CHARLES DICKENS

Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the 20th century critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. Dickens left school to work in a factory when his father was imprisoned in a debtor's prison. Although he did not have a normal education, he edited a weekly newspaper for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novels, hundreds of stories and nonfiction articles. The literary success of Dickens began with the serial publication of 1836 of The Pickwick Papers. Within a few years he had become an international literary celebrity, famous for his humor, and his observation of character and society. His novels were pioneers in the serial publication of fiction, which became the dominant Victorian mode for the publication of novels. Dickens was regarded as the literary colossus of his age. His 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. Oliver Twist and Great Expectations are also frequently adapted, and, like many of his novels, evoke images of early Victorian London. His 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Cities, set in London and Paris, is his best-known work of historical fiction.


A Christmas Carol tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, an old miser who is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come. After their visits Scrooge is transformed into a kinder, gentler man. (1843).

Oliver Twist is one of the first social novels in the history of literature, because it draws attention to its readers about various social evils of the time, such as child labor or the use of children to commit crimes. (1838).

The novel tells the story of Nell Trent, a beautiful and virtuous girl who has not yet turned fourteen. Being an orphan, she lives with her maternal grandfather in her grandfather's antique shop. Her grandfather loves her very much, and Nell does not complain about her situation, but she leads a lonely existence with almost no friend her age (1841).

The orphan David Copperfield, after being mistreated by his stepfather and his teachers, is forced to work, in subhuman conditions, in a warehouse in London. However, the life of our protagonist improves considerably when he decides to escape and go in search of his aunt Betsey (1850).