Charles Dickens (February 7, 1812 - June 9, 1870) was born in Landport, Portsea, England. He is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. A British writer and a social critic, Charles Dickens was considered a literary genius who created some of the world's best-known fictional characters.
The second of eight children of a family continually plagued by debt, the young Dickens came to know not only hunger and privation, but also the horror of the infamous debtors’ prison and the evils of child labor. He had to take care of the family at a very early age, due to his father's imprisonment. This led to him feeling abandoned and betrayed and his impoverished childhood later reflected through his first novel — Oliver Twist.
His 1843 novella A Christmas Carol remains especially popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. Oliver Twist and Great Expectations are also frequently adapted and, like many of his novels, evoke images of early Victorian London. His 1859 novel A Tale of Two Cities (set in London and Paris) is his best-known work of historical fiction. The most famous celebrity of his era, he undertook, in response to public demand, a series of public reading tours in the later part of his career. Dickens has been praised by many of his fellow writers – from Leo Tolstoy to George Orwell, G. K. Chesterton, and Tom Wolfe – for his realism, comedy, prose style, unique characterisations, and social criticism. However, Oscar Wilde, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf complained of a lack of psychological depth, loose writing, and a vein of sentimentalism.
The term Dickensian is used to describe something that is reminiscent of Dickens and his writings, such as poor social conditions or comically repulsive characters.
Charles Dickens
