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A project work by Cosimo Cannata, 2007-2008
Charles Dickens’ Biography (1812-1870)
Born in Portsmouth, 7 February 1812
1824, Dickens worked at Warren’s Blacking Warehouse
1824, Mr. Dickens (Charles’ father) taken to debtors’ prison; family goes with him
Imprisoned from February – May 1824
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1827 - Dickens family evicted from (= cacciata via) home for not paying rent
Charles is pulled out of private school Charles, now 15, becomes law clerk and
free-lance writer 1834 - Charles takes Boz as pen name 1834 - Charles’ Dad re-arrested for debts
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Dickens starts Publishing!
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1836 - Sketches by Boz
1837 - The Pickwick Papers
and on a personal note...
“Here Comes the Bride…”
1836 (Dickens is 24) he and Catherine Hogarth get married
and… one year later, the first “little Dickens” is born
and one year after that, baby n. 2 is born...
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But, back to business!
1837 - Oliver Twist is serially published
(appears in periodical magazines)
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Some other Dickens’ novels… 1838 -- Nicholas Nickleby 1840 -- The Old Curiosity Shop 1841 -- Barnaby Rudge 1842 -- American Notes 1843 -- A Christmas Carol 1844 -- Martin Chuzzlewit 1844 -- The Chimes 1845 -- The Cricket on the Hearth 1846 -- The Battle of Life 1846 -- Dombey and Son
And so writing goes on... 1850 -- David Copperfield
1853 -- Bleak House 1853 -- A Child’s History of England and... a
near nervous breakdown 1854 -- Hard Times 1857 -- Little Dorrit 1859 -- A Tale of Two Cities 1861 -- Great Expectations 1865 -- Our Mutual Friends 1869 -- The Mystery of Edwin Drood
(unfinished)
What was happening in 1837? King William IV of
England dies
Victoria becomes queen of England
Benjamin Disraeli delivers his first speech in the House of Commons
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And in the arts?
Nathaniel Hawthorne publishes Twice Told Tales – it becomes a best seller
William H. Prescott publishes The History of the Reign of Isabella and Ferdinand
John Constable died (English landscape painter)
Berlioz completes “Grande Messe des Morts,” Opus 5
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In the sciences
Industrialist August Borsig opens iron foundry and engine-building factory in Berlin
Wheatstone and Cooke patent electric telegraph
Samuel Morse exhibits his electric telegraph
Dutchman Johannes Diderik born (Nobel Prize in physics in 1910)
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Themes in Dickens’ novels
• The powerlessness of children• Good’s ability to triumph over evil• Man’s humanity to man• Man’s inhumanity to man• The outcast’s search for status and
identity• The heinous (= hateful) nature of
crime and criminals
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Hard life for English teenagers in XIXth century
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Cruelty and inhumanity in daily life
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Dickens' style of writing 1. Dickens’ descriptions show a wonderful eye for
DETAIL. 2. Dickens’ style of writing is filled spaces, and
included lots of REPETITION and long LISTS. 3. Dickens loved words. He included lots of powerful
ADJECTIVES, and is famous for his use of METAPHORS and SIMILES.
4. From the early 1850s, Dickens gave public readings of his novels. His writing is RHYTHMIC and designed to be read out loud.
5. The effect is COMIC or heart-breakingly 6. The tone becomes SENTIMENTAL. 7. D. used DIALECT and brilliant sections of
DIALOGUE and EXAGGERATION.
Physical description — telling us what the character looks like dialogue — what the character says• Physical actions — what the character does (particularly in relation to what he or she says or thinks.)• Thoughts, or mental actions — the character's inner life, what the character thinks
Techniques for characterization - 1
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Techniques for characterization – 2
• Judgment by others — what other characters say and think about this fictional person
• The narrator's judgement — what narrator tells us about the character
• The author's judgement — what the author thinks of the character (sometines difficult to determine until late in the narrative)
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Children and city (very hard) life
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Children from low class suffered abuses, long working hours and were the weakest (= più deboli) members of London society
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Not children from upper class…:easy life, dance, food and facilities…
Exercise of moral conscience… He exercised his social conscience He crusaded for children’s rights. He was an advocate of child labour
laws to protect children. He opposed cruelty, deprivation, and
corporal punishment of children. He believed in and lobbied for just
treatment of criminals.
What to watch (out) for...
Use of irony
Use of coincidence
Use of humour