Charles Dickens

1. Charles Dickens ( 1812 – 1870)

One of the best known and best loved of
all English novelists.

2. He was born on the 7th of February, 1812, in Portsmouth.

3. Charles as reporter

Just before his 17th birthday,
he became a reporter for the
newspapers in the House of
Commons. He read every
book he could find and spent
long hours in the Reading
Room of the British Museum.

4. His pen name - Boz

In 1883 Dickens had a
number of papers published
under the title Sketches by
Boz.
They were very
warmly received.
They are excellent
accounts of the
London of his time.

5. The Pickwick Club

The publishing house Chapman
and Hall asked Dickens to write
a series of sketches of a group
of sportsmen full of amusing
incidents. His group of
characters came to life under
the title The Pickwick Club. It is
about Mr. Pickwick and his
three friends who travelled
about England and sent to the
Club an account of their
journeys.

6. Family Life.

Charles Dickens loved
Catherine Hogarth, the
daughter of Mr. Hogarth,
a clever newspaper
writer. They were married
in April 1836.

7. Literary Career

His next novel was Oliver
Twist. A nameless orphan,
Oliver had to be sent to a
workhouse. In the novel
Dickens described what
he had learned in his hard
childhood. He attacked
the cruel workhouse
treatment of children.

8. Dickens was a reformer.

His stories, whether sad
or humorous, often
served as a protest
against abuses of social
and political life of his
time. He worked and
worked and poured out
novel after novel. Success
followed success. He
made money fast.

9. The Tavistock House.

Dickens moved to a huge
building – the Tavistock
House. There he had his
library, containing a lot of
books. There in quiet and
silence, he wrote for the
next eleven years, and
there his greatest stories
were to be written.

10.

11. His favourite child.

Dickens wrote “ I have in
my heart of hearts a
favorite child. And his
name is DAVID
COPPERFIELD.” Writing
the story of David
Copperfield he was
writing the story of his
own unhappy childhood.
It is indeed a masterpiece.

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14. Public Reading

Dickens travelled to
America, France, Italy and
Switzerland. His hobby
now become public
readings. It was too
exciting and it shortened
his life. He loved the
applause, the constant
movement.

15. At Gad’s Hill.

During the summer of
1855 Dickens was working
on Little Dorrit. In 1857 he
bought Gad’s Hill, settled
there and lost himself in
writing two more novels –
Great Expectations and
Our Mutual Friend.

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17. His last work.

Dickens had to give up his
readings. He still enjoyed
long walks in the country
but his left foot was
painful. By June he had
written half of Edwin
Drood, the twenty second
volume of his novels. The
second half was never to
be written.

18. “ England had much to mourn, for she had lost the most creative genius her literature had known since Shakespeare.”

Dickens was buried in the
heart of London, in
Westminster Abbey in the
Poet’s Corner. His grave
was left open for several
days, and thousands of
people came to put flowers
around his tombstone.