{"id":14587,"date":"2022-05-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-04T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=14587"},"modified":"2022-05-16T10:25:23","modified_gmt":"2022-05-16T08:25:23","slug":"spotlight-on-charles-dickens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/2022\/05\/05\/spotlight-on-charles-dickens\/","title":{"rendered":"Spotlight on: Charles Dickens"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u25ba<\/span> SPOTLIGHT ON…<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n
THE LIVES OF HISTORY\u2019S MOST FAMOUS FIGURES<\/span><\/h5>\n\n

The struggles that made Charles Dickens<\/h2>\n\n

Few British authors have achieved the same level of adoration as the creator of classics such as A <\/em>Christmas <\/em>Carol <\/em>and Great <\/em>Expectations. <\/em>But where did Dickens find the inspiration for his literary masterpieces?<\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Charles Dickens pictured in 1858. Despite his global fame, the author never forgot his struggles with hardship as a child <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

In 1824, at just 12 years old, Charles John Huffam Dickens had no choice but to leave school and get a job. Born on 7 February 1812, his idyllic childhood had come crashing down when his father, John, who had always been reckless with the money he earned as a Royal Navy clerk, ended up in a debtors\u2019 prison. As the eldest son, it fell to Charles to bring in much-needed coins to help his family. For six shillings, he worked 10-hour days in the rat-infested Warren\u2019s blacking factory in London, sticking labels on bottles of shoe polish.<\/p>\n\n

That traumatic and humiliating year or so left a black mark that couldn\u2019t be washed away from Dickens\u2019 mind. It helped make him become the voice of Victorian conscience and an author for all time.<\/p>\n\n

Leaving school for good at 15, Dickens clerked in a solicitor\u2019s office, reported on the law courts, and developed a journalistic bent for newspapers. Well-read and already with a gift for description using the most deliciously evocative language, his creative mind could not be bound by such employment, though. Dickens wrote short stories and sketches for newspapers or magazines, publishing them as Sketches <\/em>by <\/em>Boz, <\/em>the pseudonym he used, in 1836.<\/p>\n\n

\"\"
An illustration from a 1910 edition of The Pickwick Papers<\/em>, Dickens\u2019 debut novel. First published as a serial between 1836 and 1837, the tale follows the gentlemen of the fictitious Pickwick Club and their farcical travels around England<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n
Comedy and compassion<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

In fact, 1836 turned out to be a momentous year for Dickens, as he got married to Catherine Hogarth and printed as a serial his first novel, The <\/em>Pickwick <\/em>Papers. <\/em>Straight away, readers loved his style. He went on to edit the monthly magazine, Bentley\u2019s <\/em>Miscellany, <\/em>in which he released Oliver <\/em>Twist. <\/em>The serial format gave his work an episodic quality, with plenty of chances for cliffhangers, which suited Dickens\u2019 restless creativity. He then followed with Nicholas <\/em>Nickleby, <\/em>The <\/em>Old <\/em>Curiosity <\/em>Shop <\/em>and Barnaby <\/em>Rudge. <\/em><\/p>\n\n

Before long, Dickens was being hailed as the greatest writer of the age. He combined elegantly harsh satire on the treatment of the poor with a compassion for their lot, and wrote of social wrongs and evildoing, while knowing the importance of comedy (even if just with a silly name). He walked the streets of London, his muse, at night for inspiration and added details and characters from his own life. His works could be both biting realism and flights of fancy.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Scrooge is visited by the Ghost of Christmas Present in an 1843 edition of A Christmas Carol<\/em>. Charitable giving surged in London following its first print run<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Dickens wrote Martin Chuzzlewit <\/em>(1842\u201344) after an exhausting trip to the United States, where he had been mobbed everywhere he went. It would be his first novel with relatively disappointing sales, so Dickens looked for a quick hit, and some money for his ever-growing family. In a matter of weeks, he had penned A Christmas Carol, <\/em>a mini-masterpiece that forever linked Dickens with Christmas, and influenced how the festive season was, and is, celebrated. Charitable giving increased in London after its first print run, which sold out immediately. Dickens actually wrote Christmas stories nearly every year thereafter, but none matched the affection felt for Scrooge\u2019s night with the three spirits of Christmas.<\/p>\n\n

Dickens seemed to succeed in any venture, including amateur acting and a return to journalism by briefly editing the Daily <\/em>News <\/em>in 1846. He was a devoted father to his 10 children, a joyous host, a generous fundraiser, and a lover of the finer things \u2013 although he did worry about being too much like his father in that regard. And the novels kept coming, from Dombey <\/em>and <\/em>Son <\/em>to David <\/em>Copperfield, <\/em>which he described as his \u201cfavourite child\u201d.<\/p>\n\n

Yet in his words, \u201cIt was the best of times, it was the worst of times.\u201d An older Dickens\u2019 novels became darker, more despondent, more typically Dickensian. Bleak <\/em>House, <\/em>Hard <\/em>Times, <\/em>Little <\/em>Dorrit, <\/em>A <\/em>Tale <\/em>of <\/em>Two <\/em>Cities <\/em>and Great <\/em>Expectations <\/em>fitted his increasingly sombre mood. His marriage had long been unhappy, but now he no longer lived with Catherine, moving to a country house near Chatham, Gad\u2019s Hill Place, and had begun an affair with a much younger actress, Ellen \u2018Nelly\u2019 Ternan.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cDickens was a devoted father to his 10 children, a joyous host, and a lover of the finer things \u2013 although he did worry about being too much like his father in that regard\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

\"\"
Dickens is seen reading to his daughters Katie (centre<\/em>) and Marie (right<\/em>) in 1865. Despite his reputation as a devoted family man, the author would embark on a secret affair with the actress Nelly Ternan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n
A traumatic crash<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

Dickens came to crave the adoration of his fans more. A gifted performer, he gave as many as 500 readings of his works in Britain and the US right until a year before his death. His ebullient character waned a little more in June 1865 after being caught up in a deadly train accident.<\/p>\n\n

Several carriages derailed while crossing a bridge, and while Dickens came away unharmed, he had to comfort the wounded as they cried out in pain and died. He gave his serialised novel Our <\/em>Mutual <\/em>Friend <\/em>(an instalment of which he had to save from the train) some darker additions following the crash.<\/p>\n\n

It would be his final finished novel. In the months before his death, on 9 June 1870, he failed to complete The <\/em>Mystery <\/em>of <\/em>Edwin <\/em>Drood <\/em> and had to abandon another punishing reading tour. Dickens holds a special reputation now as one of those writers whose influence cannot truly be measured. Such was the genius of his entire body of work that it classifies as its own genre, while his colourful characters live on through the ages, telling the story of the archetypal Victorian novelist. <\/p>\n\n

 Words: Jonny Wilkes<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

PICTURE CREDITS: GETTY IMAGES X3, ALAMY X1<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Inside the personal hardships that shaped the career of the great Victorian novelist<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":14916,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"24","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"24","purple_seq_number":"1","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"1","purple_source_article":"article_24-1.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_24-1.xml","purple_source_issue":"June-2022","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"June-2022","purple_external_id":"June-2022-24-1","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"June-2022-24-1","purple_issue_code":"|0000090397||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000090397||","purple_android_product":"com.im.historyrevealed.108","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.im.historyrevealed.108","purple_ios_product":"com.im.historyrevealed.108","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.im.historyrevealed.108","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"a2288b80-d22c-492c-8b11-acb0804789ee","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2022-05-13T13:38:50Z","apple_news_article-theme":"","apple_news_api_id":"2cb247de-d278-4413-b90a-57985107cb9b","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2022-05-16T08:25:31Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/ALLJH3tJ4RBO5CleYUQfLmw","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":true,"apple_news_is_preview":true,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_article_theme":"","apple_news_sections":"[]"},"categories":[16],"tags":[55],"apple_news_notices":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2022\/05\/GettyImages_613456022-e1651848545207.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"6","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2022\/05\/GettyImages_613456022-e1651848545207.jpg",1440,1080,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2022\/05\/GettyImages_613456022-e1651848545207-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2022\/05\/GettyImages_613456022-e1651848545207-300x225.jpg",300,225,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2022\/05\/GettyImages_613456022-e1651848545207-768x576.jpg",768,576,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2022\/05\/GettyImages_613456022-e1651848545207-1024x768.jpg",800,600,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2022\/05\/GettyImages_613456022-1536x1136.jpg",1536,1136,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2022\/05\/GettyImages_613456022-e1651848545207.jpg",1440,1080,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Inside the personal hardships that shaped the career of the great Victorian novelist","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14587"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14587"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14587\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15337,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14587\/revisions\/15337"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistoryrevealed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}