ISSUE NO 2 : LITERATURE

Charles Dickens

Charles John Huffam Dickens, (7 February 1812–9 June 1870), pen-name "Boz", was the most popular English novelist of the Victorian era, and one of the most popular of all time.

He created some of literature's most iconic characters, with the theme of social reform running throughout his work. The continuing popularity of his novels and short stories is such that they have never gone out of print.

Much of his work first appeared in periodicals and magazines in serialised form, a popular way of publishing fiction at the time. Other writers would complete entire novels before serial publication commenced, but Dickens often wrote his in parts, in the order they were meant to appear. The practice lent his stories a particular rhythm, punctuated by one "cliffhanger" after another, to keep the public eager for the next installment.

His work has been praised for its mastery of prose, and for its teeming gallery of unique personalities, by writers such as George Gissing and G. K. Chesterton, though the same characteristics have prompted others, such as Henry James and Virginia Woolf, to criticize him for sentimentality and implausibility.

Fun Fact

Charles Dickens had, as a contemporary critic put it, a "queer name". The name Dickens was used in interjective exclamations like "What the Dickens!" as a substitute for "devil". It was recorded in the Oxfor English Dictionary as originating from Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor. It was also used as a substitute for "deuce" as in the phrase "to play the Dickens" in the meaning "to play havoc/mischief”.

'Boz' was Dickens' occasional pen-name, but was a familiar name in the Dickens household long before Charles became a famous author. It was

actually taken from his youngest brother Augustus Dickens' family nickname 'Moses', given to him in honor of one of the brothers in The Vicar of Wakefield (one of the most widely read novels during the early 19th century). When playfully pronounced through the nose 'Moses' became 'Boses', and was later shortened to 'Boz' - pronounced through the nose with a long vowel 'o'.

Some of his works:

· A Christmas Carol

· Hard Times: For These Times

· The Adventures of Oliver Twist

· David Copperfield

· The Cricket on the Hearth

· Great Expectations

· Bleak House

Quotes from Charles Dickens

- “A man could build a church, as one may say, by squinting at a sheet of paper.”

- “Accidents will occur in the best regulated families.”

- “I do not know the American gentleman, God forgive me for putting two such words together.”

- “Minds, like bodies, will often fall into a pimpled, ill-conditioned state from mere excess of comfort.”

- “No one is useless, in this world, who lightens the burdens of another.”

Prepared by: Ali H. Sadeq