The first novel by Charles Dickens. Brief biography of Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens (originally writing under the pseudonym Boz) is a famous English writer. Together with Thackeray he is the main representative of the English and, in general, European novel of the second half of the 19th century.

Dickens was born on February 7, 1812 in Landport, near Portsmouth, and died on June 9, 1870. Around 1816, he moved with his parents to Chatham, and in the winter of 1822-23 to London. Dickens was distinguished by poor health, did not receive a good school education, but as a child he was constantly fond of reading Russian novelists and playwrights. For some time, Dickens' father was a prisoner in a debtor's prison, and Charles was then engaged in a trading company wrapping packages, for which he received 6 or 7 shillings a week. Then the circumstances of the Dickens family improved. Charles began to attend the "Academy" in Hamstedrod and became a secretary at the bar, which gave him a special case study 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 occupation 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, in the Morning Chronicle and other similar newspapers, from December 1833, Dickens began to print sketches from the life of the lower strata of the population of the capital, which he then published in a collection entitled Sketches of Boz (Sketches of London). Nickname "Boz" (abbreviation of the name Moses, who was usually called Dickens' younger brother, Augustus, after one of the children bred in Goldsmith's novel The Wexfield Priest), he first signed in August 1834.

The second series of "Essays" was published in 1835. But Dickens' own fame began with his "Posthumous Notes of the Pickwick Club" (1836-37). Here literary technique Dickens is not particularly great, the figures he draws at first rather look like caricatures, and only little by little reach high comicality. But the whole work - cheerful, full of warmth and truth of life, immediately made such a complete and direct impression on the public that critics could only state its brilliant success.

Charles Dickens England

In 1837-39, Dickens wrote his second novel, Oliver Twist, a story from the life of the lower strata of society. Then followed Nicholas Nickleby (1839), which was even more successful than Pickwick, Mr. Humphrey's Hours (1840-41), a series of stories in which pictures of passions, interesting adventures, descriptions of often hopeless poverty in factory cities (in two stories, "The Curiosity Store" and "Barnaby Rudge"), "Martin Chuzzlewit" (1843-44) is a work full of freshness and inventiveness, in which much of Dickens' trip to America made about this time is included. Now the author of all these novels lived in a nice house with a garden in the 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 Behind the Hearth" (1845), "The Battle of Life" (written near Lake Geneva 1846), "The Possessed" ( 1848), as well as 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).

To this was added a number of magazine enterprises. Dickens became editor of the newly founded Daily News in 1845, in which he originally published his Pictures of Italy. But soon Dickens left the Daily News and in 1849 undertook the weekly publication Household Words, to which he wanted to give a fictional and pedagogical character, and which from 1860 began to appear under the name All the year round and received enormous distribution. Complementing this weekly publication was the monthly "Household narratie of current events", a review modern history. An interesting expression of Dickens' personal views is his American Notes (1842), the main fruit of the above-mentioned journey, where he speaks not very favorably of the Americans and many of their institutions. Dickens also wrote A History of England for the Young (1852) and Memoirs of the Clown Grimaldi.

But too hard work began to have a detrimental effect on his health, especially since the loss of loved ones and family hardships joined this (he divorced his wife in 1858). Extremely disastrous for his health were his public readings of his works, undertaken by him from 1858 and taking place in London and in 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 huge honors and fees, but he often felt that his forces were betraying him. The rupture of blood vessels in the brain ended his life. Dickens died at his beloved home, Gadshill Place, while working on The Mystery of Edwin Drood, which remained unfinished. Buried Dickens in Westminster Abbey. In the 12 years following his death, more than 4 million copies of his works were sold in England. The first complete collection of his works was already started in 1847.

Charles Dickens biography is abbreviated in this article.

Charles Dickens short biography

Charles John Huffham Dickens- English writer, novelist and essayist.

February 7, 1812- was born in Landport near Portsmouth in the family of an employee of the financial department of the maritime department.

From 1817 to 1823 the Dickens family lived in the town of Chatham, where Charles began attending school. He later called these years the happiest in his life. The end of a serene childhood was put by financial troubles, because of which his father was put in a debtor's prison, and 11-year-old Charles was forced to work for several months at a factory that produced wax.

1824-1826 - years of study at the private school Wellington House Academy.

1827 - entered the position of a junior clerk in a law firm.

In 1828, he got a job as a free reporter in the judicial chamber, and in 1832, as a parliamentary correspondent.

In 1833, in a monthly magazine, the writer published his first essay - "Dinner at Poplar Wok", signed with the pseudonym "Boz".

1836 - published the first sections of the novel The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, which were a great success with readers. In the same year, Dickens married the daughter of the lawyer and journalist J. Hogarth Kate, they had 10 children, but in 1868 they separated.

1837–1841 - The famous novels of Charles Dickens are published: The Adventures of Oliver Twist (1839), The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1839), Antiquities Shop (1840) and others.

In 1842, the writer traveled to the United States, during which he experienced a deep disappointment in American democracy and the American way of life. These impressions were reflected in the novel Martin Chuzzlewit (1844). Then came the cycle "Christmas Tales" (1848), the novels "Dombey and Son" (1848), "The Life of David Copperfield, told by himself" (1850).

In the 1850s - The novels "Bleak House" (1853), "Hard Times" (1854) and "Little Dorrit" (1857) were written. For some time, Dickens worked as editor of the magazine " Home reading”, in which he published his own compositions. After a conflict with publishers, he founded a similar magazine, Krugly God.

From 1858 the writer gave public readings of his works. These readings have become a legendary phenomenon in European cultural life.

1860s - worked on the novels "Great Expectations" (1861), "Our Mutual Friend" (1865), "The Secret of Edvid Drood" (1870, unfinished).

(1812 - 1870) - a classic of world literature. His works are read and re-read by millions of people today.

Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club

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

The Adventures of Oliver Twist

The Adventures of Oliver Twist is Dickens' most famous novel.

Good old England is unkind to orphans and poor children. The story of a boy left without parents and forced to wander through the gloomy slums of London. The vicissitudes of the fate of the little hero, numerous meetings on his way and a happy ending to difficult and dangerous adventures - all this is of genuine interest to many readers around the world.

Big hopes

The novel "Great Expectations" needs no introduction - a huge number of theatrical productions and adaptations constantly keep it in the field of view of readers.

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

Hard times

Hard Times is set in the industrial city of Coxtown, where everything is impersonal: people are dressed the same, leave the house and return at the same hours, the same clatter of the soles of the same shoes. The city has a philosophy of facts and figures, followed by the wealthy banker Bounderby. Such is the system of education at the Gradgrain school - without love, warmth, imagination. The soulless world of facts is opposed by a traveling circus troupe and the circus performer's little daughter, Sissy Jupe.

cold house

"Bleak House" was written in 1853 and is the ninth novel in Dickens's work, and also opens the author's period of artistic maturity. This book provides a cross-section of all strata of British society in the Victorian era, from the highest aristocracy to the world of city gates. A master of creating intrigue, the writer saturates the work with secrets and intricate plot twists, which are simply impossible to break away from.

Christmas stories

"Christmas stories" were written by Dickens in the 40s of the XIX century. In these stories, the main characters are fairies, elves, ghosts, spirits of the dead and ... ordinary Englishmen. In them, a fairy tale is 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 time.

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 separate book in 1850.

David's father died shortly before the birth of his son. At first, the boy grew up surrounded by the love of his mother and nanny, but with the advent of his stepfather, a stubborn tyrant who considers the child his burden, he had to forget about his former life. Another "mentor", the ignorant Mr. Creakle, a former hop merchant turned headmaster, continued to beat young hero their poor ideas of order. But these barbaric methods of education are interrupted by the outwardly harsh Betsy Trotwood, who becomes the embodiment of kindness and justice for the boy.

Age:: 58 years old

Place of Birth: Portsmouth, England

A place of death: Higham, Kent, UK

Activity: English writer, novelist

Family status: was married

Charles Dickens - Biography

Charles Dickens wrote the most tender and touching love stories in English literature of the 19th century. He, like no one else, knew how to describe home comfort and glorified family values. But all this remained only on paper - fantasies that adorned the lives of readers. Dickens was the most popular writer of his era, but he never became happy man, having spent his whole life in search of an ideal, as evidenced by the biography of his life.

On February 7, 1812, John Dickens, a modest employee of the Admiralty and a great lover of all kinds of amusements, persuaded his soft-hearted and meek wife Elizabeth to go to the ball, even though she was in demolition. They even danced a little, and after that Elizabeth went into labor and a frail baby was born, who was christened Charles.

He was born in Portsmouth, but soon the family moved from there to Portsea, and then to London. Charles remembered his biography from early times, from the age of two. He remembered the time when their family lived well, and there were only two children in the house: his older sister Fanny and himself. But for some reason, mom kept giving birth to new babies. Two of them died, but four survived, and there were eight children in total, and they began to live poorer. Charles, who had no idea how children are made, blamed the mother for everything.

Charles Dickens - childhood, studies

And this childish feeling of anger against women who for some reason give birth and give birth to children, and cannot stop in any way, remained with him for the rest of his life. His mother taught him to read and write, but he loved his father, with whom it was always fun and who became the first grateful spectator of Charles' performances: the boy really liked to sing and read poetry in front of an audience. Charles grew up and, it would seem, could understand that his mother was exhausted, saving on everything, trying to provide a tolerable existence for the family, and his father mindlessly making debts and spending money on his entertainment. But the mother was constantly preoccupied and tired.

And she didn't have time to talk to her son. And my father had. Therefore, Charles was always on his side. Even when the father was in debtor's prison. Even when the whole Dickens family moved to the same prison, because it was the only place where creditors did not pester them. Even when they sold the most precious thing for him for debts: his books. Even when he had to go to work in a factory, where he spent days on end packing wax in jars. All the same, Charles considered a cheerful and kind father - the best of people. And the mother was already to blame for the fact that in her presence the degree of fun in her father decreased.

The older sister, Fanny, studied at a music school. Charles could only dream of learning. After Fanny was presented with an award for success in his presence, he cried all night and in the morning did cold compresses for a long time so as not to come to the factory with traces of tears on his face. “The fact that I suffered, secretly and bitterly, no one suspected,” Dickens admitted in a letter much later.

Charles's adolescence was bleak until his father received a small inheritance, and in 1824 he was retired, besides, his brother was able to pay his debts and rescue the family from debtor's prison. Only then was Charles able to enter private school. Charles studied excellently in all subjects, including dancing, but most of all he excelled in English literature. He became the first student. Together with a friend, he began to publish a school newspaper on sheets torn from a notebook.

Then he tried himself as a playwright: he wrote and staged small moralizing plays at school. In the spring of 1827, Charles Dickens graduated from high school. His parents arranged for him to be a clerk in the office of Ellis and Blackmore, where he was mercilessly bored. The only consolation was new novels and theatrical productions, which he watched from the gallery, because he had very little free money: he had to give almost all of what he earned to his mother.

The unfortunate Elizabeth Dickens was afraid that Charles would grow up to be the same fool and spender as his father, and tried to instill in him a sense of duty and modesty. And Charles dreamed of an interesting job. For example, in a real newspaper. To do this, he tried to master shorthand: on his own, from a textbook, with great difficulty.

Charles Dickens - First Love

But all plans were crushed by the first love. Her name was Maria Bidnell, she was the daughter of a banker, and they met Charles at a musical evening hosted by Fanny Dickens. Maria was a desperate coquette and enjoyed playing with Charles in love, knowing full well that this poor young man could never become her husband. But Charles fell in love seriously and was ready to make any sacrifice, just to connect with Mary. “For three or four years, she completely owned all my thoughts.

Countless times I had an Imaginary Talk with her mother about our marriage. I wrote so many matrimonial messages to this prudent lady ... I didn’t think about sending them, but to invent them and tear them up in a few days was a divine occupation, Dickens recalled. - Imagination, fantasy, passion, energy, the will to win, fortitude - everything that I am rich with - for me is inextricably and forever connected with a hard-hearted little woman, for whom I was ready a thousand times - and, moreover, with the greatest joy - to give my life ".

In the end Charles got tired of Mary and she rejected him. Later, it was Dickens who blamed her for the fact that his character had changed in the most decisive way: “My selfless attachment to you, tenderness, wasted in vain by me in those difficult years, which are both scary and sweet to remember, left a deep imprint in my soul, taught me to restraint, which is not at all characteristic of my nature and makes me skimp on kindness even to my own children, with the exception of the smallest. However, Charles Dickens always blamed someone for his shortcomings or failures. And, as a rule, he blamed women. First - mother, then - Mary, then - wife ...

Charles collaborated with The Morning Chronicle, often traveled to the provinces, collecting material for essays on the manners of society. These materials he used for his first literary work- Essays on Boz. He wrote stories about provincials and signed himself as Boz.

The reading public liked the essays. The talented author was lured to another publication: The Evening Chronicle.

Charles Dickens and Catherine

With his new publisher, George Hogarth, Charles became friends. The young man liked the Hogarth family so much that he decided to become one of its members and for this he wooed the eldest of his daughters, Katherine, although he didn’t even really like her. Quiet, accommodating, good-natured Catherine was like his mother, which was already a disadvantage in the eyes of Dickens. But it was also important for him to take revenge on the female sex, and Charles played the lover so brilliantly that Catherine endowed him with reciprocity, on her part - quite sincere. April 2, 1836 they got married.

In order to earn money for the wedding and rent a house for his wife, Charles agreed to write the text for a series of comic drawings about the adventures of members of a hunting club from the province, who go on a journey and find themselves in all sorts of ridiculous situations. They paid for the volume, and Charles gave free rein to his imagination. Thus appeared The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, and Charles Dickens became famous: overnight and forever. True, since the idea belonged to the publishers, he received nothing for reprints.

But the contract for his next novel, The Adventures of Oliver Twist, Dickens concluded much more reasonably. On January 6, 1837, the first-born of the Dickens couple was born. The birth was difficult. Katherine was ill for a long time and could not take care of the baby Charles on her own. To help her, her younger sister, Mary, arrived. When Charles saw her for the last time, she was still a clumsy girl, and suddenly - so beautifully blossomed. Thin, tender, with a soulful look, Mary at 16 was in sharp contrast to Catherine, who had grown fat after pregnancy, tired, preoccupied with the health of the baby and the establishment of a household.

Charles believed that an ideal unity of souls was established between him and Mary from the very first day. When he talked to her about literature, she listened with rapture and was never distracted by something insignificant, like dinner orders or a baby's squeak. Since Catherine could not leave the baby for a long time, it was Mary who accompanied Dickens at all social events. Charles was bathed in the rays of glory - and in the radiance of Mary's eyes fixed on him with unfailing delight.

Sometimes he allowed himself to dream that his wife was not boring Catherine, who was also pregnant again, but this glowing, fragile girl ... On May 6, 1837, Charles took Catherine and Mary to the theater. They had a wonderful evening, and Mary went up to her room "perfectly healthy and in her usual wonderful mood." She began to undress and suddenly fell... They sent for a doctor, but he only assumed a congenital heart defect and could not help in any way.

"Thank God she died in my arms," ​​Dickens wrote, "and the last thing she whispered were words about me."

His mother-in-law, Mrs. Hogarth, upon learning of the death youngest daughter, fell asleep. Catherine had to look after her mother, despite her own grief and the knowledge that her husband was in love with her sister: after all, Charles did not consider it necessary to hide his feelings now that Mary was gone. Katherine had a miscarriage. Charles reacted to this with unusual heartlessness. He was too unhappy to give attention to anyone but himself - and the bright little ghost that henceforth accompanied him all his life.

Charles could not keep grief in himself and poured it out in letters: “She was the soul of our house. We should have known that we were too happy all together. I lost myself best friend, dear girl, whom he loved more tenderly than any other living being. Words cannot describe how much I miss her, and the devotion that I had for her ... With her departure, there was a void that there is not the slightest hope of filling.

Charles did not part with a lock of her hair. He wore her ring on his little finger. He wrote to the deceased, hoping that her soul would visit the house and read his words: “I want you to understand how much I miss ... the sweet smile and friendly words that we exchanged with each other during such sweet, cozy evenings by the fireplace, they are dearer to me than any words of recognition I could ever hear. I want to relive all that we said and did in those days.”

When Mrs. Hogarth recovered, Charles wrote to her about the feelings he had for Mary: “Sometimes she appeared to me as a spirit, sometimes as a living being, but never in these dreams was there even a drop of that bitterness that fills my earthly sadness: rather, it was some kind of quiet happiness, so important to me that I always went to bed with the hope of seeing her again in these images. She was constantly present in my thoughts (especially if I had success in something). The thought of her has become an integral part of my life and is inseparable from it, like the beating of my heart.

On January 1, 1838, Dickens wrote in his diary: “A sad New Year... If she were with us now, in all her charm, joyful, affable, understanding, like no one else, all my thoughts and feelings, - a friend, the like of which I have never had and never will. I would, it seems, want nothing more, if only this happiness would always continue ... Never again will I be as happy as in that apartment on the third floor - never, even if I am destined to bathe in gold and glory. If it were within my means, I would rent these rooms so that no one would live in them ... "

“I solemnly declare that such a perfect creation has never seen the light. The innermost recesses of her soul were revealed to me, I was able to appreciate her at its true worth. There was not a single flaw in her, ”Dickens repeated, reviving Mary in the form of little Nell. Catherine understood that Charles regretted that of the two sisters, death had chosen the youngest: it would have been easier for Dickens to lose his wife. But what could she do? Just do your duty. And she performed as a Victorian wife should: she kept the house in order, gave birth and raised children.

The daughter born after Mary's death was named after her. Mary was followed into the world by Kate, Walter, Francis, Alfred... Katherine was almost constantly pregnant, or recovering after childbirth, or sick after miscarriages. A couch was installed for her in the living room so that she could receive visitors reclining: it was hard for her to sit, her back hurt. Charles now and then sneered at the immoderate fertility of his wife. As if he had nothing to do with it, as if Sidney, Henry, Dora and Edward were conceived without his participation.

Even after the birth of his fourth child, Charles wrote to his brother: “I hope my hostess will not allow herself anything like this again.”

But Katherine, unfortunately for herself, was prolific and gave Dickens new grounds for complaining to relatives: “It looks like we will celebrate the New Year with the appearance of another child. Unlike the king from the fairy tale, I relentlessly pray to the Magi not to disturb themselves anymore, because I have enough of what I have. But they are unreasonably generous to those who deserve their favor.

In 1842, another of the Hogarth sisters, the youngest, the tenth, moved into the house of the Dickens couple.

Her name was Georgina, she was fifteen years old, and she was sent to help Catherine, and at the same time to study household. Catherine was afraid that the story of Mary would repeat itself: Charles would fall in love with his young sister-in-law. But this did not happen. But Georgina fell in love with Charles so desperately that she decided to stay with him forever. She never really got married. And in the end, Dickens appreciated her devotion, began to honor her with a conversation, called her his friend. Georgina was happy with that too.

In 1844, Charles Dickens spoke at the opening of a school for workers in Liverpool and there he met the young pianist Christiane Weller. She was phenomenally similar to the lost Mary. Dickens - no, not that he fell in love - but collapsed into a sweet illusion, as if Mary had miraculously returned from non-existence. He shared his overwhelming feelings with a friend, T.J. Thompson:

“I can't talk about Miss Weller in a joking tone: she's too good. The interest that arose in me for this creature - so young and, I'm afraid, condemned to an early death, turned into a serious feeling. God, what a madman they would think me if anyone could figure out what an amazing feeling she inspired in me.

Charles wrote to his sister Fanny: “I don’t know, but it seems that if it weren’t for the memories of Miss Weller (although they contain a lot of torment), I would quietly and with great pleasure hang myself, so as not to live anymore in this vain, absurd , crazy, unsettled and unlike anything in the world. To convince Thompson of the incredible resemblance between Christiane and Mary, Dickens invited him and Christiane to visit at the same time, accompanied by his father. It is not known what Thompson thought about the resemblance to the deceased, but he fell in love with Christian at first sight, began to court her and eventually married.

They were very happily married, and Dickens felt that his heart had broken yet again. If only it were possible to find freedom and start life anew, with another woman. Charles considered his early marriage a mistake, and Catherine - a down-to-earth person, unworthy of being a companion of a genius. He was convinced of his genius, for he created masterpiece after masterpiece: The Antiquities Store, Nicholas Nickleby, Barnaby Rudge, A Christmas Carol, Dombey and Son, The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, Bleak House - All of his books were sold out.

Dickens did not spare his wife's feelings, resenting her fullness, her stupidity, and especially the fact that she constantly gives birth. Katherine fell into a depression, and then a disgusting character and an eternally sour expression were added to the list of shortcomings. “There was nothing terrible about my mother,” her daughter Kate later said. “She, like all of us, had her shortcomings, but she was meek, sweet, kind person and a real lady. At home, Dickens demanded order in everything, every chair and every trifle had its place, and God forbid you move a chair or forget a book on the table.

It was impossible to be late for lunch and dinner, but it was also not supposed to come earlier. They sat down at the table with the first stroke of the clock. Of course, it was unacceptable to make noise, and Katherine and Georgina watched this, and the older daughters instructed the younger ones. And all the same, throughout the Christmas holidays, during which children from schools and boarding houses came home, Dickens constantly complained to his friends: “The whole house is filled with boys, and every boy (as usual) has an inexplicable and terrifying ability to appear simultaneously in all parts of the house, having no less than fourteen pairs of creaking boots on his feet.

By 1852 the Dickens had 10 children. In the books of Charles Dickens, heroes received a happy family life and many, many children as a reward for virtue, but the writer himself would have preferred some other kind of happiness. What - he really did not know. In 1850, the novel "David Copperfield", 3 which, like all the works of Dickens, came out in separate notebooks with a continuation, 2 was reprinted as a book. And Charles received a letter from Mrs. Henry Winter, who had once been called Mary Bidnell.

She sent a copy of "David Copperfield" and asked the rejected admirer for an autograph. She recognized herself in the image of Dora Spenlow. Dickens wished to meet her. Maria warned that she had become "toothless, fat, old and ugly." He waved it off: the charming Maria simply could not grow old and become ugly. He was looking forward to a delicious affair and the revival of old feelings. However, the meeting horrified him. In "Little Dorrit" Dickens described his experiences: "He raised his head, looked at the object of his former love - and at the same moment all that was left of this love trembled and crumbled to dust."

Only the unforgettable Mary still did not disappoint Dickens, because she could not change. Charles dreamed of being buried in the same grave with her, and years later this dream did not leave him, he wrote: "I know (because I am sure that there has never been and never will be such a love) that this desire will never disappear." True, he also knew that this would not work: the places in the immediate vicinity of Mary were occupied by her prematurely deceased brothers. When Dickens was 45 years old, he was overtaken by a spiritual crisis. Life seemed meaningless and boring.

He began looking for a new source of inspiration. And I found him on stage: he went out as an actor in the play of his friend Wilkie Collins "The Frozen Abyss". He played, of course, a noble hero. First - in the home theater, for friends, and female roles performed by grown-up daughters and Georgina. He liked it, and he wrote to Collins with delight: “Becoming someone else - how much charm is contained in this for me. From what? God knows. The reasons are many, and the most ridiculous.

last love Dickens

This is such a pleasure for me that, having lost the opportunity to become someone completely different from me, I feel a loss ... ”Dickens decided to perform on the big stage. And he needed professional actresses. On the recommendation of the director of the Olympic Theatre, he turned to Mrs. Ternan and her daughters Maria and Ellen. During the first rehearsal, Charles realized that he could not look at Ellen Ternan without excitement. She was 18 years old, she was the same age as his daughter Kate. But next to her, Charles felt young, full of energy and energy, ready to love and be loved.

Dickens' last love was the most violent, almost insane. Ellen did not reciprocate his feelings, but he stubbornly courted her as if he were not a married man. By the way, it was then, in 1857, in English parliament there were readings of the law on marriage, according to which civil (but not church) divorce was allowed. Dickens dreamed of getting rid of Catherine, who bored him, and, possibly, of an alliance with the young Ellen. True, a divorce was given on the condition that one of the spouses would be convicted of adultery. Charles could not hope that Catherine would give him such a gift.

And he himself did not want to be guilty: he needed an impeccable reputation in the eyes of the public. In the end, Dickens resolved the issue with his wife, who irritated him, radically: he divided the house into two parts and forbade her to appear on his half. He even ordered the door between their rooms to be bricked up. Charles continued to court Ellen Ternan and one day (whether out of distraction or on purpose) he ordered a diamond bracelet for her as a gift, but he dictated his home address. The decoration, along with the accompanying letter, fell into the hands of Katherine.

She accused Charles of treason, to which he replied with noble indignation: his relationship with Miss Ternan is absolutely innocent, and it is Catherine who is vicious, since she can assume such a thing. With her suspicions, she insulted the young girl. Dickens demanded that his wife go to Ellen and apologize to her and her mother for the insult inflicted in absentia.

Kate Dickens recalled that she went into her mother's bedroom when she was dressing, crying. "Your father told me to go to Ellen Ternan," she said. Kate claims that she even stamped her foot, demanding that her mother show pride and abandon this humiliation. But Mrs. Dickens still apologized to Miss Ternan. When Catherine's parents learned the whole story, they suggested that she return to her father's house.

She agreed because she couldn't take it anymore. That was all Charles needed. His wife left him. Now he could only justify himself in the eyes of society. Dickens published a "Message to Readers" in his magazine "Home Reading": "For some time now my family life complicated by a number of difficult circumstances, about which it is appropriate to note here only that they are of a purely personal nature and therefore, I hope, have the right to respect. > than, to his regular correspondents, he described the gap less correctly, blaming his wife for everything: “She is doomed to suffering, because she is surrounded by some kind of fatal cloud in which everyone who is especially dear to her suffocates.” He claimed to be wearable to all those around him, his own mother, rejected she never loved, so they treat her like a stranger.

From society, Dickens expected unanimous support and was amazed when faced with condemnation of his actions. He didn't feel guilty about Katherine at all. His dislike for his wife intensified when "through her fault" he lost several old friends. Among those with whom Charles broke off relations was William Thackeray, who regretted Mrs. Dickens aloud: “Just think, after twenty-two years of married life, leave your home. Poor." Georgina, in a family conflict, fully supported Charles and remained in his house. She even stopped talking to her sister and parents because they "offended Mr. Dickens."

Georgina hoped that now her time had come, because Charles had so loudly praised her, his friend and assistant, called her the fairy of the hearth. But alas, in the drama being played out, she was given the role of embodied virtue, sacrificing herself for the sake of loved ones. And in order to stay close to Charles, Georgina had to play this role.

The heroine was Ellen Ternan. She did not like Dickens, he was physically unpleasant to her. Dickens was aware of this, suffered, but unhappy love gave him inspiration: Bella Wilfer in "Our Mutual Friend" and Estela in "Great Expectations" are two literary portraits of Ellen Ternan. Declaring his love for Estelle, the writer used his letters to Ellen Ternan: “You are part of my existence, part of myself. I see you everywhere: in the river and on the sails of the ship, in the swamp and in the clouds, in the light of the sun and in the darkness of the night, in the wind, in the sea, on the street ... Whether you like it or not, you will remain until the last moment of my life part of my being..."

Exquisite declarations of love left Ellen indifferent. But she appreciated the good deeds with which Dickens showered her family, and the comfort with which he surrounded her in the house rented for her, and his generosity: Ellen realized that a love affair with a famous writer could bring her a fortune.

Charles achieved his goal, but for some reason did not experience the expected happiness from victory. And when Ellen also became pregnant, he felt offended and deceived. Ellen gave birth to a boy, but even the name of this child was not preserved in history, his existence was so carefully hidden. The baby died before reaching the age of one. And Charles was gradually disappointed in Ellen: she turned out to be the same ordinary woman as Katherine, only beautiful and greedy. Dickens began to think about how he would appear in the eyes of posterity. And I decided to straighten my biography a little.

For example, to erase from it the last love story - as unsuccessful and not sublime enough. It seemed to him that it would be easy, because he did not dare to cohabit with Ellen openly. Dickens lived in his own house. With faithful Georgina and children who were afraid to leave their father: he could disinherit them for disobedience. In 1868, Charles left Ellen. But before that, he took all his letters from her and burned them along with her notes, which he kept like a treasure during the years of love. And since then he kept repeating to everyone that nothing but friendship connected him with Miss Ternan.

Nobody believed him, but Dickens knew how to turn a blind eye to reality. He provided for Ellen and, in his will, wrote to her as much as was necessary so that she would never work. Charles wrote several conciliatory letters to his wife. He didn't ask for forgiveness, but Katherine forgave him. She still loved him, and it was necessary for the well-being of the children that the parents at least not be at enmity. True, he did not want to meet with Katherine. June 8, 1870, during dinner, Dickens suddenly felt unwell. He got up from the table, wanting to go to his room, and suddenly fell.

Georgina sank to the floor beside him, resting his head in her lap. The last thing Charles saw, already losing consciousness, was her face, and this woman in love was consoled the next day, when Dickens died, and the rest of his life: let him love others, let him marry another, but his last look belonged to her. .. Last novel Charles Dickens' The Mystery of Edwin Drood remained unfinished.

Charles John Huffham Dickens was born in 1812 in England. He became the second child in the family, but after that six more children were born in the family. The parents could not feed such a large family, and the father, John, fell into horrendous debt. He was put in a special prison for debtors, and his wife and children were considered debt slaves. An inheritance helped to cope with a difficult financial situation: John Dickens received a considerable fortune from his deceased grandmother, and was able to pay off all debts.

From childhood, Charles Dickens was forced to work, and even after his father was released from prison, his mother forced him to continue working at the factory, combining this with his studies at the Wellington Academy. After graduating, he took a job as a clerk, where he worked for a year, after which he resigned and chose a job as a freelance reporter. Already in 1830, the talent of the young writer began to be noted and he was invited to the local newspaper.

Charles Dickens' first love was Maria Bidnell, a girl from rich family. But the spoiled reputation of John Dickens did not allow the girl's parents to accept the debtor's son into the family, and the couple moved away from each other, and later completely broke up. In 1836, the novelist married Katherine Thomson Hogarth, who bore him ten children. But so big family became a burden for the writer, and he left it. Further, his life was full of novels, but the longest and most famous of them was with eighteen-year-old Ellen Ternan, with whom Dickens began a relationship in 1857, and continued for 13 years, until the writer's death. Based on their novel, the film "The Invisible Woman" was filmed in 2013.

The great writer died in 1870 from a stroke. He was buried in Westminster Abbey. The novelist did not like monuments of any kind and forbade sculptures to be dedicated to him during his lifetime and even after his death. Despite this, these monuments exist in Russia, the USA, Australia and England.

Bibliography

The first works of the English novelist were published six years after the completion of his work as a clerk, and the first serious work (The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club) was published a year later. Even the Russian prose writer Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky noted the talent of the young writer. psychological portraits in his works, which were highly regarded by critics and are still appreciated today. The realistic writing style of the young Dickens attracted more and more readers, and he began to receive good fees.

In 1838, the writer publishes the novel The Adventures of Oliver Twist about the life of an orphan boy and his life's difficulties. In 1840, The Antiquities Store was published, in a sense a humorous work about the girl Nell. Three years later, The Christmas Story was published, where the vices of the social world and the people living in it were denounced. Since 1850, novels have become more serious, and now the world sees a book about David Copperfield. "Bleak House" of 1853, as well as "A Tale of Two Cities" and "Great Expectations" (1859 and 1860), as well as all the works of the author, reflected the complexity social relations and the injustice of the dominant order.