Charles Dickens: a consummate master of satire and social criticism.

An unsurpassed classic of English literature, Charles Dickens (1812-1870) is famous mainly as a social critic of nineteenth-century morals. This was the time of the most intensive development productive forces in Britain as it became a leading power in the world economy.

Of course, all this could not but affect industrial relations, which were subject to a rather harsh assessment by Charles John Huffam Dickens(this is full name this master of artistic pen). However, the maestro is also known as a creator of comic characters.

The birthplace of the future classic is Landport, he was born into a large family (8 children) on February 7th. Little Charlie's first reading lessons were taught by his mother, and he quickly re-read all the cheap publications in the house.

His father had to constantly change jobs, so the family moved often, and eventually took root in London, where they vegetated. Having started to go to school, Charles abandoned it and, like many of his peers, went to work at the age of 12.

The future writer's first place of work was a blacking factory. Four months of exhausting work gave him a strong desire to climb up the social ladder by any means possible.

A great help in this was attending a private school; two years of study at Wellington House Academy contributed to the fact that by the age of 18 Dickens had worked in a law office, studied shorthand and prepared himself for the reporting field.

The path of a reporter, the beginning of writing

His first steps here were the positions of an independent court reporter and a reporter for the newspapers “Parliamentary Mirror” and “Truthful Sun”. Already at the age of 20, he stood out noticeably among the writing fraternity accredited in the House of Commons.

At the same time, his first love visited him, and since Dickens chose Maria Beadnell from the family of a bank manager as the object of his adoration, this circumstance contributed to the strengthening of his ambitious aspirations.

Alas, a relationship with a commoner did not attract a girl from a wealthy family. Apparently, in vain, because at this time the literary biography of young Charles begins its countdown. He started with fictional essays depicting the life and customs of London at that time.

Dickens began publishing in Montley Magazine (December 1832) under the pseudonym Bose (that was his nickname younger brother) . By this time he had already become a brilliant reporter for the Morning Chronicle, a reputable and respected publication. George Hogarth, who published it, had very extensive connections in literary circles and was friends with Walter Scott himself.

It so happened that his daughter Katherine liked the talented reporter and aspiring writer. Apparently, old Hogarth liked her marriage, and as a gift for his 24th birthday, Charles received his first book from his wife’s father. They were "Essays Written by Boz."

Already here, despite the thoughtlessness and frivolity understandable for youth, the undoubted talent that Charles Dickens possessed is noticeable.

These sketches of London life began most of the trends that Dickens then developed throughout his life: the reality of courts and prisons, parliament and the politicians who inhabited it, as well as the fate of lawyers, snobs, the poor and the oppressed.

Features of national humor and “Oliver Twist”

Oddly enough, the writer’s next significant step was his legendary editions of The Pickwick Club. Their popularity at first was not great, but subsequently the reader appreciated the author, who was an outlandish cocktail of all its shades, including crude farce and high comedy, and conscientiously flavored with satire.

It still couldn't be called a novel, as such.. However, the indescribable charm of joy and fun, developing according to a very distinct plot, distinguishes this work from the abundance of opuses of Dickens’s contemporaries.

With the end of The Pickwick Club, Charles accepted Richard Bentley's offer and headed Bentley's Almanac.. The choice turned out to be accurate (it must be said that the reporter’s path brought with it good luck to the writer’s fate), and when little Charles Jr. appeared in the Dickens family, the Almanac began publishing the first chapters of “The Adventures of Oliver Twist.”

It was such a stark contrast that when reading both books, you feel doubt that they were written by the same author.

From this time on, Charles's biography begins to literally choke from the overwhelming events. "Oliver Twist" was started while "Pickwick" was still unfolding its plot. But he also did not manage to fully form, since Dickens grabbed onto “The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby,” which was published for 20 issues of Chapman and Hall’s magazine.

And at the same time, Charles managed to publish a book about the clown Grimaldi, write farces and librettos.

While working on Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens replaced his unsuitable family life bachelor pad for a big house. Here Catherine gave birth to Mary and Kate, and Dickens himself met John Forster, who became his greatest friend.

This theater critic from the Examiner subsequently acted as an adviser to the writer and his executor, and he also holds the laurels of the first biographer.

From this moment on, Dickens becomes part of the literary community and at the same time tries himself as a businessman, successfully investing the money he earned as a novelist. He left Bentley, and now all his new products were published under the publishing label of Chapman and Hall. Here The Antiquities Shop and Barnaby Rudge were published, and their author became a member of such prestigious clubs as the Garrick and the Athenaeum.

"The Antiquities Shop", "Dombey and Son" and other books

In The Antiquities Shop, according to critics, Charles turned out to be overly sentimental, although the grotesquery of the novel is impeccable. After writing it, the writer’s biography turned out to be connected with America, where Charles was outraged by slavery and literary piracy.

The “American Notes” he wrote during this period received praise in the writer’s homeland, but caused indignation in the States themselves. Just like “Martin Chuzzlewit,” written after them. And no wonder: Dickens remains true to himself here, and his satire becomes even more sharp and sophisticated.

The image of the duck Scrooge, now famous all over the world from Disney cartoons, was first captured in Dickens's Christmas stories.

Unfortunately, short biography The writer’s creative work does not make it possible to list all the merits of this brilliant author. However, it is this “economic man” named Scrooge who most clearly personifies the image of an American businessman. And Charles, true to himself, castigates his selfishness and greed. In subsequent Christmas stories, Dickens calls on the reader to generosity and love.

Tired of publishing and politics, he travels around Europe and concentrates on writing novels. Lausanne was the place where he began Dombey and Son, and in 1849-1850 Dickens wrote one of his best works - “David Copperfield”.

This is the most autobiographical of the works that Charles created, many events here are consonant with those that befell his own lot, and in particular his first love.

On the eve of the birth of the ninth child in the Dickens family, the writer moves again and begins Bleak House (1852-1853). This work can be considered the pinnacle of his work, and in both of Dickens’ traditional qualities – a satirist and a social critic.

But the “Hard Times” that followed was far from perfect. Dickens aims his satire at the process of industrialization - and, alas, misses. However, he does not despair, but, on the contrary, rolls up his sleeves and writes “Little Dorrit” (1855-1857).

Oddly enough, the writer's marriage, which was considered successful, collapsed as soon as he fell in love - this time the actress Ellen Ternan became his love stumbling block.

The divorce did not prevent Charles from continuing his literary pursuits. He writes "Great Expectations" and his last novel"Our mutual friend" (1864-1965). Alas, such activity affected his health, and on June 8, 1870, Dickens died. The Poets' Corner became his last refuge.

Biography of Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens was born in 1812 in the family of a naval department official in the city of Portstmouth. At the age of 10, his head of the family was imprisoned for debts, the family found itself in poverty, and from that moment on, little Charles had to earn his own living. Adolescent and early years The writer's lives were full of deprivation and humiliation; the naturally gifted and sensitive boy was too fortunate to know the whole seamy side of life. Dickens was familiar firsthand with workhouses, secret dens, slums, and the miserable life of the poor, criminals and corrupt women. He subsequently depicted everything he experienced unusually vividly and realistically on the pages of his books. Even later, having become famous writer, he was never able to get rid of the ghosts of the past.

Dickens is considered one of the pillars of realism - one of the most popular movements in European literature of the 19th century. My creative activity Dickens started as a reporter. Thanks to his talent and caring attitude towards the problems of our time, he is as soon as possible was noticed by the public and became one of the most popular authors. But the fame of the famous reporter was not enough for him - Dickens wanted to take his rightful place in society. This could be done through literary activity. And so the first books appeared from his pen, one after another: the moralizing “Essays of Boz” and the humorous novel “Posthumous Notes of the Pickwick Club.” The second work brought him enormous popularity among the reading public, overnight turning him into a famous writer. A few years later, the writer appeared in a new role as a serious author, exposing the vices of society. His works “The Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby” and especially “The Adventures of Oliver Twist” vividly and colorfully depicted the unsightly side of English society. This novel received wide public attention and subsequently led to the relaxation and even repeal of many cruel laws against the poor and child workers. All subsequent years, Dickens did not tire of delighting his readers with new works “Dombey and Son”, the autobiographical novel “David Copperfield”, which brought him pan-European fame and many other works.

By middle age, Dickens had seemingly achieved everything he wanted. However, it was not his literary fame, nor the position of editor-in-chief of the Daily News newspaper, nor the substantial fees that allowed him to live in grand style that brought him peace and happiness. His nervous, addictive nature did not allow him to enjoy family peace either. He lived with his wife Catherine Hogarth all his life, having eight children, but due to constant disagreements and an affair with actress Ellen Ternan, he was not happy with her. The last years of the writer’s life were also clouded by his doubts about his own talent. The writer wanted to see the gradual transformation of the society in which he lived, the destruction of social injustice - everything that he exposed from the pages of his books. But the changes took effect too slowly; the author suffered from his own inability to somehow influence the situation. During these years he wrote the book “ Hard times", where he outlined his doubts about the future of his country. Exhausted by internal contradictions, the great writer died in 1970 from a stroke.

Charles Dickens not only left behind a rich literary legacy, but also showed his followers worthy example writer-fighter and public figure, defending the ideals of a just society.

In 1812, Charles John Huffam Dickens was born in England. He became the second child in the family, but after that six more children were born in the family. The parents could not support such a large family, and the father, John, fell into terrible debt. He was put in a special prison for debtors, and his wife and children were considered debt slaves. An inheritance helped cope with the difficult financial situation: John Dickens received a considerable fortune from his deceased grandmother, and was able to pay off all his debts.

From childhood, Charles Dickens was forced to work, and even after his father was released from prison, his mother forced him to continue working in the factory, combining this with his studies at Wellington Academy. After receiving his education, he took a job as a clerk, where he worked for a year, after which he resigned and chose to work as a freelance reporter. Already in 1830, the talent of the young writer began to be noted and he was invited to the local newspaper.

Charles Dickens's first love was Maria Beadnell, a girl from rich family. But the damaged reputation of John Dickens did not allow the girl’s parents to accept the debtor’s son into the family, and the couple distanced themselves from each other, and later broke up completely. In 1836, the novelist married Catherine Thomson Hogarth, who bore him ten children. But so big family became a burden for the writer, and he left her. Then his life was full of novels, but the longest and most famous of them was with eighteen-year-old Ellen Ternan, with whom Dickens began a relationship in 1857, and lasted 13 years, until the writer’s death. Based on their novel, the film “The Invisible Woman” was made in 2013.

The great writer died in 1870 from a stroke. He was buried in Westminster Abbey. The novelist did not like monuments of any kind and forbade sculptures to be dedicated to him during his life and even after his death. Despite this, these monuments exist in Russia, the USA, Australia and England.

Bibliography

The English novelist's first works were published six years after completing his work as a clerk, and his first serious work ("Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club") was published a year later. Even the Russian prose writer Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky noted the young writer's talent. His bright and believable stories deserved special admiration. psychological portraits in his works, which were highly appreciated by critics, and are appreciated to this day. Young Dickens's realistic writing style attracted more and more readers, and he began to receive good fees.

In 1838, the writer published the novel “The Adventures of Oliver Twist” about the life of an orphan youth and his life difficulties. In 1840, “The Antiquities Shop” was published, in a sense a humorous work about the girl Nell. Three years later, “A Christmas Story” was published, where the vices were exposed social world and the people living in it. Since 1850, novels have become more and more serious, and now the world sees a book about David Copperfield. “Bleak House” of 1853, as well as “A Tale of Two Cities” and “Great Expectations” (1859 and 1860), like all the author’s works, reflected the complexity of social relations and the injustice of the prevailing order.

(Charles Dickens) - one of the most famous English-language novelists, a renowned creator of bright comic characters and social critic. Charles John Huffam Dickens was born on February 7, 1812 at Landport near Portsmouth. In 1805, his father, John Dickens (1785/1786–1851), the youngest son of a butler and housekeeper at Crewe Hall (Staffordshire), received a position as a clerk in the financial department of the naval department. In 1809 he married Elizabeth Barrow (1789–1863) and was appointed to Portsmouth Dockyard. Charles was the second of eight children. In 1816 John Dickens was sent to Chatham (Kent). By 1821 he already had five children. Charles was taught to read by his mother, and for some time he attended primary school, from nine to twelve years old he went to a regular school. Precocious, he greedily read his entire home library of cheap publications.

In 1822 John Dickens was transferred to London. Parents with six children huddled in Camden Town in dire need. Charles stopped going to school; he had to pawn silver spoons, sell off the family library, and serve as an errand boy. At the age of twelve he began working for six shillings a week in a blacking factory in Hungerford Stairs on the Strand. He worked there for a little over four months, but this time seemed to him a painful, hopeless eternity and awakened his determination to get out of poverty. On February 20, 1824, his father was arrested for debt and imprisoned in the Marshalsea prison. Having received a small inheritance, he paid off his debts and was released on May 28 of the same year. Charles attended a private school called Wellington House Academy for about two years.

While working as a junior clerk in one of the law firms, Charles began to study shorthand, preparing himself to become a newspaper reporter. By November 1828 he had become a freelance court reporter for Doctor's Commons. On his eighteenth birthday, Dickens received a library card to the British Museum and began to diligently complete his education. In early 1832 he became a reporter for The Mirror of Parliament and The True Sun. The twenty-year-old young man quickly stood out among the hundreds of regulars in the reporters' gallery of the House of Commons.

Dickens's love for the bank manager's daughter, Maria Beadnell, strengthened his ambitions. But the Beadnell family had no sympathy for the simple reporter, whose father happened to be in debtor’s prison. After a trip to Paris “to complete her education,” Maria lost interest in her admirer. During the previous year he had begun to write fictional essays about life and typical types of London. The first of these appeared in The Monthly Magazine in December 1833. The next four appeared during January–August 1834, with the last under the pseudonym Boz, the nickname of Dickens's younger brother, Moses. Dickens was now a regular reporter for The Morning Chronicle, a newspaper that published reports on significant events throughout England. In January 1835, J. Hogarth, publisher of The Evening Chronicle, asked Dickens to write a series of essays about city life. Hogarth's literary connections - his father-in-law J. Thomson was a friend of R. Burns, and he himself was a friend of W. Scott and his adviser in legal matters - made a deep impression on the aspiring writer. In early spring that same year he became engaged to Catherine Hogarth. February 7, 1836, on Dickens's twenty-fourth birthday, all his essays, incl. several previously unpublished works were published as a separate publication entitled “Essays by Boz” ( Sketches by Boz). In the essays, often not fully thought out and somewhat frivolous, the talent of the novice author is already visible; they touch on almost all further Dickensian motifs: the streets of London, courts and lawyers, prisons, Christmas, parliament, politicians, snobs, sympathy for the poor and oppressed.

This publication was followed by an offer from Chapman and Hall to write a story in twenty issues for the comic engravings of the famous cartoonist R. Seymour. Dickens objected that The Papers of Nimrod, whose theme was the adventures of hapless London sportsmen, had already become boring; Instead, he suggested writing about a club of eccentrics and insisted that he not comment on Seymour's illustrations, but that Seymour make engravings for his texts. The publishers agreed, and the first issue of The Pickwick Club was published on April 2. Two days earlier, Charles and Catherine had married and moved into Dickens's bachelor pad. At first, the response was lukewarm, and the sale did not promise much hope. Even before the second issue appeared, Seymour committed suicide, and the whole idea was in jeopardy. Dickens himself found the young artist H.N. Brown, who became known under the pseudonym Fiz. The number of readers grew; By the end of the publication of the Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (published from March 1836 to November 1837), each issue sold forty thousand copies.

"Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club" ( The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club) are an intricate comic epic. Its hero, Samuel Pickwick, is a cheerful Don Quixote, plump and ruddy, accompanied by a clever servant Sam Weller, Sancho Panza of the London common people. The freely following episodes allow Dickens to present a number of scenes from the life of England and use all types of humor - from crude farce to high comedy, richly seasoned with satire. If Pickwick does not have a sufficiently distinct plot to be called a novel, it certainly surpasses many novels in the charm of gaiety and joyful mood, and the plot in it is no less traceable than in many other works of the same vague genre.

Dickens turned down a job at the Chronicle and accepted R. Bentley's offer to head the new monthly, Bentley's Almanac. The first issue of the magazine was published in January 1837, a few days before the birth of Dickens's first child, Charles Jr. The first chapters of Oliver Twist appeared in the February issue ( Oliver Twist; completed in March 1839), begun by the writer when Pickwick was only half written. Having not yet finished Oliver, Dickens began to write Nicholas Nickleby ( Nicholas Nickleby; April 1838 – October 1839), another series in twenty issues for Chapman and Hall. During this period, he also wrote a libretto for a comic opera, two farces and published a book about the life of the famous clown Grimaldi.

From Pickwick, Dickens descended into a dark world of horror, tracing the coming of age of an orphan from the workhouse to the crime-ridden slums of London in Oliver Twist (1839). Although the portly Mr. Bumble and even Fagin's den of thieves are amusing, the novel has a sinister, satanic atmosphere that predominates. Nicholas Nickleby (1839) mixes Oliver's gloom and sunlight Pickwicka.

In March 1837, Dickens moved into a four-story house at 48 Doughty Street. His daughters Mary and Kate were born here, and his sister-in-law, sixteen-year-old Mary, to whom he was very attached, died here. In this house he first received D. Forster, the theater critic of the Examiner newspaper, who became his lifelong friend, advisor on literary issues, executor and first biographer. Thanks to Forster, Dickens met Browning, Tennyson and other writers. In November 1839 Dickens took out a twelve-year lease on No. 1 Devonshire Terrace. With the growth of wealth and literary fame, Dickens's position in society also strengthened. In 1837 he was elected a member of the Garrick Club, and in June 1838 a member of the famous Athenaeum Club.

Frictions with Bentley that arose from time to time forced Dickens to refuse to work in the Almanac in February 1839. The following year, all his books were concentrated in the hands of Chapman and Hall, with whose assistance he began to publish a three-penny weekly, Mr. Humphrey's Clock, which published The Antiquities Shop (April 1840 - January 1841) and Barnaby Rudge (February – November 1841). Then, exhausted by the abundance of work, Dickens stopped producing Mr. Humphrey's Clock.

Although the "Antiquities Shop" ( The Old Curiosity Shop), when published, won many hearts, modern readers, not accepting the sentimentality of the novel, believe that Dickens allowed himself excessive pathos in describing the joyless wanderings and sadly long death of little Nell. The grotesque elements of the novel are quite successful.

In January 1842, the Dickens couple sailed to Boston, where a crowded and enthusiastic meeting marked the beginning of the writer's triumphant trip through New England to New York, Philadelphia, Washington and beyond - all the way to St. Louis. But the journey was marred by Dickens's growing resentment of American literary piracy and the failure to combat it and - in the South - openly hostile reactions to his opposition to slavery. "American Notes" ( American Notes), which appeared in November 1842, were met with warm praise and friendly criticism in England, but caused furious irritation overseas. Regarding even sharper satire in his next novel, Martin Chuzzlewit ( Martin Chazzlewit, January 1843 – July 1844), T. Carlyle noted: “The Yankees boiled like a giant soda bottle.”.

The first of Dickens's Christmas stories, A Christmas Carol ( A Christmas Carol, 1843), also exposes selfishness, in particular the thirst for profit, reflected in the concept of “ economic person" But what often escapes the reader’s attention is that Scrooge’s desire to enrich himself for the sake of enrichment itself is a half-serious, half-comic parabola of the soulless theory of continuous competition. the main idea The story - about the need for generosity and love - permeates the subsequent "Bells" ( The Chimes, 1844), “The Cricket on the Hearth” ( The Cricket on the Hearth, 1845), as well as the less successful "Battle of Life" ( The Battle of Life, 1846) and "Possessed" ( The Haunted Man, 1848).

In July 1844, together with his children, Catherine and her sister Georgina Hogarth, who now lived with them, Dickens went to Genoa. Returning to London in July 1845, he became immersed in the founding and publication of the liberal newspaper The Daily News. The Daily News"). Publishing conflicts with its owners soon forced Dickens to abandon this work. Disappointed, Dickens decided that from now on books would become his weapon in the fight for reform. In Lausanne he began the novel Dombey and Son ( Dombey and Son, October 1846 – April 1848), changing publishers to Bradbury and Evans.

In May 1846 Dickens published his second book travel notes, “Pictures from Italy.” In 1847 and 1848, Dickens took part as a director and actor in charity amateur performances - “Every Man in His Own Temper” by B. Johnson and “The Merry Wives of Windsor” by W. Shakespeare.

In 1849 Dickens began writing the novel David Copperfield ( David Copperfield, May 1849 – November 1850), which was a huge success from the very beginning. The most popular of all Dickens's novels, the favorite brainchild of the author himself, David Copperfield is more closely associated with the biography of the writer than others. It would be wrong to consider that “David Copperfield” is just a mosaic of events in the writer’s life, slightly changed and arranged in a different order. The running theme of the novel is the “rebellious heart” of young David, the cause of all his mistakes, including the most serious one – an unhappy first marriage.

In 1850 he began publishing a two-penny weekly, Household Words. It contained light reading, various information and messages, poems and stories, articles on social, political and economic reforms, published without signatures. Authors included Elizabeth Gaskell, Harriet Martineau, J. Meredith, W. Collins, C. Lever, C. Read and E. Bulwer-Lytton. “Home Reading” immediately became popular, its sales reached, despite occasional declines, forty thousand copies a week. At the end of 1850, Dickens, together with Bulwer-Lytton, founded the Guild of Literature and Art to help needy writers. As a donation, Lytton wrote the comedy We Are Not as Bad as We Look, which was premiered by Dickens with an amateur troupe at the Duke of Devonshire's London mansion in the presence of Queen Victoria. During next year performances took place throughout England and Scotland. By this time Dickens had eight children (one died in infancy), and another last child, was about to be born. At the end of 1851, Dickens's family moved to a larger house in Tavistock Square, and the writer began work on Bleak House ( Bleak House, March 1852 – September 1853).

In Bleak House, Dickens reaches his peak as a satirist and social critic, the power of the writer revealed in all its dark splendor. Although he has not lost his sense of humor, his judgments become more bitter and his vision of the world becomes bleaker. The novel is a kind of microcosm of society: the dominant image is of a thick fog around the Chancery Court, signifying the confusion of legal interests, institutions and ancient traditions; the fog behind which greed hides fetters generosity and obscures vision. It was because of them, according to Dickens, that society turned into disastrous chaos. The Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce trial fatally leads its victims, and these are almost all the heroes of the novel, to collapse, ruin, and despair.

"Hard times" ( Hard Times, April 1 – August 12, 1854) were published in editions in Home Reading to increase the falling circulation. The novel was not highly appreciated either by critics or by a wide range of readers. The fierce denunciation of industrialism, the small number of sweet and reliable characters, and the grotesque satire of the novel unbalanced not only conservatives and people who were completely satisfied with life, but also those who wanted the book to make them only cry and laugh, and not think.

Government inaction, poor governance, corruption that became apparent during Crimean War The years 1853–1856, along with unemployment, outbreaks of strikes and food riots, strengthened Dickens's conviction of the need for radical reform. He joined the Association of Administrative Reforms, and in “Home Reading” he continued to write critical and satirical articles; During his six-month stay in Paris, he observed the excitement in the stock market. He reflected these themes - the interference of bureaucracy and wild speculation - in Little Dorrit ( Little Dorrit, December 1855 – June 1857).

Dickens spent the summer of 1857 in Gadshill, in an old house that he had admired as a child and was now able to purchase. His participation in charity performances of W. Collins's The Frozen Deep led to a crisis in the family. The writer's years of tireless work were overshadowed by a growing awareness of the failure of his marriage. While studying theater, Dickens fell in love with the young actress Ellen Ternan. Despite her husband's vows of fidelity, Catherine left his house. In May 1858, after the divorce, Charles Jr. remained with his mother and the other children with his father, under the care of Georgina as mistress of the house. Dickens eagerly began public readings of excerpts from his books to enthusiastic listeners. Having quarreled with Bradbury and Evans, who took Catherine's side, Dickens returned to Chapman and Hall. Having stopped publishing “Home Reading”, he very successfully began publishing a new weekly “ All year round” (“All the Year Round”), printing in it “A Tale of Two Cities” ( A Tale of Two Cities, April 30 – November 26, 1859), and then "Great Expectations" ( Great Expectations, December 1, 1860 – August 3, 1861). A Tale of Two Cities is not one of Dickens's best books. It is based more on melodramatic coincidences and violent actions than on the characters. But readers will never cease to be captivated by the exciting plot, the brilliant caricature of the inhuman and refined Marquis d'Evremonde, the meat grinder of the French Revolution and the sacrificial heroism of Sidney Carton, which led him to the guillotine.

In the novel "Great Expectations" main character Pip tells the story of a mysterious boon that enabled him to leave his son-in-law, Joe Gargery's, country blacksmith's shop for a gentlemanly education in London. In the character of Pip, Dickens exposes not only snobbery, but also the falsity of Pip's dream of a luxurious life as an idle "gentleman." Pip's great hopes belong to the ideal of the 19th century: parasitism and abundance due to the inheritance received and a brilliant life due to the labor of others.

In 1860 Dickens sold the house in Tavistock Square and Gadshill became his permanent home. He successfully read his works publicly throughout England and in Paris. His last completed novel, Our Mutual Friend ( Our Mutual Friend), was published in twenty issues (May 1864 – November 1865). In the writer’s last completed novel, images that expressed his condemnation reappear and are combined social system: the thick fog of Bleak House and the huge, oppressive prison cell of Little Dorrit. To these Dickens adds another, deeply ironic image of the London landfill - the huge heaps of garbage that created Harmon's wealth. This symbolically defines the target of human greed as dirt and scum. The world of the novel is the omnipotent power of money, admiration for wealth. Fraudsters are thriving: a man with the significant surname Veneering (veneer - external gloss) buys a seat in parliament, and the pompous rich man Podsnap is the mouthpiece of public opinion.

The writer's health was deteriorating. Ignoring the threatening symptoms, he undertook another series of tedious public readings, and then went on a grand tour of America. The income from the American trip amounted to almost 20,000 pounds, but the trip had a fatal impact on his health. Dickens was overjoyed at the money he earned, but it wasn’t the only thing that motivated him to take the trip; the ambitious nature of the writer demanded the admiration and delight of the public. After a short summer break, he began a new tour. But in Liverpool in April 1869, after 74 performances, his condition worsened, after each reading he was almost taken away. left hand and leg.

Having recovered somewhat in the peace and quiet of Gadshill, Dickens began writing The Mystery of Edwin Drood ( The Mystery of Edwin Drood), planning twelve monthly issues, and persuaded his doctor to allow him twelve farewell appearances in London. They began on January 11, 1870; last performance took place on March 15. Edwin Drood, whose first issue appeared on March 31, was only half written.

On June 8, 1870, after working all day in a chalet in Gadshill's garden, Dickens suffered a stroke at dinner and died at about six o'clock the next day. In a private ceremony on 14 June, his body was buried in Poets' Corner at Westminster Abbey.

Biography Note:

Dickens Charles (1812-1870)

One of the most famous English-language novelists, a renowned creator of vivid comic characters and social critic. Born in Landport near Portsmouth in the family of a clerk in the naval department. Charles was the second of eight children. His mother taught him to read, he attended primary school for some time, and from the age of nine to twelve he went to a regular school. In 1822 his father was transferred to London. Parents with six children huddled in Camden Town in dire need. At the age of twelve, Charles began working for six shillings a week in a blacking factory in Hungerford Stairs on the Strand. On February 20, 1824, his father was arrested for debt and imprisoned in the Marshalsea prison. Having received a small inheritance, he paid off his debts and was released on May 28 of the same year. For about two years, Charles attended a private school called Wellington House Academy.

While working as a junior clerk in one of the law firms, Charles began to study shorthand, preparing himself to become a newspaper reporter. He contributed to several well-known periodicals and began writing fictional essays about life and characteristic types of London. The first of these appeared in the Munsley Magazine in December 1832. In January 1835, J. Hogarth, publisher of the Evening Chronicle, asked Dickens to write a series of essays on city life. In the early spring of that year, the young writer became engaged to Catherine Hogarth. April 2, 1836 The first issue of The Pickwick Club was published. Two days earlier, Charles and Catherine had married and moved into Dickens's bachelor pad. At first, the response was lukewarm, and the sale did not promise much hope. However, the number of readers grew; By the end of the publication of The Posthumous Notes of the Pickwick Club, each issue sold 40 thousand copies.

Dickens accepted R. Bentley's offer to head the new monthly Bentley's Almanac. The first issue of the magazine was published in January 1837, a few days before the birth of Dickens's first child, Charles Jr. The first chapters of Oliver Twist appeared in the February issue. Having not yet finished Oliver, Dickens began writing Nicholas Nickleby, another twenty-issue series for Chapman and Hall. With the growth of wealth and literary fame, Dickens's position in society also strengthened. In 1837 he was elected a member of the Garrick Club, and in June 1838 a member of the famous Athenaeum Club.

Occasional friction with Bentley forced Dickens to resign from the Almanac in February 1839. Prints The Curiosity Shop and Barnaby Rudge. In January 1842, the Dickens couple sailed to Boston, where a crowded and enthusiastic meeting marked the beginning of the writer's triumphant trip through New England to New York, Philadelphia, Washington and beyond - all the way to St. Louis.

In 1849, Dickens began writing the novel David Copperfield, which was a huge success from the very beginning. In 1850, he began publishing a weekly magazine, Home Reading, at a cost of two pence. At the end of 1850, Dickens, together with Bulwer-Lytton, founded the Guild of Literature and Art to help needy writers. By this time, Dickens had eight children (one died in infancy), and another, his last child, was about to be born. At the end of 1851, Dickens's family moved into a house in Tavistock Square, and the writer began work on Bleak House.

The writer's years of tireless work were overshadowed by a growing awareness of the failure of his marriage. While studying theater, Dickens fell in love with the young actress Ellen Ternan. Despite her husband's vows of fidelity, Catherine left his house. In May 1858, after the divorce, Charles Jr. remained with his mother and the rest of the children with their father. Having stopped publishing Home Reading, he very successfully began publishing a new weekly, All Year Round, publishing in it A Tale of Two Cities, and then Great Expectations.

His last completed novel was Our Mutual Friend. The writer's health was deteriorating. Having somewhat recovered, Dickens began writing “The Mystery of Edwin Drood,” which was only half written. On June 9, 1870, Dickens died. In a private ceremony on 14 June, his body was buried in Poets' Corner at Westminster Abbey.