Charles Dickens: English novelist and social critic (1812–1870)
Charles Dickens (7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and a social critic who is regarded as one of the great English writers of the 19th century.
Charles Dickens | |
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| Born | Charles John Huffam Dickens 7 February 1812 Portsmouth, England |
| Died | 9 June 1870 (aged 58) Kent, England |
| Cause of death | Stroke |
| Resting place | Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey |
| Nationality | English |
| Occupation | Writer. Social Critic |
| Notable work | Sketches by Boz, Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, A Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield, Great Expectations |
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Early life
Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth, England. His parents were John Dickens (1785-1851), a naval pay clerk, and Elizabeth Barrow (1789–1863).
When Dickens was born, he had dyslexia and so he could not read or write properly, unlike other kids. When Charles was 12 years old, his family moved to Camden, London. He worked in a blacking factory there while his father was in prison for debt. Dickens's hard times in the factory served as a foundation of ideas for many of his novels. Many of them, like Oliver Twist, later became famous. When his great-grandmother died and transmitted money, Charles' father paid off his debts and was released from prison. Charles did not like working and wished to stop after his father had been released. However, his mother said that the family needed the money and so Charles was forced to continue working. Charles then finished his schooling and got a job as an office boy for an attorney. After finding that job dull, he taught himself shorthand and became a journalist that reports on the government. Dickens was a Unitarian.
Author
His first book was Sketches by Boz in 1836, a collection of the short pieces that he had been writing for the Monthly Magazine and the Evening Chronicle. This was followed by The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club in 1837. Both books became popular as soon as they were printed.
Charles Dickens died of a stroke on June 9, 1870. He was buried in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey. He died 5 years and 3 days after getting into a horrible train accident that killed 10 people and injured another 49.
Books
Charles Dickens wrote many books, including:
- Sketches by Boz (1836)
- The Pickwick Papers (1837)
- Oliver Twist (1838)
- Nicholas Nickelby (1838)
- The Old Curiosity Shop (1840)
- Barnaby Rudge (1841)
- Martin Chuzzlewit (1843)
- A Christmas Carol (1843)
- Dombey and Son (1846—1848)
- David Copperfield (1849—1850)
- Bleak House (1851—1853)
- Hard Times (1854)
- Little Dorritt (1855—1857)
- A Tale of Two Cities (1859)
- Great Expectations (1861)
- Our Mutual Friend (1865)
- The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1869—1870) (unfinished)
References
Other websites
 | Definitions from Wiktionary |
 | Media from Commons |
 | Quotations from Wikiquote |
 | Source texts from Wikisource |
 | Data from Wikidata |
- Works by Charles Dickens at Project Gutenberg
- Charles Dickens mobile ebooks Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
- Charles Dickens Archived 2021-06-24 at the Wayback Machine at the British Library
- "Archival material relating to Charles Dickens". UK National Archives.
- Charles Dickens on IMDb
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