Charles Dickens

Charles John Huffam Dickens (February 7, 1812 – June 9, 1870), pen-name “Boz”, was a cherished English novelist, whom many regard as the most important of the Victorian era. During his lifetime Dickens is viewed as a popular entertainer of fecund imagination, while later critics championed his mastery of prose, his endless invention of memorable characters, and his powerful social sensibilities. The popularity of his novels and short stories during his lifetime and to the present is demonstrated by the fact that none of them has ever gone out of print. Dickens played a major role in popularizing the serialized novel.

Career and marriage

In May 1827 Dickens began work as a law clerk, a junior office position with potential to become a lawyer. He did not like the law as a profession and after a short time as a court stenographer he became a journalist, reporting parliamentary debate and travelling Britain by stagecoach to cover election campaigns. His journalism informed his first collection of pieces Sketches by Boz and he continued to contribute to and edit journals for much of his life. In his early twenties he made a name for himself with his first novel, The Pickwick Papers.

Related Topics:
1827 - Law clerk - Stenographer - Britain - Sketches by Boz - The Pickwick Papers

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On April 2, 1836 he married Catherine Hogarth, with whom he was to have had ten children, and set up home in Bloomsbury. In the same year he accepted the job of editor of Bentley's Miscellany a position he would hold until 1839 when he fell out with the owner. Two other journals in which Dickens would be a major contributor would be Household Words and All the Year Round. In 1842 they travelled together to the United States; the trip is described in the short travelogue American Notes and is also the basis of some of the episodes in Martin Chuzzlewit.

Related Topics:
April 2 - 1836 - Bloomsbury - Bentley's Miscellany - 1839 - Household Words - All the Year Round - 1842 - United States - Travelogue - American Notes - Martin Chuzzlewit

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Dickens’ writings were extremely popular in their day and were read extensively. His popularity allowed him to buy Gad’s Hill Place, in 1856. This large house in Rochester, Kent was very special to Dickens as he had walked past it as a child and had dreamed of living in it. The area was also the scene of some of the events of Shakespeare’s Henry IV, part 1 and this literary connection pleased Dickens.

Related Topics:
1856 - Rochester, Kent - Shakespeare’s - Henry IV, part 1

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