Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth on 7 February 1812, the second of eight children. Dickens's childhood experiences were similar to those depicted in
David Copperfield. His father, who was a government clerk, was imprisoned for debt and Dickens was briefly sent to work in a blacking warehouse at the age of twelve. He received little formal education, but taught himself shorthand and became a reporter of parliamentary debates for the
Morning Chronicle. He began to publish sketches in various periodicals, which were subsequently republished as
Sketches by Boz.
The Pickwick Papers was published in 1836-7, after a slow start it became a publishing phenomenon and Dickens's characters the centre of a popular cult. Part of the secret of his success was the method of cheap serial publication he adopted; thereafter, all Dickens's novels were first published in serial form. He began
Oliver Twist in 1837, followed by
Nicholas Nickleby (1838) and
The Old Curiosity Shop (1840-41). After finishing
Barnaby Rudge (1841) Dickens set off for America; he went full of enthusiasm for the young republic but, in spite of a triumphant reception, he returned disillusioned. His experiences are recorded in
American Notes (1842).
A Christmas Carol, the first of the hugely popular
Christmas Books, appeared in 1843, while
Martin Chuzzlewit, which included a fictionalized account of his American travels, was first published over the period 1843-4. During 1844-6 Dickens travelled abroad and he began
Dombey and Son while in Switzerland. This and
David Copperfield (1849-50) were more serious in theme and more carefully planned than his early novels. In later works, such as
Bleak House (1853) and
Little Dorrit (1857), Dickens's social criticism became more radical and his comedy more savage. In 1850 Dickens started the weekly periodical
Household Words, succeeded in 1859 by
All the Year Round. Dickens's health was failing during the 1860s and the physical strain of the public readings which he began in 1858 hastened his decline, although
Our Mutual Friend (1865) retained some of his best comedy. His last novel,
The Mystery of Edwin Drood, was never completed and he died on 9 June 1870. Public grief at his death was considerable and he was buried in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey.
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