Charles Dickens at 200

Today marks the 200th birthday of English Victorian writer Charles Dickens. As a prolific writer of novels, novellas, short stories, plays, news articles and opinion pieces, Dickens became arguably the best known writer of his age, achieving a degree of fame hitherto unknown by a literary author. Today, his works are still widely read and the iconic characters that he created - from Miss Havisham, Fagin and David Copperfield to Magwitch, Little Nell and Ebeneezer Scrooge - remain firmly imprinted on the popular consciousness. 

Many of Dickens' works were written in serialised form, appearing initially in monthly installments in journals such as Master Humphrey's Clock and Dickens' own Household Words. Unlike other novelists who wrote the novel first and then serialised it retrospectively, Dickens was actually writing in installments, often with no definite ending in mind. The ability to work in this way and still produce a coherent narrative in the end testifies to his great skill as a novelist. Many of his major novels were written in this manner including Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, Bleak House and Oliver Twist. This technique of writing had a profound shaping effect on his work, as evidenced by the numerous cliffhangers contained within the stories or the three alternative endings for Great Expectations.

Artist's impression of Dickens
as child labourer in the
Blacking Warehouse

Having experienced real poverty in his childhood, Dickens would become a vocal supporter of social reform. When his father and the rest of the family were forced to move into a debtor's prison in London, the twelve-year-old Dickens was forced to leave school and work ten-hour shifts at Warren's Blacking Warehouse. The gruelling work in the rat-infested warehouse made a deep impression on him, fuelling his zeal for socio-economic reform and improved labour conditions. His writing sharply critiques the tiered nature of Victorian society and champions the case of the poor, though certain commentators would criticise the sentimentality of his portraits. In a 1939 essay on Dickens,  George Orwell would write:

Nearly everyone, whatever his actual conduct may be, responds emotionally too the idea of human brotherhood, Dickens voiced a code which was and on the whole still is believed in, even by people who violate it. It is difficult otherwise to explain why he could be both read by working people (a thing that happened to no other novelist of his stature) and buried in Westminster Abbey.

Dickens cared about children. It is notable how many of his novels deal with children forced to overcome hardships, often negotiating a cruel and inequitable adult world. We can think of Pip, Tiny Tim, David Copperfield, Little Nell and Oliver Twist as prime examples. Over the next few weeks this blog will consider the writings of Charles Dickens in the light of his books that are still read by children around the globe.