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.

Childhood

Dickens was born in Portsmouth, England, to John Dickens, a naval pay clerk, and his wife Elizabeth Barrow. When he was five, the family moved to Chatham, Kent. When he was ten, the family relocated to Camden Town in London.

Related Topics:
Portsmouth - England - Chatham - Kent - Camden Town

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His early years were an idyllic time for him. He thought himself then as a “very small and not-over-particularly-taken-care-of boy”. He spent his time in the out-doors, reading voraciously with a particular fondness for the picaresque novels of Tobias Smollett and Henry Fielding. He talked later in life of his extremely strong memories of childhood and his continuing photographic memory of people and events that helped bring his fiction to life.

Related Topics:
Picaresque - Tobias Smollett - Henry Fielding - Photographic memory

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His family was moderately well off and he received some education at a private school but all that changed when his father, after spending too much money entertaining and retaining his social position, was imprisoned for debt. At the age of twelve Dickens was deemed old enough to work and began working for 10 hours a day in Warren’s boot-blacking factory located near the present Charing Cross railway station. He spent his time pasting labels on the jars of thick polish and earned six shillings a week. With this money he had to pay for his lodging and help support his family who were incarcerated in the nearby Marshalsea debtor's prison.

Related Topics:
Charing Cross railway station - Marshalsea - Debtor's prison

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After a few years his family's financial situation improved, partly due to money inherited from his father's family. His family was able to leave the Marshalsea but his mother did not immediately remove him from the boot-blacking factory which was owned by a relation of hers. Dickens never forgave his mother for this and resentment of his situation and the conditions working-class people lived under became major themes of his works. Dickens wrote, “No advice, no counsel, no encouragement, no consolation, no support from anyone that I can call to mind, so help me God!”

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