Charles Dickens - biography, information, personal life. Charles Dickens: the consummate master of satire and social criticism

(1812 - 1870) showed a vast canvas of life in Victorian England. With his characteristic sense of humor, the writer masterfully ridiculed the vices, ignorance and social inequality of his contemporary society. His works have become classics of world literature; they are read and reread with pleasure by millions of people even today.

We have selected 7 Dickens books that everyone should read.

Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club

The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club is the first novel by Charles Dickens, first published by Chapman and Hall in 1836-1837. It was with this book (as well as its ruddy and plump protagonist) that the writer’s brilliant career began.

The Adventures of Oliver Twist

"The Adventures of Oliver Twist" is the most famous novel by the great Dickens. The second in his work and the first in English literature, where the main character is a child.

Good old England is not kind to orphans and poor children. The story of a boy left without parents and forced to wander through the dark slums of London. The vicissitudes of the little hero's fate, numerous meetings on his way and a happy ending to difficult and dangerous adventures- all this arouses genuine interest among many readers around the world.

Great Expectations

The novel “Great Expectations” needs no introduction - a huge number of theatrical productions and film adaptations constantly keep it in the reader’s field of view.

The hero of the novel Great Expectations, the young man Philip Pirrip (or simply Pip), strives to become a “true gentleman” and achieve a position in society. But disappointments await him. Money stained with blood cannot bring happiness, and the “world of gentlemen” on which Philip had placed so many hopes turned out to be hostile and cruel.

Hard Times

The action of the novel "Hard Times" takes place in the industrial city of Coketown, in which everything is impersonal: people dress the same, leave the house and return at the same hours, the soles of the same shoes click in the same way. The town has a philosophy of facts and figures, followed by the wealthy banker Bounderby. This is the system of education at Gradgrain's school - without love, warmth, imagination. The soulless world of facts is opposed by a traveling circus troupe and the little daughter of a circus performer - Sissy Jupe.

Bleak House

« Bleak House"was written in 1853 and is the ninth novel in Dickens’s work, and also opens the period of artistic maturity of the author. This book provides a cross-section of all layers of British society of the Victorian era, from the highest aristocracy to the world of urban gateways. A master of creating intrigue, the writer has filled the work with secrets and intricate plot devices, which are simply impossible to tear yourself away from.

Christmas stories

A Christmas Carol was written by Dickens in the 1940s. In these stories, the main characters are fairies, elves, ghosts, spirits of the dead and... ordinary Englishmen. In them, fairy tales are intertwined with reality, and the horrors of the other world are not inferior to the cruelty of the surrounding reality. Magical, scary and moderately moral and educational reading for all times.

The Life of David Copperfield as Told by Himself

The Life of David Copperfield as Told by Himself is a largely autobiographical novel by Charles Dickens, published in five parts in 1849 and as a book in 1850.

David's father died shortly before his son was born. At first, the boy grew up surrounded by the love of his mother and nanny, but with the appearance of his stepfather, a stubborn tyrant who considers the child his burden, he old life I had to forget. Another "mentor", the ignorant Mr Creakle, a former hop merchant turned school principal, continued to hammer into young hero their poor ideas of order. But these barbaric methods of education are interrupted by the outwardly stern Betsy Trotwood, who becomes the embodiment of goodness and justice for the boy.

Charles Dickens (who first wrote under the pseudonym Boz) is a famous English writer. Together with Thackeray he is the main representative of the English and European novels in general half of the 19th century centuries.

Dickens was born on February 7, 1812 in Landport, near Portsmouth, and died on June 9, 1870. Around 1816 he and his parents moved to Chatham, and in the winter of 1822-23 to London. Dickens was in poor health and did not receive good school education, but already as a child he was constantly interested in reading Russian novelists and playwrights. For some time, Dickens's father spent time as a prisoner in a debtor's prison, and Charles was then engaged in wrapping packages at a trading company, for which he received 6 or 7 shillings a week. Dickens' family circumstances then improved. Charles began attending the Academy in Hamstedrod and became a secretary at the Bar, which gave him special case learn English folk life. At the same time, he studied literature at the British Museum, learned to take shorthand, got a job as a reporter in Parliament and showed such brilliant abilities in this activity that he soon became a member of the press - in the Parliamentspiegel, and later in the Morning Chronicle.

Charles Dickens. Photo 1867-68

In the Monthly Magazine, the Morning Chronicle and other similar newspapers, from December 1833 Dickens began to publish essays from the life of the lower strata of the capital's population, which he later published in a collection entitled Sketches of London. Nickname "Boz" (short name Moses, which was usually called younger brother Dickens, Augusta, after one of the children featured in Goldsmith's novel The Vicar of Wexfield) he first signed in August 1834.

The second series of “Sketches” was published in 1835. But Dickens’s actual fame began with his “Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club” (1836-37). Here literary technique Dickens's work is not particularly great; the figures he draws at first rather look like caricatures, and only little by little they reach a high level of comedy. But the entire work, cheerful, full of warmth and truth of life, immediately made such a complete and immediate impression on the public that critics could only state its brilliant success.

England by Charles Dickens

In 1837-39, Dickens wrote his second novel, Oliver Twist, a story about the life of the lower classes. Then came “Nicholas Nickleby” (1839), which also had greater success than "Pickwick", "Mr. Humphrey's Clock" (1840-41), a series of stories in which especially attractive are pictures of passions, interesting adventures, descriptions of often hopeless poverty in factory towns (in two stories "The Curiosity Shop" and "Barnaby Rudge" ), "Martin Chuzzlewit" (1843-44) is a work full of freshness and ingenuity, which contains much of the journey Dickens made around this time to America. Now the author of all these novels already lived in a good house with a garden in Regentspark and received a very expensive payment for his works.

Then the famous Christmas stories appeared: “A Christmas Carol” (1843), “The Bells” (written in Italy, 1844), “The Cricket on the Hearth” (1845), “The Battle of Life” (written near Lake Geneva 1846), “Possessed” ( 1848), as well as the novels: “Dombey and Son” (1846), “David Copperfield” (1849 – 50), “Bleak House” (1852), “ Hard times"(1853), "Little Dorrit" (1855), "A Tale of Two Cities" (1859), "Great Expectations" (1861), "Our Mutual Friend" (1864 - 65).

Added to this were a number of magazine businesses. Dickens became the editor of the newly founded Daily News newspaper in 1845, in which he initially published his “Pictures of Italy.” But soon Dickens left the “Daily News” and in 1849 launched the weekly publication “Household Words”, which he wanted to give a fictional and pedagogical character, and which from 1860 began to be published under the name “ All the year round" and gained enormous popularity. Supplementing this weekly publication was the monthly "Household narrative of current events", a review modern history. An interesting expression of Dickens's personal views is his "American Notes" (1842), the main product of the above-mentioned trip, where he speaks not very favorably of the Americans and many of their institutions. Dickens also wrote A Young History of England (1852) and Memoirs of Grimaldi the Clown.

But overly intense work began to have a detrimental effect on his health, especially since this was accompanied by the loss of loved ones and family troubles (he separated from his wife in 1858). His public readings of his works, which he undertook in 1858 and took place in London and the provinces, then in Scotland and Ireland, and in 1868 during his second trip to North America. For these readings, Dickens was showered everywhere with enormous honors and fees, but he often felt that his powers were betraying him. The rupture of blood vessels in the brain ended his life. Dickens died in his beloved home, Gadshill Place, while working on his novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood, which remained unfinished. Dickens was buried in Westminster Abbey. In the 12 years following his death, more than 4 million copies of his works were sold in England. To the first full meeting his works began already in 1847.

Biography of Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens was born in 1812 in the family of a naval department official in the city of Portstmouth. At the age of 10, his head of the family was imprisoned for debts, the family found itself in poverty, and from that moment on, little Charles had to earn his own living. The writer's adolescence and youth were full of hardships and humiliations; the naturally gifted and sensitive boy was too fortunate to know the whole seamy side of life. Dickens was familiar firsthand with workhouses, secret dens, slums, and the miserable life of the poor, criminals and corrupt women. He subsequently depicted everything he experienced unusually vividly and realistically on the pages of his books. Even later, having become a famous writer, he was never able to get rid of the ghosts of the past.

Dickens is considered one of the pillars of realism - one of the most popular movements in European XIX literature century. My creative activity Dickens started as a reporter. Thanks to his talent and caring attitude towards the problems of our time, he is as soon as possible was noticed by the public and became one of the most popular authors. But the fame of the famous reporter was not enough for him - Dickens wanted to take his rightful place in society. This could be done using literary activity. And so the first books appeared from his pen, one after another: the moralizing “Essays of Boz” and the humorous novel “Posthumous Notes of the Pickwick Club.” The second work brought him enormous popularity among the reading public, overnight turning him into famous writer. A few years later, the writer appeared in a new role as a serious author, exposing the vices of society. His works “The Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby” and especially “The Adventures of Oliver Twist” vividly and colorfully depicted the unsightly side of English society. This novel received wide public attention and subsequently led to the relaxation and even repeal of many cruel laws against the poor and child workers. All subsequent years, Dickens did not tire of delighting his readers with new works “Dombey and Son”, the autobiographical novel “David Copperfield”, which brought him pan-European fame and many other works.

By middle age, Dickens had seemingly achieved everything he wanted. However, it was not his literary fame, nor the position of editor-in-chief of the Daily News newspaper, nor the substantial fees that allowed him to live in grand style that brought him peace and happiness. His nervous, addictive nature did not allow him to enjoy family peace either. He lived with his wife Catherine Hogarth all his life, having eight children, but due to constant disagreements and an affair with actress Ellen Ternan, he was not happy with her. Recent years The writer's life was also overshadowed by his doubts about his own talent. The writer wanted to see the gradual transformation of the society in which he lived, the destruction of social injustice - everything that he exposed from the pages of his books. But the changes took effect too slowly; the author suffered from his own inability to somehow influence the situation. During these years, he wrote the book “Hard Times,” where he outlined his doubts about the future of his country. Tormented by internal contradictions, great writer died in 1970 from a stroke.

Charles Dickens not only left behind a rich literary legacy, but also showed his followers a worthy example of a writer-fighter and public figure, defending the ideals of a just society.

Dickens Charles (1812-1870)

One of the most famous English-language novelists, a renowned creator of vivid comic characters and social critic. Born in Landport near Portsmouth in the family of a clerk in the naval department. Charles was the second of eight children. His mother taught him to read, and for some time he attended primary school, from nine to twelve years old he went to a regular school. In 1822 his father was transferred to London. Parents with six children huddled in Camden Town in dire need. At the age of twelve, Charles began working for six shillings a week in a blacking factory in Hungerford Stairs on the Strand. On February 20, 1824, his father was arrested for debt and imprisoned in the Marshalsea prison. Having received a small inheritance, he paid off his debts and was released on May 28 of the same year. For about two years, Charles attended a private school called Wellington House Academy.

While working as a junior clerk in one of the law firms, Charles began to study shorthand, preparing himself to become a newspaper reporter. He contributed to several well-known periodicals and began writing fictional essays about life and characteristic types London. The first of these appeared in the Munsley Magazine in December 1832. In January 1835, J. Hogarth, publisher of the Evening Chronicle, asked Dickens to write a series of essays on city life. Early spring That same year, the young writer became engaged to Catherine Hogarth. April 2, 1836 The first issue of The Pickwick Club was published. Two days earlier, Charles and Catherine had married and moved into Dickens's bachelor pad. At first, the response was lukewarm, and the sale did not promise much hope. However, the number of readers grew; By the end of the publication of The Posthumous Notes of the Pickwick Club, each issue sold 40 thousand copies.

Dickens accepted R. Bentley's offer to head the new monthly Bentley's Almanac. The first issue of the magazine was published in January 1837, a few days before the birth of Dickens's first child, Charles Jr. The first chapters of Oliver Twist appeared in the February issue. Before finishing Oliver, Dickens began writing Nicholas Nickleby, another twenty-issue series for Chapman and Hall. With the growth of wealth and literary fame, Dickens's position in society also strengthened. In 1837 he was elected a member of the Garrick Club, and in June 1838 a member of the famous Athenaeum Club.

Occasional friction with Bentley forced Dickens to resign from the Almanac in February 1839. Prints The Curiosity Shop and Barnaby Rudge. In January 1842, the Dickens couple sailed to Boston, where a crowded and enthusiastic meeting marked the beginning of the writer's triumphant trip through New England to New York, Philadelphia, Washington and beyond - all the way to St. Louis.

In 1849, Dickens began writing David Copperfield, which was a huge success from the very beginning. In 1850, he began publishing a weekly magazine, Home Reading, at a cost of two pence. At the end of 1850, Dickens, together with Bulwer-Lytton, founded the Guild of Literature and Art to help needy writers. By this time Dickens had eight children (one died in infancy), and another last child, was about to be born. At the end of 1851, Dickens's family moved into a house in Tavistock Square, and the writer began work on Bleak House.

The writer's years of tireless work were overshadowed by a growing awareness of the failure of his marriage. While studying theater, Dickens fell in love with the young actress Ellen Ternan. Despite her husband's vows of fidelity, Catherine left his house. In May 1858, after the divorce, Charles Jr. remained with his mother and the rest of the children with their father. Having stopped publishing “Home Reading”, he very successfully began publishing a new weekly “ All year round", printing in it "A Tale of Two Cities" and then "Great Expectations".

His last completed novel was Our Mutual Friend. The writer's health was deteriorating. Having somewhat recovered, Dickens began writing “The Mystery of Edwin Drood,” which was only half written. On June 9, 1870, Dickens died. In a private ceremony on 14 June, his body was buried in Poets' Corner at Westminster Abbey.

Charles Dickens ( full name Charles John Huffam Dickens) is a famous English realist writer, a classic of world literature, and the greatest prose writer of the 19th century. - lived a rich and difficult life. His homeland was the town of Landport, located near Portsmouth, where he was born on February 7, 1812 into a poor family of a minor official. Parents did their best to nurture Charles, who was precocious and gifted, but they financial situation did not allow him to develop his abilities and give him a quality education.

In 1822, the Dickens family was transferred to London, where they lived in extreme poverty, periodically selling simple household belongings. 12-year-old Charles had to go to work part-time at a blacking factory, and although he work experience on it was calculated in only four months, this time when he, selfish, not accustomed to physical labor and not in good health, was forced to work hard for mere pennies, was a serious moral shock for him, left a huge imprint on his worldview, determined one One of my life goals is to never again be in need or find myself in such a humiliating position.

The plight of the family, in which six children grew up, was further aggravated when in 1824 the father was under arrest for several months due to debts. Charles left school and got a job in a law office as a copyist. Next point His career path included parliament, where he worked as a stenographer, and then he managed to find himself in the field of a newspaper reporter. In November 1828, young Dickens took up the position of independent reporter working at Doctor's Commons Court. Having not received a systematic education in childhood and adolescence, 18-year-old Charles diligently educated himself, becoming a regular at the British Museum. At 20, he worked as a reporter for the Parliamentary Mirror and True Sun and stood out compared favorably to most of his fellow writers.

At the age of 24, Dickens released his debut collection of essays entitled “The Notes of Boz” (this was his newspaper pseudonym): the ambitious young man realized that it was literary studies that would help him enter the high society, and at the same time do a good deed for the sake of those who were offended by fate and oppressed, like he himself was. In 1837 he made his debut as a novelist with The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. Dickens's literary fame grew as he wrote successive works, his financial position strengthened, and his social status. When Dickens, who had married back in 1836, sailed to Boston with his wife, he was greeted in American cities as a very famous person.

From July 1844 to 1845, Dickens and his family lived in Genoa; upon returning home, he devoted all his attention to founding the Daily News newspaper. 50s became his personal triumph: Dickens achieved fame, influence, wealth, more than compensating for all previous blows of fate. Since 1858, he constantly organized public readings of his books: in this way he not so much increased his fortune as realized his outstanding acting abilities that remained unclaimed. In the personal life of the famous writer, not everything was smooth; He perceived his family with its demands, quarrels with his wife, and eight sickly children, rather as a source of constant headache than a safe haven. In 1857, a love affair with a young actress appeared in his life, which lasted until his death; in 1858 he divorced.

A stormy personal life was combined with intense writing: during this period of biography, novels also appeared that made a significant contribution to his literary fame - “Little Dorrit” (1855-1857), “A Tale of Two Cities” (1859), “Great Expectations” (1861), “Our Mutual Friend” (1864). Difficult life Not in the best possible way affected his health, but Dickens worked, not paying attention to numerous “bells”. A long tour of American cities aggravated the problems, but after a little rest he went to a new one. In April 1869, things came to the point where the writer was taken away left leg and a hand when he finished another performance. On the evening of June 8, 1870, Charles Dickens, who was at his Gadeshill estate, suffered a stroke and died the next day; buried one of the most popular English writers in Westminster Abbey.