Dickens is the object of persecution. A girl from Stavropol knocked out a witty question in “What? Where? When?" Povysheva's team
Charles Dickens (eng. Charles Dickens; 1812-1870) - English writer, novelist and essayist. The most popular English-language writer during his lifetime, he even today has a reputation as a classic of world literature, one of greatest prose writers XIX century. Dickens's work is considered to be the pinnacle of realism, but his novels reflected both sentimental and fairy-tale beginnings. Dickens's most famous novels (published in separate editions with continuations): “Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club”, “Oliver Twist”, “David Copperfield”, “ Big hopes", "A Tale of Two Cities".
Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812 in Portsmouth. His father was a fairly wealthy official, a very frivolous man, but cheerful and good-natured, who tasted the coziness and comfort that every wealthy family of old England treasured. Mr. Dickens surrounded his children, and in particular his pet Charlie, with care and affection.
Little Charles inherited from his father a rich imagination, ease of speech, apparently adding to this some seriousness in life inherited from his mother, on whose shoulders all the everyday concerns of preserving the well-being of the family fell.
The boy's rich abilities delighted his parents, and the artistically inclined father literally tormented his son, forcing him to act out various scenes, tell his impressions, improvise, read poetry, etc. Dickens turned into a little actor, full of narcissism and vanity.
Soon Dickens' family was ruined and forced to make ends meet. The father was abandoned long years to debtor's prison, the mother had to fight poverty. Pampered, fragile in health, full of imagination and in love with himself, the boy ended up in a blacking factory, where he had to stay in harsh conditions. Throughout his subsequent life, Dickens considered the ruin of his family and work in a factory to be the greatest insult to himself, an undeserved and humiliating blow.
He did not like to talk about it, but here, from the depths of poverty, Dickens drew his ardent love for the downtrodden and needy, his understanding of their suffering, his understanding of the cruelty they faced, his deep knowledge of the life of the poor and such appalling social institutions as the schools of that time for poor children and orphanages, such as child labor in factories, workhouses and debtor's prisons, where he visited his father, etc.
Dickens brought out of his adolescence a hatred of the rich, of the ruling classes. Young Dickens had an ambitious dream of once again being in the ranks of people who enjoyed a certain prosperity, of outgrowing his humiliating social status, win financial independence and personal freedom.
Dickens found himself primarily as a reporter. As soon as Dickens completed - as a test - several reporting assignments, he was immediately noticed by the reading public, who never ceased to be amazed by the speed of professional growth of the novice journalist. More and more striking his fellow reporters with irony, liveliness of presentation, and richness of language, Dickens feverishly grabbed onto any newspaper work, and everything that blossomed in him as a child and that arose in his imagination now poured out from under his pen.
Dickens’s first morally descriptive essays, which he called “Sketches of Boz,” were published in 1836. Psychological sketches and portraits of Londoners, like all Dickens’s novels, were first published in a newspaper version and had already brought the young author enough fame.
Dizzying success awaited Dickens in the same year with the publication of the chapters of his The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club.
In this novel, he paints old England from its most varied sides, admiring its good nature and the abundance of lively and sympathetic features inherent in the best representatives of the English petty bourgeoisie. All these traits are embodied in the most good-natured optimist, the noblest old eccentric, whose name is Mr. Pickwick. This novel by Dickens aroused an extraordinary surge of reader interest. Two years later, Dickens appeared with Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby.
The Adventures of Oliver Twist (1838) is the story of an orphan born in the slums of London. The boy meets on his way baseness and nobility, criminals and respectable people. Cruel fate gives way to his sincere desire for an honest life.
The pages of the novel depict pictures of English life society XIX centuries in all their living splendor and ugliness. Wide social picture from the workhouses and criminal dens of the London bottom to the society of the rich and Dickensian kind-hearted bourgeois benefactors. In this novel, Charles Dickens acts as a humanist, affirming the power of good in man.
The novel caused a wide public response. After his release, a number of scandalous proceedings took place in the workhouses of London, which, in fact, were semi-prison institutions where child labor was mercilessly used.
After traveling to America, where the public greeted Dickens with no less enthusiasm than the British, Dickens wrote his “Martin Chuzzlewit” (1843). In addition to the unforgettable images of Pecksniff and Mrs. Gump, this novel is remarkable for its parody of Americans. The novel caused violent protests from the overseas public.
The cult of coziness, comfort, beautiful traditional ceremonies and customs, the cult of family, as it were, resulted in a hymn for Christmas, this holiday of holidays, with amazing, exciting power was expressed in his “Christmas Stories” - in 1843 “A Christmas Carol” was published, followed by followed by “Bells”, “Cricket on the Stove”, “The Battle of Life”, “Obsessed”. Dickens did not have to prevaricate here: he himself was one of the most enthusiastic admirers of this winter holiday, during which the home fire, dear persons, holiday dishes and delicious drinks created some kind of idyll among the snows and winds of a merciless winter.
At the same time, Dickens became editor-in-chief of the Daily News. In this newspaper he had the opportunity to express his socio-political views.
Many features of Dickens's talent are clearly reflected in one of his best novels - “ Trading house"Dombey and Son". Trade wholesale, retail and for export" (1848). The endless string of figures and life positions in this work is amazing. There are few novels in world literature that, in terms of richness of color and variety of tone, can be placed on a par with Dombey and Son, not counting a few later works Dickens himself.
The humor is even more weakened in Dickens's next major work, David Copperfield (1849-1850). This novel is largely autobiographical. Its theme is serious and carefully thought out. The spirit of praising the old foundations of morality and family, the spirit of protest against the new capitalist England resounds loudly here too. Many connoisseurs of Dickens's work, including such literary authorities as L.N. Tolstoy, F.M. Dostoevsky, Charlotte Bronte, Henry James, Virginia Woolf, considered this novel his greatest work.
In the 1850s. Dickens reached the zenith of fame. He was the darling of fate - a famous writer, a master of thoughts and a wealthy man - in a word, a person for whom fate did not skimp on gifts. The needs of Dickens' family members exceeded his income. His disorderly, purely bohemian nature did not allow him to bring any kind of order into his affairs. Not only did he overwork his rich and fertile brain by over-working his creative mind, but being an extraordinarily brilliant reader, he endeavored to earn handsome fees by lecturing and reading excerpts from his novels. The impression from this purely acting reading was always colossal. Apparently Dickens was one of the greatest virtuosos reading.
On April 2, 1836, Charles married eldest daughter his friend, journalist George Hogarth. Katherine Hogarth was faithful wife and gave birth to eight children. But family life Dickens's life was not entirely successful. Disagreements with his wife began, some complex and dark relationships with her family, fear for sick children made Dickens’s family a source of constant worries and torment. In 1857, Charles met 18-year-old actress Ellen Ternan and immediately fell in love. He rented an apartment for her and visited his love for many years. Their romance lasted until the writer's death.
Dickens often spontaneously fell into a trance, was subject to visions and from time to time experienced states of déjà vu. George Henry Lewis spoke about another oddity of the writer, Chief Editor"Fortnightly Review" magazine. Dickens once told him that every word, before going on paper, is first clearly heard by him, and his characters are constantly nearby and communicate with him.
While working on “The Antiquities Shop,” the writer could not eat or sleep peacefully: little Nell was constantly hovering under his feet, demanding attention, crying out for sympathy and being jealous when the author was distracted from her by talking to someone else. While working on the novel Martin Chuzzlewit, Dickens was tired of Mrs. Gump with her jokes: he had to fight her off with force. “Dickens warned Mrs. Gump more than once: if she did not learn to behave decently and did not appear only when called, he would not give her another line at all!” Lewis wrote. That is why the writer loved to wander through crowded streets. “During the day you can somehow manage without people,” Dickens admitted in one of his letters, but in the evening I simply am not able to free myself from my ghosts until I get lost in the crowd from them.
End literary activity Dickens was marked by a whole series significant works. The novel Little Dorrit (1855-1857) was followed by historical novel Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities (1859), dedicated to french revolution. Recognizing the necessity of revolutionary violence, Dickens turns away from it as if it were madness. This was quite in the spirit of his worldview, and, nevertheless, he managed to create an immortal book in his own way.
Great Expectations (1861), a novel with autobiographical features, dates back to the same time. His hero - Pip - rushes between the desire to preserve the petty bourgeois comfort, to remain faithful to his middle peasant position and the upward desire for splendor, luxury and wealth. Dickens put a lot of his own tossing, his own melancholy into this novel. According to the original plan, the novel was supposed to end in tears for the main character, although Dickens always avoided catastrophic endings in his works and, out of his own good nature, tried not to upset particularly impressionable readers. For the same reasons, he did not dare to lead the hero’s “great hopes” to their complete collapse. But the whole concept of the novel suggests the regularity of such an outcome.
Dickens reaches new artistic heights in his swan song - in a large multi-faceted canvas, the novel Our Mutual Friend (1864). In this work, Dickens's desire to take a break from tense social topics is guessed. Fascinatingly conceived, filled with the most unexpected types, all sparkling with wit - from irony to touching, gentle humor - this novel, according to the author's plan, was probably supposed to turn out to be light, sweet, and funny. In this novel, Dickens's appeal to a new style of writing is noticeable: instead of ironic verbosity, parodying literary style Victorian era - a laconic style reminiscent of cursive writing. The novel conveys the idea of the poisonous effect of money - the trash heap becomes its symbol - on social relations and the meaninglessness of the vain aspirations of members of society.
In this last completed work, Dickens demonstrated all the powers of his humor, shielding the wonderful, cheerful, pretty images of this idyll from the gloomy thoughts that took possession of him.
On June 9, 1870, fifty-eight-year-old Dickens, exhausted by colossal work, a rather chaotic life and many troubles, died in Gadeshill from a stroke.
On our book website you can download books by the author Charles Dickens in a variety of formats (epub, fb2, pdf, txt and many others). You can also read books online and for free on any device - iPad, iPhone, Android tablet, or on any specialized e-reader. Digital library Book Guide offers literature by Charles Dickens in English genres classical prose, a gothic novel.
(1812 - 1870) showed a vast canvas of life Victorian England. With his characteristic sense of humor, the writer masterfully ridiculed the vices, ignorance and social inequality of his contemporary society. His works have become classics of world literature; they are read and reread with pleasure by millions of people even today.
We have selected 7 Dickens books that everyone should read.
Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club
The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club is the first novel by Charles Dickens, first published by Chapman and Hall in 1836-1837. It was with this book (as well as its ruddy and plump main character) that the writer’s brilliant career began.
The Adventures of Oliver Twist
"The Adventures of Oliver Twist" - the most famous novel the great Dickens. The second in his work and the first in English literature, where the main character is a child.
Good old England is not kind to orphans and poor children. The story of a boy left without parents and forced to wander through the dark slums of London. Twists of fate little hero, numerous meetings on his way and a happy ending difficult and dangerous adventures - all this arouses genuine interest among many readers around the world.
Big hopes
The novel "Great Expectations" needs no introduction - great amount theatrical productions and film adaptations constantly keep him in the reader's field of view.
The hero of the novel "Great Expectations", a young man Philip Pirrip (or simply Pip), strives to become " a true gentleman"and achieve a position in society. But disappointments await him. Money stained with blood cannot bring happiness, and the “world of gentlemen” on which Philip had placed so many hopes turned out to be hostile and cruel.
Hard times
The action of the novel "Hard Times" takes place in the industrial city of Coketown, in which everything is impersonal: people dress the same, leave the house and return at the same hours, the soles of the same shoes click in the same way. The town has a philosophy of facts and figures, followed by the wealthy banker Bounderby. This is the system of education at Gradgrain's school - without love, warmth, imagination. The soulless world of facts is opposed by a traveling circus troupe and the little daughter of a circus performer - Sissy Jupe.
Bleak House
Bleak House was written in 1853 and is the ninth novel in Dickens's work, and also marks the beginning of the author's artistic maturity. This book provides a cross-section of all layers of British society Victorian era, from the highest aristocracy to the world of city gateways. A master of creating intrigue, the writer has filled the work with secrets and intricate plot devices, which are simply impossible to tear yourself away from.
Christmas stories
A Christmas Carol was written by Dickens in the 1940s. In these stories, the main characters are fairies, elves, ghosts, spirits of the dead and... ordinary Englishmen. In them, fairy tales intertwine with reality, and horrors other world not inferior to the cruelty of the surrounding reality. Magical, scary and moderately moral and educational reading for all times.
The Life of David Copperfield as Told by Himself
The Life of David Copperfield as Told by Himself is a largely autobiographical novel by Charles Dickens, published in five parts in 1849 and as a book in 1850.
David's father died shortly before his son was born. At first, the boy grew up surrounded by the love of his mother and nanny, but with the appearance of his stepfather, a stubborn tyrant who considers the child his burden, he had to forget about his former life. Another “mentor,” the clueless Mr. Creakle, a former hop merchant turned school principal, continued to hammer home young hero their poor ideas of order. But these barbaric methods of education are interrupted by the outwardly stern Betsy Trotwood, who becomes the embodiment of goodness and justice for the boy.
Question about a fragment from the work English writer Charles Dickens tied the score in a game show with a team of experts.
Elena Yakimova from the city of Mikhailovsk, Stavropol Territory original question equalized the score in the fourth game of the spring series “What? Where? When?". The compatriot's question sounded like this: " Considerable composure and a considerable dose of prudence is required in its capture. You should not rush, otherwise you will overtake it; You should not go to the other extreme - otherwise you will completely lose it. The best way- run lightly, keeping up with the object of pursuit, wait for an opportunity, quickly grab it and smile benevolently all the time, as if it amuses you no less than everyone else. What object of persecution did Charles Dickens write about?
The team captain, Alena Povysheva, decided to answer. After listening to the question twice, the expert suggested that Dickens wrote about a butterfly, but answered that we're talking about about luck.
However, neither the answer nor the assumptions made by other team members during the discussion turned out to be correct. It turned out that it was about a hat. Photographer Elena Yakimova won 90 thousand rubles. The Stavropol player's question evened the score - 5:5. Next came the Super Blitz, which was lost by Alexey Samulev. The game ended with a score of 6:5 in favor of television viewers.
Residents of Stavropol region willingly take part in intellectual game. So, a resident of Georgievsk received 90 thousand rubles per winter game"What? Where? When?".
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