Charles Dickens

1812–1870

Charles John Huffam Dickens

7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870 pen-name “Boz” the most popular English novelist of the Victorian era son of Elizabeth née Barrow and John Dickens (a clerk in the

Navy Pay Office) he had an older brother Frances (Fanny) and many younger

siblings married the former Catherine Hogarth in 1836 10 children, but their marriage was often tense, and they

separated in 1858

Early years

voracious reader of such authors as Henry Fielding, Daniel Defoe, and Oliver Goldsmith

attended the school of William Giles John Dickens was imprisoned Charles was sent off to work at Warren’s Shoe Blacking Factory attended the Wellington House Academy in London as a day

pupil from 1824-1827 as a young man, he worked as a reporter

Pen-name Boz taken from his youngest brother Augustus

Dickens' family nickname playfully pronounced through the nose 'Moses'

became 'Boses' later shortened to 'Boz' – pronounced through

the nose with a long vowel 'o'

Dickens’ works a dozen major novels a large number of short stories (including a number of

Christmas-themed stories) a handful of plays several non-fiction books Dickens's novels were initially serialised in weekly and

monthly magazines, then reprinted in standard book formats.

Short story collections Sketches by Boz (1836) The Mudfog Papers (1837) in Bentley's Miscellany magazine Reprinted Pieces (1861) The Uncommercial Traveller (1860–1869) 

Sketches by Boz the 56 sketches concern London scenes and people and are

divided into four sections: "Our Parish", "Scenes", "Characters", and "Tales“

in the first three of these sections is non-fiction last section comprises fictional stories

MagazinesHousehold Words (1850-1859) All the Year Round (1859-1895)

Household Words an English weekly magazine took its name from the line from Shakespeare

"Familiar in his mouth as household words" — Henry V

the paper championed the cause of the poor and working classes

addressed itself almost exclusively to the middle class

All the Year Round

weekly literary magazine hosted the serialization of many prominent

novels, including Dickens' own A Tale of Two Cities

after Dickens's death in 1870, it was owned and edited by his eldest son Chalres Dickens, Jr.

Selected non-fiction, poetry, and plays

The Village Coquettes (Plays, 1836) The Fine Old English Gentleman (poetry, 1841) Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi (1838) American Notes: For General Circulation (1842) Pictures from Italy (1846) The Life of 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)

American Notes: For General Circulation

Pictures from Italy American Notes: For General Circulation travelogue detailing his trip to North America from January to June, 1842 his American journey was also an inspiration for his novel Martin

Chuzzlewit he acted as a critical observer of these societies almost as if

returning a status report on their progress

Pictures from Italy a travelogue reveals the concerns of its author as he presents, according to Kate

Flint, the country "like a chaotic magic-lantern show, fascinated both by the spectacle it offers, and by himself as spectator"

THE END