Charles Dickens by Mr. Faulkner World Literature

Note about the Notes Whatever you do, do NOT put your pencil down while we are taking notes Also, please hurry up – these are notes – not your memoirs on your deathbed – as long as you can read it, who cares how sloppy it is If you are the one guy we have to wait on, I will embarrass you

Early Life Charles John Huffam Dickens was born on February 7, 1812, in Portsmouth, England He was the second of 8 children His father John Dickens was a naval clerk who dreamed of striking it rich; his mother Elizabeth Barrow aspired to be a teacher and school director

Despite the parents’ best efforts, the family remained poor but still happy in the early years In 1816, they moved to Chatham, Kent, where Charles and his siblings were free to roam the countryside and explore the old castle at Rochester

Dickens’s Birthplace in Portsmouth

Family Life In 1822, the family moved to Camden Town – a poor neighborhood in London. By this time, the family’s financial situation had grown dire as John was living beyond the family’s means In 1824, John Dickens was sent to prison for debt when Charles was just 12 years old After his father was sent to prison, Charles was forced to leave school and work in a boot-blacking factory along the River Thames

Working Hard At the factory, Charles earned six shillings a week in order to support his family – it was the best he could do Dickens would later say this was the time where he said goodbye to his youthful innocence and believed that he had been abandoned and betrayed by the adults who were supposed to take care of him ---- this idea became a recurring theme in his writing later

London Life during Dickens’s Childhood

School/Work A year later, John was released from prison at which point Charles was permitted to go back to school Unfortunately, when Charles was 15 he again had to drop out of school and work as an office boy to contribute to the family’s income This job actually ended up helping Charles – it became an early launching point for his career as a writer

Early Writings Charles later became a freelance reporter and began working for two major London newspapers In 1833, he began submitting sketches to different magazines under the pseudonym “Boz” which were published in 1836 in his first book, Sketches by Boz

First Edition of Sketches by Boz The full title of the book was Sketches by “Boz,” Illustrative of Every-day Life and Every-day People

Disclaimer When I say “sketches,” I do NOT mean drawings! Charles Dickens was NOT Walt Disney. Essentially, OTHER GUYS would draw out these humorous cartoons or illustrations – people like Robert Seymour Dickens would begin writing captions for the pictures which later grew into full “sketches” – which were basically like short stories to fit the situations depicted in the illustrations Dickens’s sketches even became more popular than the illustrations they were meant to accompany

Literary Legacy Dickens is widely considered to be one of the greatest English writers of all time and is remembered as being the creator of some of the world’s best-known fictional characters (like Ebenezer Scrooge, Oliver Twist, David Copperfield) Regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era His work was hugely popular throughout his life and by the 20th century he was being called a literary genius His novels and short stories are still widely read today

Serial Writer A lot of Dickens’s works were published serially – meaning they appeared as monthly installments in popular London magazines So readers would go and by current month’s chapter for a cheap price, and would have to wait until the next month to see where the story went In fact, readers became so concerned over the fate of characters seemingly (and sometimes literally) hanging from cliffs, that they started calling those unfinished endings “cliffhangers” Dickens helped perfect the serial novel and cliffhangers

Fun Fact! Dickens met & inspired Edgar Allan Poe once! Poe once wrote a review for Dickens’s novel Barnaby Rudge (1841) (he even correctly guessed the ending of the novel before Dickens had released the ending) Poe in particular enjoyed one character in the book – a chatty raven named Grip; he called the bird “intensely amusing” and even said his “croaking might have been prophetically heard in the course of the drama”

The next year, Dickens took a trip to the U. S The next year, Dickens took a trip to the U.S. and met Poe (following a series of letters the two sent back and forth before the journey) Dickens brought with him on this trip his pet raven and Poe was thrilled to see that the character of Grip was inspired by this real life bird It seems fairly obvious that Poe would later be inspired by this experience in writing “The Raven” – the coincidences are just too strong to be nothing! There’s even a part in the 5th chapter of Dickens’s book, where someone asks about Grip “What was that- him tapping at the door?” and someone responds with “’Tis someone knocking softly at the shutter”

Best Known Works (Make sure you underline these titles since they’re novels) Oliver Twist (1837-39) Nicholas Nickleby (1838-39) David Copperfield (1849-50) Bleak House (1852-53) A Tale of Two Cities (1859) Great Expectations (1860-61)

A Christmas Carol Originally published on December 19, 1843 Full title: A Christmas Carol – In Prose – Being a Ghost Story of Christmas Dickens wrote this story during a time when the British were re-evaluating Christmas traditions, including carols and the (at the time) new custom of using a Christmas tree

He was influenced by his own experiences with Christmas as well as certain Christmas stories by authors like Washington Irving and Douglas Jerrold Prior to this novella, Dickens had written 3 other Christmas-related stories He was inspired to write this story after a visit to the Field Lane Ragged School – one of several establishments for London’s street children

The first edition of Dec The first edition of Dec. 1843 sold out by Christmas Eve; by the end of 1844, thirteen editions had sold out Most critics reviewed it favorably; some academics discussed the novel as being secular (spiritual) and others wondered if the story was a Christian allegory Starting in 1849, Dickens began giving public readings of the story and by the time of his death in 1870, had undertook at least 127 performances

A Christmas Carol has never been out of print and has been translated into several languages The story has been adapted many times for stage, opera, film, television, and other media It perfectly captures the spirit and air of mid-Victorian England during Christmas time as well as depicts several Christmas traditions practiced still today: family gatherings, seasonal food and drink, dancing and games, and generosity of spirit