him to buy [[Gad's Hill Place]]. This large house in [[Higham, Kent]], had a particular meaning to Dickens as he had walked past it as a child and had dreamed of living in it. The area was also the scene of some of the events of [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare's]] ''[[Henry IV, part 1]]'' and this literary connection pleased him.
In 1857, in preparation for public performances of ''[[The Frozen Deep]]'', a play on which he and his protégé [[Wilkie Collins]] had collaborated, Dickens hired professional actresses to play the female parts. With one of these, [[Ellen Ternan]], Dickens formed a bond which was to last the rest of his life. The exact nature of their relationship is unclear, as both Dickens and Ternan burned each other's letters, but it was clearly central to Dickens's personal and professional life. On his death, he settled an [[annuity]] on her which made her a financially independent woman. Claire Tomalin's book, ''The Invisible Woman'', set out to prove that Ellen Ternan lived with Dickens secretly for the last 13 years of his life, and has subsequently been turned into a play by Simon Gray called ''Little Nell''.
When Dickens separated from his wife in 1858, divorce was almost unthinkable, particularly for someone as famous as he was, and so he continued to maintain her in a house for the next 20 years until she died. Although they appeared to be initially happy together, Catherine did not seem to share quite the same boundless energy for life which Dickens had. Nevertheless, her job of looking after their ten children, the pressure of living with a world-famous novelist, and keeping house for him, certainly did not help.
An indication of his marital dissatisfaction may be seen when, in 1855, he went to meet his first love, Maria Beadnell. Maria was by this time married as well, but seemed to have fallen short of Dickens's romantic memory of her.
===Rail accident and last years===
[[Image:Staplehurst rail crash.jpg|thumb|right|Crash scene after the accident]]
On [[9 June]] [[1865]], while returning from France with Ternan, Dickens was involved in the [[Staplehurst rail crash]] in which the first seven carriages of the train plunged off a [[cast iron]] bridge that was being repaired. The only [[first class travel|first-class]] carriage to remain on the track was the one in which Dickens was travelling. Dickens spent some time tending the wounded and the dying before rescuers arrived. Before leaving, he remembered the unfinished manuscript for ''[[Our Mutual Friend]]'', and he returned to his carriage to retrieve it. Typically, Dickens later used this experience as material for his short [[ghost story]] ''[[The Signal-Man]]'' in which the central character has a premonition of his own death in a rail crash. He based the story around several previous [[list of rail accidents|rail accidents]], such as the [[Clayton Tunnel rail crash]] of 1861.
Dickens managed to avoid an appearance at the [[inquest]] into the crash, as it would have become known that he was travelling that day with Ellen Ternan and her mother, which could have caused a scandal. Ellen had been Dickens's companion since the breakdown of his marriage, and, as he had met her in 1857, she was most likely the ultimate reason for that breakdown. She continued to be his companion, and likely mistress, until his death. The dimensions of the affair were unknown until the publication of ''Dickens and Daughter'', a book about Dickens's relationship with his daughter Kate, in 1939. Kate Dickens worked with author Gladys Storey on the book prior to her death in 1929, and alleged that Dickens and Ternan had a son who died in infancy, though no contemporary evidence exists.
Dickens, though unharmed, never really recovered from the Staplehurst crash, and his normally prolific writing shrank to completing ''[[Our Mutual Friend]]'' and starting the unfinished ''[[The Mystery of Edwin Drood]]'' after a long interval. Much of his time was taken up with public readings from his best-loved novels. Dickens was fascinated by the theatre as an escape from the world, and theatres and theatrical people appear in ''[[Nicholas Nickleby]]''. The travelling shows were extremely popular. In 1866 a series of public readings were undertaken in [[England]] and [[Scotland]]. The following year saw Dickens give a series of readings in England and [[Ireland]]. Dickens was now really unwell but carried on, compulsively, against his doctor's advice.
[[Image:Dickens Statue.png|thumb|upright|Statue of Dickens in Philadelphia]]
Later in the year he embarked on his second American reading tour, which continued into 1868. During this trip, most of which he spent in New York, he gave 22 readings at [[Steinway Hall]] between [[9 December]] [[1867]] and [[20 April]] [[1868]], and four at [[Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims]] between [[16 January]] and [[21 January]] [[1868]]. In his travels, he saw a significant change in the people and the circumstances of America. His final appearance was at a banquet at [[Delmonico]]’s on [[18 April]] [[1868]], when he promised to never denounce America again. Dickens boarded his ship to return to Britain on [[23 April]] [[1868]], barely escaping a [[tax lien|Federal Tax Lien]] against the proceeds of his lecture tour<ref name="Citycyclopedia"/>.
[[Image:Gurney-dickens.jpg|thumb|left|Photograph of Dickens taken by [[Jeremiah Gurney]] in New York, 1867 or 1868]]
During 1869, his readings continued, in England, Scotland, and Ireland, until at last he collapsed, showing symptoms of mild [[stroke]]. Further provincial readings were cancelled, but he began upon The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Dickens's final public readings took place in London in 1870. He suffered another stroke on June 8 at Gad's Hill, after a full day's work on Edwin Drood, and five years to the day after the Staplehurst crash, on [[9 June]] [[1870]], he died at his home in Gad's Hill Place. He was mourned by all his readers.
Contrary to his wish to be buried in [[Rochester Cathedral]], he was laid to rest in the [[Poets' Corner]] of [[Westminster Abbey]]. The inscription on his tomb reads: "He was a sympathiser to the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; and by his death, one of England's greatest writers is lost to the world." Dickens's will stipulated that no memorial be erected to honour him. The only life-size bronze statue of Dickens, cast in 1891 by [[Francis Edwin Elwell]], is located in [[Clark Park]] in the [[Spruce Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Spruce Hill]] neighbourhood of [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]] in the United States.
== Literary style ==
Dickens's writing style is florid and poetic, with a strong comic touch. His [[satire]]s of British aristocratic snobbery — he calls one character the "Noble Refrigerator" — are often popular. Comparing orphans to stocks and shares, people to tug boats, or dinner-party guests to furniture are just some of Dickens's acclaimed flights of fancy. Many of his character's names provide the reader with a hint as to the roles played in advancing the storyline, such as Miss Murdstone in the novel David Copperfield, which is clearly a combination of "murder" and stony coldness. His literary style is also a mixture of [[fantasy]] and [[realism (arts)|realism]].
=== Characters ===
[[Image:Charles Dickens cropped.jpg|left|thumb|Charles Dickens used his rich imagination, sense of humour and detailed memories, particularly of his childhood, to enliven his fiction.]]
The characters are among the most memorable in English literature; certainly their names are. The likes of [[Ebenezer Scrooge]], [[Fagin]], Mrs Gamp, [[Charles Darnay]], [[Oliver Twist (character)|Oliver Twist]], [[Wilkins Micawber|Micawber]], [[Abel Magwitch]], [[Samuel Pickwick]], [[Miss Havisham]], Wackford Squeers and many others are so well known and can be believed to be living a life outside the novels that their stories have been continued by other authors.
Dickens loved the style of 18th century [[gothic romance]], though it had already become a target for [[parody]] — [[Jane Austen]]'s ''[[Northanger Abbey]]'' being a well known example — and while some of his characters are grotesques, their eccentricities do not usually overshadow the stories. One 'character' most vividly drawn throughout his novels is [[London]] itself. From the [[coaching inn]]s on the outskirts of the city to the lower reaches of the [[Thames]], all aspects of the capital are described over the course of his corpus.
=== Episodic writing ===
As noted above, most of Dickens's major novels were first written in monthly or weekly instalments in journals such as ''[[Master Humphrey's Clock]]'' and ''[[Household Words]]'', later reprinted in book form. These instalments made the stories cheap, accessible and the series of regular [[cliffhanger|cliff-hangers]] made each new episode widely anticipated. American fans even waited at the docks in New York, shouting out to the crew of an incoming ship, "Is Little Nell dead?"<ref>http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,944281,00.html</ref><ref>http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/06/27/1056683893671.html</ref><ref>http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/02/weekinreview/02mcgrath.html</ref> Part of Dickens's great talent was to incorporate this episodic writing style but still end up with a coherent novel at the end. The monthly numbers were illustrated by, amongst others, "[[Phiz]]" (a pseudonym for [[Hablot Browne]]). Among his best-known works are ''[[Great Expectations]]'', ''[[David Copperfield (novel)|David Copperfield]]'', ''[[Oliver Twist]]'', ''[[A Tale of Two Cities]]'', ''[[Bleak House]]'', ''[[Nicholas Nickleby]]'', ''[[The Pickwick Papers]]'', and ''[[A Christmas Carol]]''.
[[Image:Charles Dickens, public reading, 1867.jpg|thumb|"Charles Dickens as he appears when reading." Wood engraving from ''[[Harper's Weekly]]'', 7 December 1867]]
Dickens's technique of writing in monthly or weekly instalments (depending on the work) can be understood by analysing his relationship with his [[illustrator]]s. The several artists who filled this role were privy to the contents and intentions of Dickens's instalments before the general public. Thus, by reading these correspondences between author and illustrator, the intentions behind Dickens's work can be better understood. What was hidden in his art is made plain in these letters. These also reveal how the interests of the reader and author do not coincide. A great example of that appears in the monthly novel ''Oliver Twist''. At one point in this work, Dickens had Oliver become embroiled in a robbery. That particular monthly instalment concludes with young Oliver being shot. Readers expected that they would be forced to wait only a month to find out the outcome of that gunshot. In fact, Dickens did not reveal what became of young Oliver in the succeeding number. Rather, the reading public was forced to wait ''two'' months to discover if the boy lived.
Another important impact of Dickens's episodic writing style resulted from his exposure to the opinions of his readers. Since Dickens did not write the chapters very far ahead of their publication, he was allowed to witness the public reaction and alter the story depending on those public reactions. A fine example of this process can be seen in his weekly serial ''[[The Old Curiosity Shop]]'', which is a chase story. In this novel, Little Nell and her Grandfather are fleeing the villain Quilp. The progress of the novel follows the gradual success of that pursuit. As Dickens wrote and published the weekly instalments, his friend [[John Forster]] pointed out: "You know you're going to have to kill her, don't you." Why this end was necessary can be explained by a brief analysis of the difference between the structure of a comedy versus a tragedy. In a comedy, the action covers a sequence "You think they're going to lose, you think they're going to lose, they win". In tragedy, it is: "You think they're going to win, you think they're going to win, they lose". The dramatic conclusion of the story is implicit throughout the novel. So, as Dickens wrote the novel in the form of a tragedy, the sad outcome of the novel was a foregone conclusion. If he had not caused his heroine to lose, he would not have completed his dramatic structure. Dickens admitted that his friend Forster was right and, in the end, Little Nell died. <ref>
{{cite book
| last = Dickens
| first = Charles
| last2 = Stone
| first2 = Harry
| authorlink =
| author2-link = Harry Stone
| title = Dickens' working notes for his novels
| publisher = University of Chicago Press
|date=1987
| location = Chicago
| isbn = 0226145905}}
</ref>
=== Social commentary ===
Dickens's novels were, among other things, works of [[social commentary]]. He was a fierce critic of the [[poverty]] and [[social stratification]] of [[Victorian era|Victorian]] society. Dickens's second novel, ''[[Oliver Twist]]'' (1839), shocked readers with its images of poverty and [[crime]] and was responsible for the clearing of the actual London [[Rookery (slum)|slum]] that was the basis of the story's [[Jacob's Island]]. In addition, with the character of the tragic prostitute, [[Nancy (Oliver Twist)|Nancy]], Dickens "humanised" such women for the reading public; women who were regarded as "unfortunates," inherently immoral casualties of the Victorian class/economic system. ''[[Bleak House]]'' and ''[[Little Dorrit]]'' elaborated expansive critiques of the Victorian institutional apparatus: the interminable lawsuits of the [[Court of Chancery]] that destroyed people's lives in ''Bleak House'' and a dual attack in ''Little Dorrit'' on inefficient, corrupt [[patent office]]s and unregulated market [[speculation]].
=== Literary techniques ===
Dickens is often described as using 'idealised' characters and highly sentimental scenes to contrast with his [[caricature]]s and the ugly social truths he reveals. The extended death scene of Little Nell in ''[[The Old Curiosity Shop]]'' (1841) was received as incredibly moving by contemporary readers but viewed as ludicrously sentimental by [[Oscar Wilde]]:"You would need to have a heart of stone," he declared in one of his famous witticisms, "not to laugh at the death of Little Nell."<ref>In conversation with [[Ada Leverson]]. Quoted in Richard Ellmann, Oscar Wilde (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1988), p. 469.</ref> In 1903 Chesterton said, "It is not the death of Little Nell, but the life of Little Nell, that I object to." <ref>[[G. K. Chesterton]], ''Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens'', [http://www.readprint.com/chapter-1866/Gilbert-Keith-Chesterton Chapter 6: Curiosity Shop]</ref>
In ''[[Oliver Twist]]'' Dickens provides readers with an idealised portrait of a young boy so inherently and unrealistically 'good' that his values are never subverted by either brutal orphanages or coerced involvement in a gang of young [[pickpocketing|pickpockets]] (similar to Tiny Tim in ''[[A Christmas Carol]]''). While later novels also centre on idealised characters (Esther Summerson in ''[[Bleak House]]'' and Amy Dorrit in ''[[Little Dorrit]]''), this idealism serves only to highlight Dickens's goal of poignant [[social commentary]]. Many of his novels are concerned with social realism, focusing on mechanisms of social control that direct people's lives (for instance, factory networks in ''[[Hard Times]]'' and hypocritical exclusionary class codes in ''[[Our Mutual Friend]]'').
Dickens also employs incredible coincidences (e.g., Oliver Twist turns out to be the lost nephew of the upper class family that randomly rescues him from the dangers of the pickpocket group). Such coincidences are a staple of eighteenth century [[picaresque novels]] such as Henry Fielding's ''[[The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling|Tom Jones]]'' that Dickens enjoyed so much. But, to Dickens, these were not just [[plot device]]s but an index of the humanism that led him to believe that good wins out in the end and often in unexpected ways.
=== Autobiographical elements ===
All authors might be said to incorporate autobiographical elements in their fiction, but with Dickens this is very noticeable, even though he took pains to mask what he considered his shameful, lowly past. ''[[David Copperfield (novel)|David Copperfield]]'' is one of the most clearly autobiographical but the scenes from ''[[Bleak House]]'' of interminable court cases and legal arguments are drawn from the author's brief career as a court reporter. Dickens's own family was sent to prison for poverty, a common theme in many of his books, and the detailed depiction of life in the Marshalsea prison in ''[[Little Dorrit]]'' resulted from Dickens's own experiences of the institution. Little Nell in ''[[The Old Curiosity Shop]]'' is thought to represent Dickens's sister-in-law,{{Fact|date=June 2007}} Nicholas Nickleby's father and [[Wilkins Micawber]] are certainly Dickens's own father, just as Mrs. Nickleby and Mrs. Micawber are similar to his mother.{{Fact|date=June 2007}} The snobbish nature of [[Philip Pirrip|Pip]] from ''[[Great Expectations]]'' also has some affinity to the author himself. The character of ''[[Fagin]]'' is believed to be based upon ''[[Ikey Solomon]]'', a 19th century Jewish criminal of London and later Australia. It is reported that Dickens, during his time as a journalist, interviewed Solomon after a court appearance and that he was the inspiration for the gang leader in ''[[Oliver Twist]]''. Dickens may have drawn on his childhood experiences, but he was also ashamed of them and would not reveal that this was where he gathered his realistic accounts of squalor. Very few knew the details of his early life until six years after his death when John Forster published a biography on which Dickens had collaborated. A shameful past in Victorian times could taint reputations, just as it did for some of his characters, and this may have been Dickens's own fear.
==Racial defamation==
When ''[[Oliver Twist]]'' was published in 1838 the unpleasant, to modern eyes,<ref>{{cite book|last=Mendelsohn|first=Ezra |title=Literary strategies: Jewish texts and contexts|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|date=1996|series=Studies in Contemporary Jewry|volume=XII|pages=p 221|isbn=0-19-511203-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Valman|first=Nadia|title=Antisemitism A Historical Encyclopedia of Prejudice and Persecution|editor=Levy, Richard S. |publisher=ABC-CLIO|location=Santa Barbara CA|date=2005|pages=p 176|isbn=1-85109-439-3}}</ref> stereotype of the Jewish character "Fagin" as [[Fence (criminal)|fence]] and corrupter of children reflected the endemic view of the time. The characterisation aroused no indignation, or even comment, and it seems to have been written without conscious [[anti-semitic]] intent.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Newey
| first = Vincent
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| title = The Scriptures of Charles Dickens
| publisher = Ashgate
| date = 2004
| location = Aldershot, England
| pages = p103
| url =
| doi =
| id =
| isbn = 1859284345}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
| last = Tillotson
| first = Kathleen (ed)
| authorlink =
| coauthors = Gill, Stephen
| title = Oxford World's Classics: Oliver Twist
| publisher = Oxford University Press
| date = 1999
| location = Oxford, England
| pages = p xxii
| url =
| doi =
| id =
| isbn =0192833391 }}</ref> By 1854, however, Dickens was moved to defend himself against mild reproof in ''[[The Jewish Chronicle]]'' by reference to the "strong abhorrence of...persecution [of Jews] in old time" he had expressed in his book ''[[A Child's History of England]]''.<ref name=Cohen>{{cite book
| last = Cohen
| first = Derek
| authorlink =
| coauthors = Heller, Deborah
| title = Jewish Presences in English Literature
| publisher = McGill-Queen's University Press
| date = 1990
| location = Montreal, Canada
| pages = p 41
| url =
| doi =
| id =
| isbn =0773507817 }}</ref> His sensitivity on the subject increased: in 1863 he was explaining that the character Fagin was "called a 'Jew', not because of his religion, but because of his race."<ref name=Cohen/> He took pains to include in ''[[Our Mutual Friend]]'' of 1864 the sympathetic Jewish character "Riah".
Unlike Dickens's Jewish readership of ''Oliver Twist'', there was no [[Inuit]] readership of his magazine ''[[Household Words]]'' to reproach him for his portrayal of the "[[Eskimo|Esquimaux]]" in his essay on the [[John Franklin|Franklin Expedition]]. This too seems insensitive to modern eyes: without adducing any supporting evidence he speculates that, far from resorting to cannibalism amongst themselves, the members of the expedition may have been "set upon and and slain by the Esquimaux...We believe every savage to be in his heart covetous, treacherous, and cruel".<ref>{{cite journal
| last = Dickens
| first = Charles
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| title = The Lost Arctic Voyagers
| journal = Household Words: A Weekly Journal
| volume =
| issue = 245
| pages = pp 361 ''et sec''
| publisher =
| location = London
| date = [[1854-12-02]]
| url = http://books.google.com/books?id=DOQRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA433&dq=%22Charles+Dickens%22+esquimaux&ei=zKtvSP_4H6HQjgGJvPDbAQ&client=firefox-a#PPA361,M1
| doi =
| id =
| accessdate = 2008-07-05}}</ref> Although publishing in the next issue of ''Household Words'' a defence of the Esquimaux, from another author who had actually visited the scene of the supposed cannibalism, Dickens refused to alter his view.
== Legacy ==
[[Image:Oliver twist1.jpg|thumb|A scene from ''Oliver Twist'', from an early 20th century edition.]]
A well-known personality, his novels proved immensely popular during his lifetime. His first full novel, ''The Pickwick Papers'' (1837), brought him immediate fame, and this success continued throughout his career. Although rarely departing greatly from his typical "Dickensian" method of always attempting to write a great "story" in a somewhat conventional manner (the dual narrators of ''Bleak House'' constitute a notable exception), he experimented with varied themes, characterisations, and [[genre]]s. Some of these experiments achieved more popularity than others, and the public's taste and appreciation of his many works have varied over time. Usually keen to give his readers what they wanted, the monthly or weekly publication of his works in episodes meant that the books could change as the story proceeded at the whim of the public. Good examples of this are the American episodes in ''[[Martin Chuzzlewit]]'' which Dickens included in response to lower-than-normal sales of the earlier chapters. In ''Our Mutual Friend'', the inclusion of the character of Riah was a positive portrayal of a [[Jewish]] character after he was criticised for the depiction of [[Fagin]] in ''[[Oliver Twist]]''.<ref name=Cohen/>
Although his popularity has waned little since his death, he continues to be one of the best known and most read of English authors. At least 180 motion pictures and TV adaptations based on Dickens's works help confirm his success.{{Fact|date=June 2007}} Many of his works were adapted for the stage during his own lifetime and as early as 1913 a silent film of ''The Pickwick Papers'' was made. His characters were often so memorable that they took on a life of their own outside his books. Gamp became a slang expression for an umbrella from the character [[Martin Chuzzlewit|Mrs Gamp]] and Pickwickian, Pecksniffian, and Gradgrind all entered dictionaries due to Dickens's original portraits of such characters who were [[Quixotism|quixotic]], hypocritical, or emotionlessly logical. [[Sam Weller (fictional character)|Sam Weller]], the carefree and irreverent [[valet]] of ''The Pickwick Papers,'' was an early superstar, perhaps better known than his author at first. It is likely that ''A Christmas Carol'' stands as his best-known story, with new adaptations almost every year. It is also the most-filmed of Dickens's stories, with many versions dating from the early years of cinema. This simple [[morality play|morality tale]] with both [[pathos]] and its theme of redemption, sums up (for many) the true meaning of [[Christmas]]. Indeed, it eclipses all other [[Yule]]tide stories in not only popularity, but in adding archetypal figures (Scrooge, Tiny Tim, the Christmas ghosts) to the Western cultural consciousness. ''A Christmas Carol'' was written by Dickens in an attempt to forestall financial disaster as a result of flagging sales of his novel ''Martin Chuzzlewit''. Years later, Dickens shared that he was "deeply affected" in writing ''A Christmas Carol'' and the novel rejuvenated his career as a renowned author.
At a time when Britain was the major economic and political power of the world, Dickens highlighted the life of the forgotten poor and disadvantaged at the heart of [[British empire|empire]]. Through his journalism he campaigned on specific issues — such as [[sanitation]] and the [[workhouse]] — but his fiction probably demonstrated its greatest prowess in changing public opinion in regard to class inequalities. He often depicted the exploitation and repression of the poor and condemned the public officials and institutions that not only allowed such abuses to exist, but flourished as a result. His most strident indictment of this condition is in ''Hard Times'' (1854), Dickens's only novel-length treatment of the industrial working class. In this work, he uses both vitriol and satire to illustrate how this marginalised social stratum was termed "Hands" by the factory owners; that is, not really "people" but rather only appendages of the machines that they operated. His writings inspired others, in particular journalists and political figures, to address such problems of class oppression. For example, the prison scenes in ''Little Dorrit'' and ''The Pickwick Papers'' were prime movers in having the [[Marshalsea]] and [[Fleet Prison]]s shut down. As [[Karl Marx]] said, Dickens, and the other novelists of Victorian England, "…issued to the world more political and social truths than have been uttered by all the professional politicians, publicists and moralists put together…".<ref>{{cite web | first = Karl | last = Marx | title = The English Middle Classes | publisher = Marxists Internet Archive | work = [[New York Tribune]] | date = [[August 1]], [[1954]] | url = http://marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1854/08/01.htm | accessdate = 2007-06-10 }}</ref> The exceptional popularity of his novels, even those with socially oppositional themes (''Bleak House'', 1853; ''Little Dorrit'', 1857; ''Our Mutual Friend'', 1865) underscored not only his almost preternatural ability to create compelling storylines and unforgettable characters, but also insured that the Victorian public confronted issues of social justice that had commonly been ignored.
His fiction, with often vivid descriptions of life in [[19th century|nineteenth century]] England, has inaccurately and anachronistically come to symbolise on a global level Victorian society (1837 – 1901) as uniformly "Dickensian," when in fact, his novels' time span spanned from the 1770s to the 1860s. In the decade following his death in 1870, a more intense degree of socially and philosophically pessimistic perspectives invested British fiction; such themes stood in marked contrast to the religious [[faith]] that ultimately held together even the bleakest of Dickens's novels. Dickens clearly influenced later Victorian novelists such as [[Thomas Hardy]] and [[George Gissing]], however their works display a greater willingness to confront and challenge the Victorian institution of religion. They also portray characters caught up by social forces (primarily via [[lower-class]] conditions), but they usually steered them to tragic ends beyond their control.
Novelists continue to be influenced by his books; for example, such disparate current writers as [[Anne Rice]], [[Tom Wolfe]], and [[John Irving]] evidence direct Dickensian connections. Humorist [[James Finn Garner]] even wrote a tongue-in-cheek "politically correct" version of ''[[A Christmas Carol]]'', and other affectionate parodies include the [[BBC Radio 4|Radio 4]] comedy ''[[Bleak Expectations]]''.
Although Dickens's life has been the subject of at least two TV miniseries and two famous [[one-man show]]s, he has never been the subject of a [[Hollywood]] "big screen" biography.
==Name 'Dickens'==
Charles Dickens had, as a contemporary critic put it, a "queer name". The name Dickens was used in interjective exclamations like "What the Dickens!" as a substitute for "[[devil]]". It was recorded in the [[OED]] as originating from Shakespeare's ''[[The Merry Wives of Windsor]].'' It was also used as a substitute for "[[deuce]]" as in the phrase "to play the Dickens" in the meaning "to play havoc/mischief". <ref>John Bowen (2000) ''Other Dickens: Pickwick to Chuzzlewit'', ISBN 0199261407, [http://books.google.com/books?id=dAXP68lqcr0C&pg=PA36&dq=%22proverbial+name%22&lr=&sig=gp7fifHRJtj8zFvjjKGvvP16rYs#PPA36,M1 p. 36]</ref>
== Adaptations of readings ==
There have been several performances of Dickens readings by [[Emlyn Williams]], [[Bransby Williams]] and also [[Simon Callow]] in the ''[[Mystery of Charles Dickens]] ''by [[Peter Ackroyd]].
== Museums and festivals ==
[[Image:Bleak-house-broadstairs.jpg|right|thumb|[[Bleak House, Broadstairs]] in [[Broadstairs]], Kent, where Dickens wrote some of his novels. The house was for many years a Dickens museum, and visitors would leave notes addressed to him in the desk-drawer in his former study, overlooking harbour and sea.]]
There are museums and festivals celebrating Dickens's life and works in many of the towns with which he was associated.
* The [[Charles Dickens Museum, London|Charles Dickens Museum]], in Doughty Street, [[Holborn]] is the only one of Dickens's [[London]] homes to survive. He lived there only two years but in that time wrote ''The Pickwick Papers'', ''Oliver Twist'', and ''Nicholas Nickleby''. It contains a major collection of manuscripts, original furniture and memorabilia.
* '''Charles Dickens' Birthplace Museum''' in [[Portsmouth]] is the house in which Dickens was born. It has been re-furnished in the likely style of 1812 and contains Dickens memorabilia.
* The '''Dickens House Museum''' in [[Broadstairs]] is the house of Miss [[Mary Pearson Strong]], the basis for Miss [[Betsey Trotwood]] in ''[[David Copperfield (novel)|David Copperfield]]''. It is visible across the bay from the original Bleak House (also a museum until 2005) where ''David Copperfield'' was written. The museum contains memorabilia, general Victoriana and some of Dickens's letters. Broadstairs has held a '''Dickens Festival''' annually since 1937.
* The '''Charles Dickens Centre''' in Eastgate House, [[Rochester, Kent|Rochester]], closed in 2004, but the garden containing the author's Swiss [[chalet]] is still open. The 16th century house, which appeared as Westgate House in ''The Pickwick Papers'' and the Nun's House in ''Edwin Drood'', is now used as a wedding venue.<ref>[http://www.medway.gov.uk/index/community/weddings/weddingvenues/50362.htm Medway Council - Eastgate House<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> The city's annual '''Dickens Festival''' (summer) and '''Dickensian Christmas''' celebrations continue unaffected.
[[Image:ChathamHDY0050.JPG|thumb|right|The Cashier's Office, [[Chatham Dockyard]].]]
* The [[Dickens World]] themed attraction, covering {{convert|71500|sqft|m2|0}}, and including a cinema and restaurants, opened in [[Chatham, Kent|Chatham]] on [[25 May]], [[2007]].<ref>{{cite web | first = Christopher | last = Hart | title = What, the Dickens World? | publisher =Times Online | work = The Sunday Times | date = [[May 20]], [[2007]] | url=http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/travel/holiday_type/family/article1803247.ece |accessdate=2007-06-02 }}</ref> It stands on a small part of the site of the former [[Chatham Dockyard|naval dockyard]] where Dickens's father had once worked in the Navy Pay Office.
* '''Dickens Festival''' in [[Rochester, Kent]]. '''Summer Dickens''' is held at the end of May or in the first few days of June, it commences with an invitation only ball on the Thursday and then continues with street entertainment, and many costumed characters, on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday.'''Christmas Dickens''' is the first weekend in December- Saturday and Sunday only.
Dickens festivals are also held across the world.
Four notable ones in the United States are:
* The '''Riverside Dickens Festival''' in [[Riverside, California]], includes literary studies as well as entertainments.
* '''The Great Dickens Christmas Fair''' (http://www.dickensfair.com/) has been held in [[San Francisco, California]], since the 1970s. During the four or five weekends before Christmas, over 500 costumed performers mingle with and entertain thousands of visitors amidst the recreated full-scale blocks of Dickensian London in over {{convert|90000|sqft|m2|-3}} of public area. This is the oldest, largest, and most successful of the modern Dickens festivals outside England. Many (including the Martin Harris who acts in the Rochester festival and flies out from London to play Scrooge every year in SF) say it is the most impressive in the world.
* '''Dickens on The Strand''' in [[Galveston]], [[Texas]], is a holiday festival held on the first weekend in December since 1974, where bobbies, Beefeaters and the "Queen" herself are on hand to recreate the Victorian London of Charles Dickens. Many festival volunteers and attendees dress in Victorian attire and bring the world of Dickens to life.
* The '''Greater Port Jefferson-Northern Brookhaven Arts Council''' (http://www.gpjac.org) holds a Dickens Festival in the Village of [[Port Jefferson, NY]] each year. In 2007, the Dickens Festival is Nov. 30th, Dec. 1st, and Dec. 2nd. It includes many events, along with a troupe of street performers who bring an authentic Dickensian atmosphere to the town.
== Notable works by Charles Dickens ==
{{main|Bibliography of Charles Dickens}}
Charles Dickens published over a dozen major novels, a large number of short stories (including a number of Christmas-themed stories), a handful of plays, and several non-fiction books. Dickens's novels were initially serialised in weekly and monthly magazines, then reprinted in standard book formats.
=== Novels ===
{|
|-
| valign="top" |
* ''[[The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club|The Pickwick Papers]]'' (Monthly serial, April 1836 to November 1837)<ref>Serial publication dates from [http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/dickens/edh/chronology.html Chronology of Novels] by E. D. H. Johnson, Holmes Professor of Belles Lettres, Princeton University. Accessed June 11, 2007.</ref>
* ''[[Oliver Twist|The Adventures of Oliver Twist]]'' (Monthly serial in ''Bentley's Miscellany'', February 1837 to April 1839)
* ''[[Nicholas Nickleby|The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby]]'' (Monthly serial, April 1838 to October 1839)
* ''[[The Old Curiosity Shop]]'' (Weekly serial in ''Master Humphrey's Clock'', April 25, 1840, to February 6, 1841)
* ''[[Barnaby Rudge]]: A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty'' (Weekly serial in ''Master Humphrey's Clock'', February 13, 1841, to November 27, 1841)
* The Christmas books:
** ''[[A Christmas Carol]]'' (1843)
** ''[[The Chimes]]'' (1844)
** ''[[The Cricket on the Hearth]]'' (1845)
** ''[[The Battle of Life]]'' (1846)
** ''[[The Haunted Man|The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain]]'' (1848)
* ''[[The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit]]'' (Monthly serial, January 1843 to July 1844)
* ''[[Dombey and Son]]'' (Monthly serial, October 1846 to April 1848)
* ''[[David Copperfield (novel)|David Copperfield]]'' (Monthly serial, May 1849 to November 1850)
| valign="top" |
* ''[[Bleak House]]'' (Monthly serial, March 1852 to September 1853)
* ''[[Hard Times|Hard Times: For These Times]]'' (Weekly serial in ''Household Words'', April 1, 1854, to August 12, 1854)
* ''[[Little Dorrit]]'' (Monthly serial, December 1855 to June 1857)
* ''[[A Tale of Two Cities]]'' (Weekly serial in ''All the Year Round'', April 30, 1859, to November 26, 1859)
* ''[[Great Expectations]]'' (Weekly serial in ''All the Year Round'', December 1, 1860 to August 3, 1861)
* ''[[Our Mutual Friend]]'' (Monthly serial, May 1864 to November 1865)
* ''[[No Thoroughfare]]'' (1867) (with [[Wilkie Collins]])
* ''[[The Mystery of Edwin Drood]]'' (Monthly serial, April 1870 to September 1870. Only six of twelve planned numbers completed)
* ''The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices'' (1890)
|}
=== Short story collections ===
{|
|-
| valign="top" |
* ''[[Sketches by Boz]]'' (1836)
* ''[[Boots at the Holly-tree Inn: And Other Stories]]'' (1858)
* ''[[Reprinted Pieces]]'' (1861)
| valign="top" |
* ''The Haunted House'' (1862) (with Wilkie Collins, Elizabeth Gaskell, Adelaide Proctor, George Sala and Hesba Setton)
* ''[[The Mudfog Papers]]'' (1880) aka Mudfog and Other Sketches
* ''[[To Be Read At Dusk]]'' (1898)
|}
=== Selected non-fiction, poetry, and plays===
{|
|-
| valign="top" |
* ''The Village Coquettes'' (Plays, 1836)
* ''The Fine Old English Gentleman'' (poetry, 1841)
* ''[[American Notes]]: For General Circulation'' (1842)
* ''[[Pictures from Italy]]'' (1846)
| valign="top" |
* ''The Life of [[Jesus|Our Lord]]: As written for his children'' (1849)
* ''[[A Child's History of England]]'' (1853)
* ''The Frozen Deep'' (play, 1857)
* ''Speeches, Letters and Sayings'' (1870)
|}
== Notes ==
{{reflist}}
==Publications==
* Forster, ''Life of Dickens'' (London 1872-74)
* [[James Thomas Fields|Fields]], ''Yesterdays with Authors'' (Boston, 1872, second edition, 1900)
* Fields, ''In and Out of Doors with Charles Dickens'' (1876)
* [[Charles Kent (writer)|Kent]], ''Charles Dickens as an Actor'' (London, 1872)
* ''Letters'', edited by Miss Hogarth and Miss Dickens (London, 1880-82)
* Ward, ''Dickens'' (London, 1882)
* Kent, ''The Humour and Pathos of Charles Dickens'' (1884)
* Marzials, ''Life of Charles Dickens'' (1887)
* Pemberton, ''Charles Dickens and the Stage'' (London, 1888)
* [[George Gissing|Gissing]], ''Charles Dickens: A Critical Study'' (New York, 1898)
* Fitzgerald, ''The History of Pickwick'' (London, 1891)
* Kitton, ''The Novels of Charles Dickens'' (London, 1897)
* Hughes, ''Dickens as an Educator'' (New York, 1900)
* Fitzgerald, ''Life of Charles as Revealed in his Writings'' (London, 1905)
* [[G. K. Chesterton|Chesterton]], ''Life of Charles Dickens'' (New York, 1906)
* Thomson, ''Bibliography'' (Warwick, 1904)
* Lehmann, ''Charles Dickens as an Editor'' (New York, 1912)
* Pugh, ''The Charles Dickens Originals'' (London, 1912)
* [[Percy Hethrington Fitzgerald|P. H. Fitzgerald]], ''Memoirs of Charles Dickens'' (London and New York, 1914)
Essays and editions are numerous. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_International_Encyclopedia] Collected editions appeared in England in 1847, in 1861, and in 1874. Kitton produced ''The Autograph Edition of Complete Works'' (56 volumes, New York, 1902).
== References ==
<div class="references-small">
* [[Peter Ackroyd|Ackroyd, Peter]], ''Dickens'', (2002), Vintage, ISBN 0-09-943709-0
* [[Margaret Drabble|Drabble, Margaret]] (ed.), ''The Oxford Companion to English Literature'', (1997), London: Oxford University Press.
* '''Michael Slater''', "Dickens, Charles John Huffam (1812 – 1870)", ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'', Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, May 2006 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/7599, accessed 6 June 2006]
* '''Peter R Lewis''', ''Disaster on the Dee: Robert Stephenson's Nemesis of 1847'', Tempus (2007) for a discussion of the Staplehurst accident, and its influence on Dickens.
* '''John Glavin''' (ed.) ''Dickens on Screen'',(2003),New York: Cambridge University Press.
* '''Robert L. Patten''' (ed.) ''The Pickwick Papers'' (Introduction), (1978), Penguin Books.
* '''Sidney P. Moss''': '''''Charles Dickens' Quarrel with America''''' (New York: Whitson, 1984).
* '''Fred Kaplan''': '''''Dickens: A Biography''''' (New York: William Morros, 1988).
* '''Jerome Meckier''': '''''Innocent Abroad: Charles Dickens' American Engagements''''' (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1990).
</div>
== External links ==
{{portal}}
{{Wikisource author}}
{{wikiquote}}
{{commons | Category:Charles Dickens|Charles Dickens}}{{commons | Category:Dickens Festival|Dickens Festival}}
* '''Source Collections'''
** {{gutenberg author | id=Charles_Dickens | name=Charles Dickens}}, HTML and plain text versions.
** [http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3Acharles%20dickens%20-contributor%3Agutenberg%20AND%20mediatype%3Atexts Works by Charles Dickens] at [[Internet Archive]]. Colour scanned illustrated books.
** [http://books.google.com/books?q=inauthor:charles+inauthor:dickens&as_brr=1 Works by Charles Dickens] at [[Google Books]]. Scanned illustrated books.
** [http://www.everyauthor.com/writing/books/charles_dickens Works by Charles Dickens] at EveryAuthor - HTML versions.
** [http://www.dickens-literature.com/ Works by Charles Dickens] at Dickens Literature — HTML versions.
** [http://www.charles-dickens.org Works by Charles Dickens] at Charles-Dickens.org - HTML versions.
** [http://www.dickens-online.info Works by Charles Dickens] at Dickens Online - HTML versions and a Life of Charles Dickens
** [http://www2.hn.psu.edu/faculty/jmanis/dickens.htm Works by Charles Dickens] at Penn State University Electronic Classics Series, PDF versions.
** [http://www.booksinmyphone.com/index.php?author=Charles%20Dickens Works by Charles Dickens] at Books In My Phone, cell phone versions.
** [http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/research/fa/lfdickens.html Charles Dickens Collection] at the [[Harry Ransom Center]] at the [[University of Texas at Austin]]
* '''Reference Resources'''
** [http://www.victorianlondon.org/books/search.cgi The Dickens Search Engine] Search Dickens's books
** [http://www.dickenslive.com A Charles Dickens Journal] Timeline of Dickens's Life
** [http://wwwsoc.nii.ac.jp/dickens/genealogy/genealogy-e.html A genealogical tree of the Dickens family]
** [http://charlesdickenspage.com/characters.html Dickens’ Characters] some of the estimated 989 characters in Dickens
** [http://charlesdickenspage.com/dickens_london_map.html Dickens’ London Map] Learn more about the London locations Dickens wrote about
* '''General Portals'''
** [http://charlesdickenspage.com/index.html David Pardue's Charles Dickens Page]
** [http://www.dickensfellowship.org/ The Dickens Fellowship]
** [http://www.helsinki.fi/kasv/nokol/dickens.html A Dickens web page] with both original content and links to many other Dickens pages.
** [http://www.lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~matsuoka/Dickens.html The Dickens Page], a comprehensive Dickens portal.
** [http://www.perryweb.com/Dickens Charles Dickens — Gad’s Hill Place] Daily Dickens information.
** [http://www.charles-dickens.ws/ Charles Dickens: A Comprehensive Resource], Biography, Life and Literature.
** {{worldcat id|id=lccn-n78-87607}}
* '''Illustrations'''
** [http://www.archive.org/details/scenescharacters00londuoft ''Scenes and characters from the works of Charles Dickens; being eight hundred and sixty-six drawings''], large collection of drawings.
** [http://www.archive.org/details/pictorialpickwic01greguoft ''Pictorial Pickwickiana; Ed [[Joseph Grego]]; 1899; [[Chapman and Hall]]; Charles Dickens and his illustrators. With 350 drawings and engravings''], and [http://www.archive.org/details/pictorialpickwic02greguoft volume 2]. Drawings from ''The Pickwick Papers''.
** [http://www.archive.org/details/dickenshisillust00kittuoft ''Dickens and his illustrators''] (1899).
* '''Commentary'''
** [http://www.online-literature.com/chesterton/dickensworks/ ''Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens''] by [[G. K. Chesterton]]
** [http://www.dickens-theme.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk Charles Dickens's Themes] An analysis of ''The Mystery of Edwin Drood'', ''Nicholas Nickleby'' and ''A Trial For Murder''
** [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/16787 Life of Charles Dickens], by Frank Marzials, at Project Gutenberg. 1887 publication with lengthy bibliography.
** [http://www.fathom.com/course/21701768/index.html Charles Dickens: The Life of the Author] a seminar by [[Kenneth Benson]] from the [[New York Public Library]]
** [http://wdigitaldesigns.com/portfolio/dickens/ Charles Dickens by Pen and Pencil] A scanned, full-text version of the 19th century book on Charles Dickens's Life
** {{WiredForBooks|peterackroyd|1991 interview on Charles Dickens with Peter Ackroyd|by [[Don Swaim]]}}
* '''Locations'''
** [http://www.dickensmuseum.com Dickens Museum] Situated in a former [[Charles Dickens Museum, London|Dickens House]], 48 [[Doughty Street]], London, WC1
** [http://www.charlesdickensbirthplace.co.uk/ Dickens Birthplace Museum] Old Commercial Road, Portsmouth
** [http://www.dickenshouse.co.uk/museum.htm Dickens House Museum] 2 Victoria Parade, Broadstairs, Kent
** [http://www.dickensmuseum.nl/ the Dutch Dickens Museum] 2, Onderstraat, Bronkhorst (Netherlands)
** [http://www.tellingtrails.co.uk/pages/individuals/dickenspage.html Charles Dickens in south-west London] Twickenham and Richmond
** [http://members.cruzio.com/~varese/dickens/statue.html History of the Dickens Statue], the only full-sized statue of Dickens in the world located in Clark Park, West Philadelphia.
* '''Events'''
** [http://www.broadstairsdickensfestival.co.uk/ Broadstairs Dickens Festival]
** [http://www.dickensfest.com/ International Dickens Festival]
** [http://www.dickensfair.com/ Dickens Christmas Fair] in San Francisco
* '''Miscellaneous'''
** {{imdb name | id=0002042 | name=Charles Dickens}}
{{Link FA | pt}}
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|PLACE OF BIRTH=[[Portsmouth]], [[Hampshire]], [[England]]
|DATE OF DEATH={{death date|1870|6|9|df=y}}
|PLACE OF DEATH=[[Gad's Hill Place]], [[Higham, Kent]], [[England]]
}}
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[[Category:Literary collaborators]]
[[Category:People from London]]
[[Category:People from Portsmouth]]
[[Category:People from Kent]]
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[[he:צ'ארלס דיקנס]]
[[ka:ჩარლზ დიკენსი]]
[[sw:Charles Dickens]]
[[la:Carolus Dickens]]
[[lv:Čārlzs Dikenss]]
[[lb:Charles Dickens]]
[[lt:Charles Dickens]]
[[lij:Charles Dickens]]
[[li:Charles Dickens]]
[[hu:Charles Dickens]]
[[mk:Чарлс Дикенс]]
[[ml:ചാള്സ് ഡിക്കെന്സ്]]
[[mr:चार्ल्स डिकन्स]]
[[ms:Charles Dickens]]
[[mn:Чарльз Диккенс]]
[[nl:Charles Dickens]]
[[ja:チャールズ・ディケンズ]]
[[no:Charles Dickens]]
[[nn:Charles Dickens]]
[[oc:Charles Dickens]]
[[pms:Charles Dickens]]
[[pl:Karol Dickens]]
[[pt:Charles Dickens]]
[[ro:Charles Dickens]]
[[ru:Диккенс, Чарльз]]
[[sq:Charles Dickens]]
[[scn:Charles Dickens]]
[[simple:Charles Dickens]]
[[sk:Charles Dickens]]
[[sl:Charles Dickens]]
[[sr:Чарлс Дикенс]]
[[sh:Charles Dickens]]
[[fi:Charles Dickens]]
[[sv:Charles Dickens]]
[[ta:சார்லஸ் டிக்கின்ஸ்]]
[[tt:Charles Dickens]]
[[th:ชาร์ลส์ ดิคเก้นส์]]
[[vi:Charles Dickens]]
[[tg:Чарлз Дикенс]]
[[tr:Charles Dickens]]
[[uk:Діккенс Чарльз]]
[[ur:چارلس ڈکنز]]
[[vo:Charles Dickens]]
[[zh:查尔斯·狄更斯]]