Charles Dickens

(1812 – 1870)
Who was Charles Dickens?
He was a British novelist, journalist,
editor, illustrator and social
commentator who wrote such beloved
classic novels as Oliver Twist, A
Christmas Carol, Nicholas
Nickleby, David Copperfield, A
Tale of Two Cities and Great
Expectations.
Family
The famed British author was the
second of eight children.
His father, John Dickens, was a naval
clerk who dreamed of striking it rich.
Charles Dickens’ mother, Elizabeth
Barrow, aspired to be a teacher and
school director.
Early Life and Education

In 1822, the Dickens family moved to

Camden town, a poor neighborhood in
London
John was sent to prison for debt in 1824,
when Charles was just 12 years old.
Dickens saw it as the moment he said
goodbye to his youthful innocence, stating
that he wondered “how [he] could be so
easily cast away at such a young age.”
Dickens was permitted to go back to
school when his father received a family
inheritance and used it to pay off his
debts, but when he was 15 his education
was pulled out from under him once again

He had to drop out of school and work as

an office boy to contribute to family’s
income. As it turned out, the job became a
launching point for his writing career.
Wife and Children
Charles Dickens married Catherine Hogarth soon
after his first book, Sketches by Boz was
published. The couple had a brood of 10 children.

During the 1850’s Dickens suffered two devastating

losses: the deaths of his father and daughter. He
also separated from his wife in 1858.

Dickens slandered Catherine publicly and struck up

an intimate relationship with young actress named
Ellen “Nelly” Ternan.
Early Career as a Journalist, Editor and
Illustrator
Dickens began freelance reporting at the law
courts of London. Just a few years later, he was
reporting for two major London newspaper.

In 1833, he began submitting sketches to various

magazines and newspapers under the pseudonym
“Boz.”

In the same year, Dickens started publishing The

Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club.
 Charles
Dickens’ Books
‘Oliver Twist’ (1837 – 1838)
Dickens first novel, follows
the life of an orphan living in the
streets. The books was inspired
by how Dickens felt as an
impoverished child forced to get
by on his wits and earn his own
keep.
‘A Christmas Carol’ (1843)

December 17, 1843, Dickens

published A Christmas Carol. The book
features the timeless protagonist
Ebenezer Scrooge, a curmudgeonly old
miser, who with the help of the ghost
finds the Christmas spirit. Dickens
penned the book in just six weeks,
beginning in October and finishing just
in time for the holiday celebrations.
‘Dealings with the Firm of Dombey
and Son’ (1846 – 1848)

From October 1846 to April 1848,

Dickens published, in monthly
installments, Dealings with the Firm of
Dombey and son. The novel, which was
published in book form in 1848, centers
on the theme of how business tactics
affect a family’s personal finances.
‘David Copperfield’ (1849 – 1850)

David Copperfield was

the first work of its kind :
No one had ever written a
novel that simply followed a
character through his
everyday life.
“Bleak House’ (1852 – 1853)
Following the death of his father
and daughter and separation from his
wife, Dickens’ novels began to express a
darkened worldview. In Bleak House,
published in installments from 1852 to
1853, he deals with the hypocrisy of
British society. It was considered his most
complex novel to date.
 ‘Hard Times’ (1854)
Hard Times take place in an
industrial town at the peak of
economic expansion. Published
in 1854, the book focuses on
the shortcomings of employers
as well as those who seek
change.
Á Tale of Two Cities’ (1859)
Coming out of hid “dark novel”
period, in 1859 Dickens published A
Tale of Two Cities, a historical novel
that takes place during the French
Revolution in Paris and London. He
published it in a periodical he
founded, All the Year Around.
‘Great Expectations’ (1861)
Great Expectations, published
in serial form between December
1860 to August 1861 and in novel
form in October 1861 is widely
considered as Dickens’ greatest
literary accomplishment.
Other Novels
After the publication of Oliver Twist Dickens
struggled to match the level of its success. From 1838
to 1841, he published The Life and Adventures of
Nicholas Nickleby, The Old Curiosity Shop and Barnaby
Rudge. Another novel from Dickens’ darker period is
Little Dorrit (1857), a fictional study of how human
values come in conflict with the world’s brutality.
Dickens’ novel Our Mutual Friend published in serial
form between 1864 to 1865 before being published as
a book in 1865 analyzes the psychological impact of
wealth on London society.
Death and
Legacy
 After suffering a stroke, Dickens died at age 58 on
June 9, 1870, at Gad’s Hill Place, his country home in
Kent, England. In 1865, Dickens was in a train
accident and never fully recovered. Despite his fragile
condition, he continued to tour until shortly before
his death.

 Dickens was buried in Poet’s Corner at Westminster

Abbey, with thousands of mourners gathering at the
beloved author’s gravesite. Scottish satirical
writer Thomas Carlyle described Dickens’ passing as
“an event worldwide, a unique of talents suddenly
extinct.” At the time of his death, his final novel, The
Mystery of Edwin Drood, was unfinished.
Jane Austen (1775–1817)
Who Was Jane Austen?
Jane Austen was born on December 16, 1775, in
Steventon, Hampshire, England

Jane's parents were well-respected community

members.

Over the span of her life, Jane would become

especially close to her father and older sister.

Jane spent much of her early adulthood helping

run the family home, playing piano, attending
church, and socializing with neighbors.
EARLY
NOVEL
Northanger Abbey (originally
titled Susan)
Northanger Abbey, novel by Jane Austen
published posthumously in 1817. Northanger
Abbey, which was published with Persuasion in
four volumes, was written about 1798 or 1799,
probably under the title Susan. In 1803 the
manuscript of Susan was sold to the publisher
Richard Crosby, who advertised for it, but,
unaccountably, it was not published at that
time.
Sense and Sensibility
Originally titled Elinor and Marianne.
The novel, which sold out its first print run of
750 copies in the middle of 1813, marked a
success for its author. It had a second print
run later that year. The novel continued in
publication throughout the 19th, 20th and
early 21st centuries and has many times
been illustrated, excerpted, abridged, and
adapted for stage and film.
Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice is a romantic novel
by Jane Austen first published in 1813. The
story charts the emotional development of the
protagonist, Elizabeth Bennet, who learns the
error of making hasty judgments and comes to
appreciate the difference between the
superficial and the essential. The comedy of the
writing lies in the depiction of manners,
education, marriage, and money during
the British Regency period.
Later
Works
Persuasion
Persuasion, was published
posthumously in 1818. It deals with the
broken engagement of Anne Elliott and
Captain Wentworth and their second
chance at love eight years later. Critics
comment on the book's "autumnal feel"
and note that Anne Elliott is not only
Austen's oldest heroine, but also the one
with the least self-confidence.
Mansfield Park
Mansfield Park tells the story of
Fanny Price, a girl from a poor family
who is raised by her wealthy aunt and
uncle at Mansfield Park. The book
focuses on morality and the struggle
between conscience and societal
pressures and is considered by some
critics to be the "first modern novel."
Emma
In Emma, published in 1816, Austen
introduces Emma Woodhouse, the "handsome,
clever, and rich" heroine who fancies herself a
matchmaker. Her efforts at bringing people
together, however, result in teaching her
humility and her own discovery of love. Critics
praise Emma Woodhouse as being Austen'
most complex character, while readers find
that they either love or hate Emma's story.
Death and Legacy
 Austen lived the last eight years of her life in Chawton.

 A sudden illness, possibly Addison's disease, made her

stop work on the novel Sandition, and she died in 1817.

 After her death, during the nineteenth-century romantic

period, Austen was often looked upon with begrudging
admiration, as her elevation of intelligence over feeling
contradicted the romantic temperament.

 Toward the end of the nineteenth century, however,

Austen's reputation rose considerably, and she gradually
gained an enthusiastic cult of admirers that were known
as the "Janeites."
 In America, Austen was little known before
1900, but by mid-century she was receiving
more critical attention there than in England.

In the last decades of the twentieth century,

Austen and her works received considerable
attention from the general public: Most of her
novels were adapted into films, modern
novelists wrote sequels to Pride and
Prejudice and endings to Sandition, and a
mystery series was even developed with Jane
Austen herself as the heroine.