Dickens portrait. Charles Dickens Short Biography

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 office.

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).

Known worldwide for his surprisingly kind and sentimental novels, the English writer Charles Dickens was born in 1812 near the city of Portsmouth.

He was the second boy in large family officer of the naval base of the United Royal Navy. The family did not have enough money to live on, and in 1815 the father of the family, John Dickens, was transferred to London, and in 1817 to Chetham. It was here that little Charles began his education in the private school of a Baptist pastor, for whom he carried love and respect throughout his life.

But in the capital of England, John Dickens was not lucky, delighted with the increase in salary, he allowed himself to live beyond his means and ended up in a debtor's prison.

Due to money problems, as a teenager, Charles worked in a wax factory, and on Sundays, along with his sisters, visited his parents in prison.

In 1827, after the death of a distant relative and the receipt of an inheritance, John paid off his debts and got out of prison, and also found a job as a reporter in one of the major newspapers.

The position of the family has changed better side, but Charles remained to work at the factory at the request of his mother, Elizabeth. Of course, such an injustice could not but hurt the teenager, and did not change his attitude towards women for many years.

And only after a long time he resumed his interrupted education and then entered the law office as a junior clerk. At the same time, the young man was trying to succeed as a gossip and crime reporter.

In 1830, after several successfully written articles, he was invited to permanent job in the Morning Chronicle. It was here that he experienced the feeling of first love, his beloved was the daughter of the director of the bank - Maria Bindl.

The creative path of the young Dickens

First literary work, which was published in 1836, was a collection of short stories called "Essays by Boz". These original, slightly comical, slightly sentimental stories reflected the picture of life and the range of interests of the petty bourgeoisie, rentiers and merchants. But the first published work had a huge impact on the further development of the literary talent of the young man.

Glory to the writer began to come as the chapters from the novel The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club were published in one of the major newspapers, which was then repeatedly published as a separate edition.

Thanks to the talent of Dickens, the name of old Mr. Pickwick became as famous as Don Quixote or Tartarin of Tarascon. This literary hero - good-natured and sly, rustic and cunning - reflects the character of old England with its unusual humor and conservatism, love of tradition and impatience with meanness and hypocrisy.

In 1838, Charles's talent was revealed in a completely different way with the release of the novel The Adventures of Oliver Twist. The story of an orphan from a workhouse who fell into the hands of criminals who wanted to mold a poor child into the same criminal, but their plans collapsed when faced with his courage and desire to work honestly. This extremely realistic, small novel reveals the social ulcers that existed in an outwardly prosperous state.

The pen of the writer Dickens is driven by humanism and mercy, he draws pictures of the life of all sectors of society without embellishment: magnificence and luxury among the nobility, and poverty and ugliness in the social classes.

This literary masterpiece played its part: there were several high-profile litigation about keeping children in workhouses in England. Instead of educating and teaching orphans, they used child labor and plundered public funds.

Apogee of creativity

Dickens quickly became famous: he was recognized by both liberals, because they believed that he was fighting for the rights of the people, and conservatives, because his novels denounced the cruelty of social relations. It was read with equal interest in richly decorated living rooms, and in poor houses, both children and adults - everyone read novels that gave hope for happiness in the future and the triumph of justice.

In the early forties, Charles visited America, where he enjoyed no less respect than in England. Glory was ahead of the writer and marched around the world. After this trip, he wrote the novel The Life of Martin Chelswit, where he portrayed the Americans in a rather comical way, which, of course, caused an outburst of indignation from overseas brothers.

In 1843, a collection of Christmas stories was published, which are still very popular in the world today. Based on the stories "The Cricket on the Stove" and "A Christmas Tale", several films were shot, which are successfully broadcast all over the world.

Two of Dickens's best critics' novels, The Merchant House: Dombey and Son (1848) and The Life and Wonderful Adventures of David Copperfield, Written by Himself (1850), have some autobiographical moments.

And the time spent in a debtor's prison with his father and mother, and working in a factory with other little boys, and working in a law office and working as a reporter, and meeting different people - all this was reflected on the pages of books that do not lose their relevance and in our days.

The novel "David Copperfield" was recognized by such masters of the pen as F. Dostoevsky, L. Tolstoy, Charlotte and Emilia Bronte, Henry James and others. Readers wholeheartedly sympathize with the hardships of little Davy, left to the mercy of fate in young age, and condemn the cruel morality of those in power.

The last years of creativity

One of recent novels The author of "Hard Times" (1854) is imbued with thoughts about the fate of the labor movement and the inevitability of progress. For the first time in the work, doubts arise: is personal success really necessary for a person’s happiness and recognition by society?

In 1857, the novel Little Dorrit was published, in which we see the image of a debtor's prison and the lost childhood of a girl forced to earn her bread from early childhood.

One of the most famous novels Great Expectations (1861) shows the changes taking place in the writer's worldview. For the first time, he wanted to end the book tragically with the death of the protagonist, but not wanting to upset readers, he does not completely destroy Pip's "unfulfilled hopes", but gives hope and faith for the future.

And finally, his swan song, the novel Our Mutual Friend, debunks bourgeois ideals: the desire for profit and power, reveals the true value of love and friendship. Perhaps that is why a huge garbage heap becomes a symbol of lost wealth.

In 1870, at the age of 58, Charles Dickens died at his home in Keth, leaving one unfinished novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

The writer left, but left us his soul, his fame continued to grow even after his death. His name is on a par with Shakespeare and Byron, it is he who is considered a real English writer, reflecting true England.

Modest during his lifetime, Dickens in his will mentioned his desire not to have monuments, but in 2012 a monument to the great writer was opened in Portsmouth, who knew how to both make laugh and make everyone cry and, most importantly, think, regardless of gender, age and time reading. The novels of Charles Dickens will live forever as long as soft humor, nobility and honesty, love and true friendship live.

Dickens Charles (1812-1870)

One of the most famous English-language novelists, a celebrated creator of vivid comic characters and a social critic. Born in Landport near Portsmouth in the family of a clerk of the maritime department. Charles was the second of eight children. He was taught to read by his mother, for a time he attended primary school, from nine to twelve years old went to a regular school. In 1822 his father was transferred to London. Parents with six children huddled in dire need in Camden Town. At twelve, Charles began working for six shillings a week in a wax factory at Hunger Ford Stears on the Strand. On February 20, 1824, his father was arrested for debt and imprisoned in 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 visited 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 for the work of a newspaper reporter. Collaborated in several well-known periodicals and began to write fictional essays about the life and characteristic types of London. The first of these appeared in the Mansley 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. In the early spring of that year, the young writer became engaged to Katherine Hogarth. April 2, 1836 The first issue of The Pickwick Club was published. Two days before, Charles and Catherine were married and settled in Dickens' bachelor apartment. At first, the responses were cool, and the sale did not promise much hope. However, the number of readers grew; by the end of the publication of the Pickwick Papers, each issue sold 40,000 copies.

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

The friction with Bentley that arose from time to time forced Dickens in February 1839 to refuse work in the Almanac. Publishes The Antiquities Store and Barnaby Rudge. In January 1842, the Dickens couple sailed for Boston, where a crowded enthusiastic meeting marked the beginning of the writer's triumphant journey through New England to New York, Philadelphia, Washington, and on - all the way to St. Louis.

In 1849, Dickens began writing David Copperfield, which was a huge success from the start. In 1850 he began publishing a twopence weekly, Home Reading. 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, the last child, was about to be born. At the end of 1851, the Dickens family moved into a house in Tavistock Square, and the writer began work on Bleak House.

The years of the writer's tireless work were overshadowed by a growing awareness of the failure of his marriage. While doing theater, Dickens fell in love with the young actress Ellen Ternan. Despite her husband's vows of fidelity, Katherine left his home. In May 1858, after the divorce, Charles Jr. stayed with his mother and the rest of the children with their father. Having ceased publishing Home Reading, he very successfully began publishing a new weekly, All the Year Round, publishing A Tale of Two Cities in it, and then Great Expectations.

His last completed novel was Our Mutual Friend. The writer's health was deteriorating. Having somewhat recovered, Dickens began to write The Secret of Edwin Drood, which was only half written. June 9, 1870 Dickens died. In a private ceremony held on 14 June, his body was interred in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey.

Charles Dickens ( full name Charles John Huffam Dickens) - the famous English realist writer, classic of world literature, the largest prose writer of the 19th century. - lived a rich and difficult life. His homeland was the town of Landport, located near Portsmouth, where on February 7, 1812, he was born into a poor family of a petty official. Parents nurtured Charles as best they could, who was precocious and gifted, but their 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 had to live in extreme need, periodically selling simple home belongings. 12-year-old Charles had to go to work at a waxing factory, and although his work experience there was only four months, this is the time when he, selfish, not accustomed to physical labor and not shining 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 of his life goals - to never again need and not find himself in such a humiliating position.

The plight of the family, which grew up with six children, 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 of papers. The next point of his career was the parliament, where he worked as a stenographer, and then he managed to find himself in the field of a newspaper reporter. In November 1828, the young Dickens took over as a freelance reporter at Doctors Commons. Having not received a systematic education in childhood and adolescence, 18-year-old Charles diligently educated himself, becoming a regular in the British museum. At 20, he worked as a reporter for the Parliamentary Mirror and Tru Sun, and stood out from the crowd of most fellow writers.

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

From July 1844 to 1845, Dickens lived with his family in Genoa, upon returning to his homeland, he devoted all his attention to founding the Daily News newspaper. 50s became his personal triumph: Dickens achieved fame, influence, wealth, more than offsetting all previous blows of fate. Since 1858, he constantly arranged public readings of his books: in this way, he did not so much increase his fortune as he realized the extraordinary acting abilities that remained unclaimed. Not everything went smoothly in the personal life of the famous writer; he perceived the family with its requests, quarrels with his wife, eight sickly children, rather as a source of constant headache, rather 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 turbulent 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). A difficult life did not affect his health in the best way, but Dickens worked, ignoring the numerous “bells”. An extended tour of American cities exacerbated the problems, but he, after a short rest, went to a new one. In April 1869, it came to the point that the writer's left leg and arm were taken away when he finished his next speech. June 8, 1870 in the evening, Charles Dickens, who was at his estate Gadeshill, had a stroke, and the next day he died; buried one of the most popular English writers in Westminster Abbey.

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 domestic 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's 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. 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. The first complete collection of his works was already started in 1847.