1. The World of Charles Dickens

2. Charles John Huffam Dickens – Biography
Was born on February 7th , 1812, in Portsmouth, England
In 1824 Dickens worked at Warren’s Blacking Warehouse
In 1824 Mr. Dickens (Charles’ father) is taken to debtors’ prison. His family joins him. He is imprisoned from February until May

3. Biography…
In 1827 the Dickens family are thrown out of their home for not paying rent
Charles is pulled out of private school
Charles, now 15, becomes a law clerk and free-lance writer
In 1834 Charles takes Boz as pen name
In 1834 Charles’ Dad is re-arrested for debts

4. Catherine Hogarth
In 1836 at the age of 24 Charles Dickens marries Catherine Hogarth.
One year later, their first child is born.
The year after that the next baby is born.
He fathered 10 children.
His wife left him (in 1858).

5. Biography…
Till 1868, he travelled to many places and gave lectures in the US and England.
While doing all this, he continued his work and wrote numerous novels, books and plays.

6. Dickens starts Publishing!
In 1836 Sketches by Boz is published
In 1837 The Pickwick Papers is published
Original Pickwick cover issued in 1837 with Dickens’ autograph

7. Complete list of publications...
1861 Great Expectations
1846 The Battle of Life
1846 Dombey and Son
1850 David Copperfield
1853 Bleak House
1853 A Child’s History of England and... a near nervous breakdown
1854 Hard Times
1857 Little Dorrit
1859 A Tale of Two Cities
1865 Our Mutual Friends
1869 The Mystery of Edwin Drood (unfinished)
1837 The Pickwick Papers
1837 Oliver Twist
1838 Nicholas Nickleby
1840 The Old Curiosity Shop
1841 Barnaby Rudge
1842 American Notes
1843 A Christmas Carol
1844 Martin Chuzzlewit
1844 The Chimes
1845 The Cricket on the Hearth

8. An impressive authorship…
Dickens wrote 15 major novels in a period of 33 years.
He was most creative in the years between

9. Poets’ Corner
In 1869, Dickens’ health started to decline.
On June 9, 1870, Charles Dickens died from a mild stroke.
He is buried in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey in London.
Dickens’ epitaph:
He was a sympathizer to the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; and by his death, one of England’s greatest writers is lost to the world.

10. Oliver Twist Oliver Twist was published in 1837
Oliver Twist is an orphan whose mother had died when Oliver was born. Oliver is raised in a workhouse because his mother wasn’t married; and he had no relatives.

11. Oliver Twist… Dickens crusaded for children’s rights.
He was an advocate of child labor laws to protect children.
He opposed cruelty, deprivation, and corporal punishment of children.
He believed in and lobbied for just treatment of criminals.

12. Used websites… www.bbc.co.uk www.charlesdickenspage.com
ww.victoriana.com/welcome/