Charles Dickens: Biography, Novels, and Literary Style

Charles Dickens was a nineteenth-century British author and editor who wrote novels, short stories, comics, and novellas. He produced some of the most famous books of his time, including Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, and A Christmas Carol. Dickens started his career writing humorous sketches and comics for periodicals, some of which he published himself. He is known for his stark portraits of the underclass in Victorian-era London, highlighting the wealth gap and making his readers more socially aware. His work continues to influence literature and pop culture, with many of his works taught to young readers.

Charles Dickens’s legacy lives on in his literature, influencing countless writers, including Margaret Atwood and Salman Rushdie. Stories like A Christmas Carol remain popular thanks to numerous TV, film, and theatrical adaptations. Dickens often drew inspiration from his own life:

• Early life: Charles John Huffam Dickens was born in 1812 in Portsmouth, a coastal town in England. When he was 10, the Dickens family moved to Camden Town, a working-class suburb of London. At 12, Dickens dropped out of school to work at a boot-blacking factory when his father, who previously held a well-paying job at the Navy pay office, went to debtors’ prison. Dickens looked back at this time as his “loss of innocence.”
• First literary job: At 15, Dickens landed a job as an office boy, which led to a freelance court reporting job. Within a few years, he was working for two major London newspapers. Dickens began submitting humorous sketches to local newspapers under the pseudonym Boz. These he compiled into his first book, Sketches by Boz, in 1836, shortly after he married his first wife, Catherine Hogarth, with whom he fathered ten children.
• Midlife and literary career: Dickens published his first novel, Oliver Twist, in 1838. IIt first appeared in serialized installments in his self-published periodical Bentley’s Miscellany.) After Oliver Twist, Dickens published fifteen novels and several novellas over the course of his life, a few of which also appeared in monthly or weekly installments. He edited several magazines, including Household Words, and founded his own, All The Year Round. In 1842, Dickens toured the United States, giving public readings and speaking against slavery. He wrote the travelogue American Notes based on this experience. Dickens began a relationship with actress Ellen Ternan in 1857.
• Death and legacy: Dickens died at his country home, Gad’s Hill Place near Chatham in Kent, of a stroke in 1870, at the age of 58. His grave is in Poet’s Corner of Westminster Abbey. Today, fans of Dickens’s work celebrate his legacy at the annual Rochester Dickens Festival.

These are some of Dickens’s most famous novels and novellas:

1. 1. The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (1836–1837): Dickens’s first novel—following the publication of his collection of vignettes, Sketches by Boz—follows a kindly old aristocrat and his friends as they take day trips outside of London and report on their experiences. The Pickwick Papers is an early example of Dickens’s satirical style and examinations of upper- and lower-class tensions.
2. 2. Oliver Twist (1837–38): Oliver Twist tells the story of an orphan living in London who fends for himself by joining a gang of young pickpockets led by an older man known as Fagin. Dickens's childhood working in factories served as the inspiration.
3. 3. Nicholas Nickleby (1838–1839): Dickens’ third novel, Nicholas Nickelby, follows a young working-class man who must support his widowed mother and sister after their father dies, leaving them destitute after a bad investment.
4. 4. The Old Curiosity Shop (1840–1841): The Old Curiosity Shop was published as a weekly serial in the periodical Master Humphrey’s Clock. The story follows a beautiful young orphan named Nell Trent who lives and works with her grandparents at their curiosity shop.
5. 5. Barnaby Rudge (1841): This historical novel takes place during the Gordon Riots of 1780, a days-long rioting spree in London motivated by a piece of anti-Catholic discrimination law.
6. 6. A Christmas Carol (1843): A Christmas Carol remains a classic reimagined countless times in literature and pop culture. Dickens wrote his first non-serial novella in just six weeks. The story follows Ebenezer Scrooge, a curmudgeonly old rich man who encounters three spirits on Christmas Eve who show him the error of his greedy ways. The book sold more than 6,000 copies on publication. It is the most popular of his Christmas novellas, which include The Chimes (1844), which he wrote while living in Italy, and The Cricket on the Hearth (1845).
7. 7. David Copperfield (1849–50): David Copperfield was published in monthly serial installments, though the style of the novel was like nothing the public had seen before. It focused on a single character of no particular importance, moving through his life and interacting with other characters such as Mr. Micawber.
8. 8. Bleak House (1852–53): Dickens published Bleak House following the death of both his father and one of his daughters. The book follows the Jarndyce family’s attempts to secure a disputed fortune. It is a critique of England’s Court of Chancery, known for court cases that dragged on for years.
9. 9. Hard Times (1854): Hard Times tells the story of Coke Town, a London town consumed by the soot and smoke of industrialization. The plot focuses on the lives of the workers who didn’t profit from the economic boom.
10. 10. Little Dorrit (1857): This critique of England’s legal and court systems tells the story of Amy Dorrit, a girl born in Marshalsea prison, a debtor’s prison, who attempts to work her way out.
11. 11. A Tale of Two Cities (1859): A Tale of Two Cities takes place between London and Paris during the French Revolution. The story follows Doctor Mannette, a French physician who, after being released from an 18-year long imprisonment in the Bastille, goes to live with his daughter in London.
12. 12. Great Expectations (1861): A coming-of-age story, Great Expectations is full of memorable characters, including the protagonist Pip, his apathetic crush Estella, and the bitter and cruel Ms. Havisham. The novel continues to be one of Dickens’s most popular, with countless stage and film adaptations.
13. 13. The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit (1843): Dickens wrote this novel after visiting the United States. The story follows the young Martin Chuzzlewit, who has to leave his home when he falls for his wealthy grandfather’s young ward.
14. 14. Dombey and Son (1847): Dombey and Son follows the relationship of a wealthy shipping magnate who refuses to accept his doting daughter as his heir.
15. 15. Our Mutual Friend (1864–1865): Our Mutual Friend was the last complete novel published by Dickens. It involves a group of friends, employees, and estranged family members trying to manage the fortune of a deceased, miserly aristocrat.
16. 16. The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1870): The Mystery of Edwin Drood was Dickens’s final novel, left unfinished at the time of his death in 1870. It follows the many scandals and misadventures of the acquaintances and friends of Edwin Drood shortly before his mysterious disappearance.

Dickens’ style and preferred themes earned his work the term “Dickensian,” which refers to a depiction of Victorian society with caricatured characters symbolizing wealth extremes. Here are a few elements of Dickens’ writing style.

1. 1. Victorian-era London settings: Dickens is perhaps best known for his descriptions of socially stratified London during the Industrial Revolution. In Dickens' London, the sky is blocked out with gunmetal grey clouds, stovepipe chimneys spew fumes into the air, and every stone and brick building is blanketed in black soot.
2. 2. Caricatured main characters: Dickens characters often have physical attributes that reflect something about their personality. Greed and wealth take the form of obese characters, while strict characters have overly straight backs and square faces. This is also reflected in their fanciful and tongue-twisting names, like Martin Chuzzlewit, Nicholas Nickleby, and Barnaby Rudge.
3. 3. Satirical tone: Dickens’ novels like Our Mutual Friend, The Pickwick Papers, and Hard Times use satire to enhance the social commentary in his work. Exaggerating the injustices inflicted on his characters to satirical heights highlights his social criticism of the workhouse system, industrialization, the courts, and income inequality.
4. 4. Word repetition: Dickens liked to repeat words or sentences for rhythmic effect. One of the most famous examples of anaphora (repetition of words at the beginning of successive clauses) is the opening of A Tale of Two Cities: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”
5. 5. Loss of innocence: Many of Dickens’ protagonists go through coming-of-age journeys involving some of the harsher realities of the world. Oliver Twist, Martin Chuzzlewit, and Nicholas Nickelby are all examples of main characters’ young lives being shaken up by a traumatic experience, usually related to the characters’ poverty or change in social standing.
6. 6. Frequent use of cliffhangers: Because Dickens published many of his novels in serial form before publishing an entire story in book form, his chapters often end with what we call a cliffhanger, a moment of potential drama cut short, to entice readers back for the next chapter.

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