Значение слова DICKENS в Литературной энциклопедии

DICKENS

CHARLES (1812-1870).-Novelist, _b._ at Landport, near Portsmouth, where his _f._ was a clerk in the Navy Pay-Office. The hardships and mortifications of his early life, his want of regular schooling, and his miserable time in the blacking factory, which form the basis of the early chapters of _David Copperfield_, are largely accounted for by the fact that his _f._ was to a considerable extent the prototype of the immortal Mr. Micawber; but partly by his being a delicate and sensitive child, unusually susceptible to suffering both in body and mind. He had, however, much time for reading, and had access to the older novelists, Fielding, Smollett, and others. A kindly relation also took him frequently to the theatre, where he acquired his life-long interest in, and love of, the stage. After a few years' residence in Chatham, the family removed to London, and soon thereafter his _f._ became an inmate of the Marshalsea, in which by-and-by the whole family joined him, a passage in his life which furnishes the material for parts of _Little Dorrit_. This period of family obscuration happily lasted but a short time: the elder D. managed to satisfy his creditors, and soon after retired from his official duties on a pension. About the same time D. had two years of continuous schooling, and shortly afterwards he entered a law office. His leisure he devoted to reading and learning shorthand, in which he became very expert. He then acted as parliamentary reporter, first for _The True Sun_, and from 1835 for the _Morning Chronicle_. Meanwhile he had been contributing to the _Monthly Magazine_ and the _Evening Chronicle_ the papers which, in 1836, appeared in a _coll._ form as _Sketches by Boz_; and he had also produced one or two comic burlettas. In the same year he _m._ Miss Ann Hogarth; and in the following year occurred the opportunity of his life. He was asked by Chapman and Hall to write the letterpress for a series of sporting plates to be done by Robert Seymour who, however, _d._ shortly after, and was succeeded by Hablot Browne (Phiz), who became the illustrator of most of D.'s novels. In the hands of D. the original plan was entirely altered, and became the _Pickwick Papers_ which, appearing in monthly parts during 1837-39, took the country by storm. Simultaneously _Oliver Twist_ was coming out in _Bentley's Miscellany_. Thenceforward D.'s literary career was a continued success, and the almost yearly publication of his works constituted the main events of his life. _Nicholas Nickleby_ appeared in serial form 1838-39. Next year he projected _Master Humphrey's Clock_, intended to be a series of miscellaneous stories and sketches. It was, however, soon abandoned, _The Old Curiosity Shop_ and _Barnaby Rudge_ taking its place. The latter, dealing with the Gordon Riots, is, with the partial exception of the _Tale of Two Cities_, the author's only excursion into the historical novel. In 1841 D. went to America, and was received with great enthusiasm, which, however, the publication of _American Notes_ considerably damped, and the appearance of _Martin Chuzzlewit_ in 1843, with its caustic criticisms of certain features of American life, converted into extreme, though temporary, unpopularity. The first of the Christmas books-the _Christmas Carol_-appeared in 1843, and in the following year D. went to Italy, where at Genoa he wrote _The Chimes_, followed by _The Cricket on the Hearth_, _The Battle of Life_, and _The Haunted Man_. In January, 1846, he was appointed first ed. of _The Daily News_, but resigned in a few weeks. The same year he went to Switzerland, and while there wrote _Dombey and Son_, which was _pub._ in 1848, and was immediately followed by his masterpiece, _David Copperfield_ (1849-50). Shortly before this he had become manager of a theatrical company, which performed in the provinces, and he had in 1849 started his magazine, _Household Words_. _Bleak House_ appeared in 1852-53, _Hard Times_ in 1854, and _Little Dorrit_ 1856-57. In 1856 he bought Gadshill Place, which, in 1860, became his permanent home. In 1858 he began his public readings from his works, which, while eminently successful from a financial point of view, from the nervous strain which they entailed, gradually broke down his constitution, and hastened his death. In the same year he separated from his wife, and consequent upon the controversy which arose thereupon he brought _Household Words_ to an end, and started _All the Year Round_, in which appeared _A Tale of Two Cities_ (1859), and _Great Expectations_ (1860-61). _Our Mutual Friend_ came out in numbers (1864-65). D. was now in the full tide of his readings, and decided to give a course of them in America. Thither accordingly he went in the end of 1867, returning in the following May. He had a magnificent reception, and his profits amounted to L20,000; but the effect on his health was such that he was obliged, on medical advice, finally to abandon all appearances of the kind. In 1869 he began his last work, _The Mystery of Edwin Drood_, which was interrupted by his death from an apoplectic seizure on June 8, 1870. One of D.'s most marked characteristics is the extraordinary wealth of his invention as exhibited in the number and variety of the characters introduced into his novels. Another, especially, of course, in his entire works, is his boundless flow of animal spirits. Others are his marvellous keenness of observation and his descriptive power. And the English race may well, with Thackeray, be "grateful for the innocent laughter, and the sweet and unsullied pages which the author of _David Copperfield_ gives to [its] children." On the other hand, his faults are obvious, a tendency to caricature, a mannerism that often tires, and almost disgusts, fun often forced, and pathos not seldom degenerating into mawkishness. But at his best how rich and genial is the humour, how tender often the pathos. And when all deductions are made, he had the laughter and tears of the English-speaking world at command for a full generation while he lived, and that his spell still works is proved by a continuous succession of new editions. SUMMARY.-_B._ 1812, parliamentary reporter _c._ 1835, _pub._ _Sketches by Boz_ 1836, _Pickwick_ 1837-39, and his other novels almost continuously until his death, visited America 1841, started _Household Words_ 1849, and _All the Year Round_ 1858, when also he began his public readings, visiting America again in 1867, _d._ 1870. _Life_ by John Foster (1872), _Letters_ ed. by Miss Hogarth (1880-82). Numerous Lives and Monographs by Sala, F.T. Marzials (Great Writers Series), A.W. Ward (Men of Letters Series), F.G. Kitton, G.K. Chesterton, etc.

Литературная энциклопедия. 2012