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Charles Dickens

A loving heart is the truest wisdom…

Charles Dickens was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world’s most memorable fictional characters and is considered to be one of the greatest novelists.

A few facts from the biography…

He was born on February 7th, 1812 in Portsmouth, England. His father was an office man, who worked hard to provide for his family. Charles had many brother and sisters, but he did not often play with them. His father had many books and Charles liked to read them. He learned to read very early.

When he was 10, his family moved to London, where his father got into debtor’s prison. After that, Charles left school to work in a factory to pay for his accommodation and support his family . For two years he worked in a dirty room pasting labels on bottles. That was the beginning of Charles' hard life.

His father's eventual release and an improvement in the family‘s fortunes helped matters. Charles went to school for three years, but he did not learn much at school. He learned at home, from his father and from other clever people. Later he worked as a reporter to the Parliament and became a writer of short stories.

He first made a name for himself as a writer in his twenties with The Pickwick Papers

(Посмертные записки Пиквикского клуба)

He used to be a young and poor reporter at that time, who immediately became a famous writer. Over his career he wrote 15 novels, 5 novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles. He also worked for 20 years as an editor in a weekly journal.

In 1836 Charles married the eldest daughter of his friend, journalist George Hogarth. Catherine Hogarth was a faithful wife and gave birth to eight children. But Dickens family‘s life was not successful. Quarreling with his wife, some dark relationship with her family, fear for painful children caused constant worries. In 1857, Charles met the 18-year-old actress Ellen Ternan, and immediately fell in love. He took off apartment for her and visited her for many years. Their love affair lasted until his death.

Charles Dickens died in 1870.

He was 58 years old.

His books are rather interesting to read. He mostly wrote about the hard life of poor people in Victorian England. Even though he lived more than a hundred years ago, people still read his books with pleasure. One of the most famous novel written by Charles Dickens is “Oliver Twist”. This book make us laugh sometimes, but we often want to cry.

The plot

Oliver Twist is about a boy born in a workhouse for the poor. Some of the other boys forced him to ask for more food. As a result, Oliver is then sold. Suffering from terrible cruelty, he runs away and joins the young criminal, who teaches him how to steal wallets. The general theme of the novel is that of selfishness and dishonesty, as most people take advantage of Oliver. Few shows him love and kindness.