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.

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