More books have been written about Charles Dickens than about any other English novelist. In spite of his immense popularity, he remains in many ways strangely neglected.
Dickens died in 1870 and the biographies published after his death show that the story of his life was as fascinating as the novels he wrote. Many critics rank his novels with William Shakespeare’s plays as the greatest works of fiction in the English language.
It is a well-known fact that Dickens has given more pleasure to readers than any other writer who ever lived. However, his novels are not very popular in the United States.
Apart from novels, Dickens wrote a series of articles for many publications making his name a household word. He contributed regularly to ‘All the Year Round” and the “Examiner.” What he wrote was not only remarkable for their brilliance and power but also far beyond ordinary journalism.
They are important to understand his hovels and personal beliefs. For instance, “Hard Times,” one of his major novels, has always been recognised as particularly important to an understanding of Dickens’s opinions about the growing struggle between capital and labour. The novel also focuses attention on education which was the centre of bitter controversy at the time. On the other hand, the novel was an attack on established educational institutions.
Dickens’s career as a novelist has been called one of the greatest stories in history. It started with a joyful comedy team he dreamed up in 1836. At the time a new publishing house was looking for a writer who could write amusing stories for some hunting illustrations.
Somebody recommended Dickens for the job because as a 24-year-old youth he had a wild sense of humour. Although he accepted the offer, he had to solve an initial problem. As a child Dickens had worked in a London warehouse and he did not know anything about hunting.
He suggested that the theme should be changed to adventures of a bunch of bumbling gentlemen who wander around England and getting into scrapes. His first three installments about Samuel Pickwick were a disaster. Undaunted, he introduced Sam Weller, a young Cockney, who could not read or write well. He also found it difficult to pronounce words starting with ‘v.’ The series became an instant hit.
Samuel Pickwick
Dickens’s Pickwick and Weller were probably the greatest comedians in English literature. When he created Cockney to take on the job of servant and guardian angel to introduce Samuel Pickwick, readers flocked to newsstands to buy the series.
Pickwick became so popular that it became a craze or a trend sweeping England. Cashing in on the situation, companies produced Pickwick cigars, Pickwick hats and canes, Weller trousers and a horde of Pickwick imitators. Those who did not have money to buy the issues regularly, pooled their resources, bought copies and passed them around.
Edgar Johnson in his biography of Charles Dickens says, “It is doubtful if any single work of letters before or since has ever aroused such wild and widespread enthusiasm.” It did not take long for Dickens to become the most popular writer in England.
Dickens succeeded as a writer simply because he had an imagination like a soap-bubble pipe. Strange people and situations popped out of his soap-bubble pipe. If you read “The Pickwick Papers,” you will read Sam Weller’s ingenious conversations which evoke the loudest laughter. His fictional character ‘Zephyr’ could imitate a wheelbarrow full of cats. Fat Boy runs errands while sleeping.
Dickens probably did not imitate anybody else. His fictional characters were original creations. A friend recalled how he accompanied Dickens on a walk through the London slums. Dickens followed a big red-faced baby slung over his father’s shoulder.
He popped cherries into the child’s mouth as the father walked on. On another day, Dickens was seated next to the young wife of a prominent American doctor. When she addressed her husband as “darling” Dickens burst into laughing until he fell off his chair!
Greatest novels
Dickens was a genius full of energy. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) once named the world’s two greatest novels. They were Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” and Dickens’s “The Pickwick Papers.” The success of “The Pickwick Papers” resulted in a big demand for another novel.
To satisfy the growing demand, Dickens wrote “Oliver Twist.” However, before finishing “Oliver Twist,” he started writing another novel titled “Nicholas Nickleby.” Thereafter, he began to write “The Old curiosity Shop.” Although he was busy writing novels, one after the other, Dickens did not give up writing to magazines. At one stage, he edited a magazine while taking part in amateur theatricals.
Unlike today, Dickens gave public readings of his novels. Being an actor he made his reading vivid and dramatic. Sometimes his acting in “Oliver Twist” playing the role of a murderer and victim was criticised. According to critics, women and children fainted at such reading sessions!
There was something incredible in his career as a novelist. While most other novelists had a peak and then a downfall, Dickens was always at the peak. When he published “Sam Weller” in 1836, he gained much popularity. He maintained the popularity until 1870 when he died writing “The Mystery of Edwin Drood.” A critic said his career was like a Roman candle that went straight up and then just hung there, shooting off brilliant shower one after another.
Bestseller
When he published “Oliver Twist” three stage versions were simultaneously presented in London. “The Old Curiosity Shop” became a bestseller. When it was published, 100,000 copies were snapped up by readers. His writing career spanned 34 years. During that time he wrote 15 books in addition to several stories and articles. Even when he shifted his attention to write novels on greed and evil such as “Bleak House” and “Our Mutual Friend,” readers gobbled them up.
Some of his fictional characters have become household words. Those who had read his novels still remember the “Fagin, Micawber, Pecksniff, Scrooge, Tiny Tim” and “Little Nell.” When a ship arrived in New York carrying a consignment of “The Old Curiosity Shop,” the ship’s crew was greeted by a crowd shouting “Is Little Nell dead?”
To realise the richness and subtlety of his novels, you have to read them avidly. They look like a Gothic cathedral. Viewed from a distance, its outlines look simple, but if you take a close look it is actually an intricate interweaving of hundreds of magnificently detailed vignettes.
Dickens knew that he was a genius. He referred to himself as “The Inimitable.” He told his publishers to pay him the lion’s share. They obliged and he became a rich novelist. When he died, he left an estate of 93,000 sterling pounds.
Humble beginnings
Although he became a celebrity, Dickens never forgot his humble beginnings. Until his death he fought against abuses suffered by the poor. However, he faced certain problems in his marriage. At 46, after a marriage lasting 22 years, he became infatuated with a 19-year-old actress named Ellen Ternan. He separated from his wife who had borne him ten children.
In 1842, Dickens visited the United States on a lecture tour. He was appalled to see adoring mobs following him everywhere he went. He criticised the American practice of publishing his books without paying him royalties.
He particularly despised Americans picking their teeth in public. After returning to England he launched a devastating fictional attack on the Americans. After 15 years, however, Dickens revisited the United States which had mellowed by then.
Charles Dickens, England’s greatest novelist, died in 1870 at the age of 58. According to some observers, it was a slow suicide caused by an unhappy marriage. Although he had wished for a simple burial, his body was interred at Westminster Abbey.