WRITERS GALLERY LIFE Family background Charles Dickens, the m o s t p o p u l a r Victorian novelist, was born in Portsmouth in 1812.

His father, a clerk in the Nav !ffice, was e"trava#ant with mone an$ an$ irresponsible conse%uentl

life was $ifficult for the

lar#e Dickens famil . &n 1822 the move$ to a poor suburb of 'on$on, where Charles(s father hope$ to fin$ better opportunities. )hen Charles was *ust twelve ears ol$, his father was imprisone$ for $ebt. Charles was sent to work in appallin# con$itions in a factor . +emories of this traumatic perio$ inspire$ much of his later writin#, in particular his most autobio#raphical work David Copperfield ,18-./18012. Durin# this unsettle$ perio$ Charles(s e$ucation was almost entirel an$ Cervantes. Social novels 4ocial issues are a$$resse$ in almost all his novels. Oliver Twist ,1856/18582 an$ Nicholas Nickleby ,1858/185.2 show the cruel life of poor chil$ren in workhouses an$ orphana#es. Bleak House ,1802/18052 $eals with the conse%uences of $ela s in the *ustice s stem. &n Hard Times ,180-2 Dickens e"poses the evils of in$ustrialisation an$ the shortcomin#s of the utilitarian $octrines of the influential philosopher 7erem 8entham. 4et in the northern in$ustrial town of Coketown, the novel attacks the ruthless materialism of in$ustrialists an$ their lack of concern for the pli#ht of their workers. 9he e$ucation s stem is also a tar#et of criticism for its overemphasis on fact an$ its unwillin#ness to $evelop creativit an$ ima#ination. &n the semi/ ne#lecte$. However, he became a voracious 3iel$in# rea$er, familiarisin# himself with the works of, amon# others, Henr

autobio#raphical David Copperfield ,18-./18012, Dickens paints a #raphic picture of the livin# con$itions of the urban poor. He also $enounces the e"ploitation of chil$ren b a$ults an$ the cruel competitive nature of Victorian societ . Comedy and characters Despite the wei#ht novel, The ickwick themes, all of Dickens(s novels show touches of the comic #enius which launche$ his literar career. His first apers ,185:/18562, is still consi$ere$ to be one of the supreme comic novels in the ;n#lish lan#ua#e. Characters such as +r. 8umble in Oliver Twist! +r. 8oun$erb in Hard Times an$ +r. +icawber in David Copperfield a$$ humour to otherwise #loom worl$s. !ften farcical an$ caricatural, Dickens create$ innumerable an$ memorable characters in his novels, an$ is often compare$ to 4hakespeare in his abilit to capture the essence of a personalit in *ust a couple of lines.