CHARLES DICKENS

English Victorian author, novelist, and journalist

Juanma Gallego Yáñez

Full Name: Charles John Huffam Dickens

Born: February 7, 1812 Portsea (now Portsmouth), England

Died: June 9, 1870 Near Chatham, England

Place of Burial: Poet's Corner, Westminster Abbey, London.

BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS

DICKEN’S WORKS: MAIN THEME

Dickens's Novels criticize the injustices of his time, especially the brutal treatment of the poor in a society sharply divided by differences of wealth.

MAJOR WORKS

Pickwick Papers (serialized monthly 1836-37)

Oliver Twist (serialized monthly 1837-39)

David Copperfield (serialized monthly 1849-50)

Little Dorrit (serialized monthly 1855-57)

A Tale of Two Cities (serialized weekly 1859)

Great Expectations (serialized weekly 1860-61)

OTHER MAJOR WORKS

Sketches by Boz (1836) Pickwick Papers (serialized monthly 1836-37) Nicholas Nickleby (serialized monthly 1838-39) The Old Curiosity Shop (serialized weekly 1840-41) Barnaby Rudge (serialized weekly 1841) Martin Chuzzlewit (serialized monthly 1843-44) Dombey and Son (serialized monthly 1846-48) Bleak House (serialized monthly 1852-53) Hard Times (serialized weekly 1854) Our Mutual Friend (serialized monthly 1864-65) The Mystery of Edwin Drood - unfinished (serialized

monthly 1870)

CHRISTMAS BOOKS

A Christmas Carol (1843)

The Chimes (1844) The Cricket on the

Hearth (1845) The Battle of Life

(1846) The Haunted Man

and the Ghost's Bargain (1848)

THE VICTORIAN PERIOD IN ENGLAND (1837-1901)

WHAT DOES VICTORIAN TIMES MEAN?

Victorian times means during Victoria's rule. The time Queen Victoria was on the throne. She ruled for 64 years, from 1837 to 1901.

WHAT WAS IT LIKE LIVING IN THE VICTORIAN TIMES?

There was no electricity, instead gas lamps or candles were used for light.

There were no cars. People either walked, travelled by boat or train or used coach horses to move from place to place.

WHY ARE THE VICTORIANS SO FAMOUS?

Britain became the most powerful and richest country in the world, with the largest empire that had ever existed, ruling a quarter of the world's population.

Towns and cities got piped water, gas and, by the end of the century, electricity

The number of people living in Britain more than doubled from 16 million to 37 million, causing a huge demand for food, clothes and housing.

Factories and machines were built to meet this demand and new towns grew up, changing the landscape and the ways people lived and worked. It was the Industrial Revolution.