Rising Star Adventures and Beyond

Remembering Charles Dickens

Charles John Huffam Dickens Was his full name. He was born on February 7, 1812. He died on June 9, 1870. He lived and died in England. He was one of the most popular authors during the Victorian era.

His first literary success was a serial publication called the Pickwick Papers in 1836. He produced a lot of weekly or monthly serial writings from then on. He also wrote some novels such as A Christmas Carol, A Tale of Two Cities, and Oliver Twist.

Charles's wife’s name was Catherine Hogarth Dickens. They married in April 1836. They had the following children: Charles Dickens Jr., Mary Dickens, Kate Perugini, Walter Landor Dickens, Francis Dickens, Alfred D'Orsay Tennyson Dickens, Sydney Smith Haldimand Dickens, Henry Fielding Dickens
Dora Annie Dickens, and Edward Dickens.

In 1842, Charles Dickens took a trip to America. While there, he got 25 other writers of his time to sign a petition to create international copyright laws because people were pirating his works in the states.

Charles Dickens claimed Christianity as his religion. He did not agree with Roman Catholicism or Evangelicalism of his time. He felt they were extreme forms of Christianity.

Charles had an affair when he was 45 with a young 18-year-old actress named Ellen Ternan. One day his wife accidentally opened a package meant for Ellen with a piece of gold jewelry and a letter written to her from her husband. In 1858, after 22 years of marriage, they divorced.

In November of 1867, Mr. Dickens made a second trip to America. He did a reading tour. Back then, people would pay to hear authors read their books to them.

In June of 1870, Mr. Dickens had a stroke after working for a full day on his last work, Edwin Drood. He remained unconscious and died the next day. His body was laid to rest at Westminster Abbey in the Poets corner.

Many of Charles Dickens's works were compared to William Shakespeare's. Many of his works are still in print and some have even been made into TV adaptations and motion pictures, as many as 200. Amid all the popularity of this man, he had some bad reviews too. There were still some people and other authors who did not like his work and considered him intellectually lacking and incompetent.

Mr. Dickens had requested in his will that he did not want any memorial erected in his honor. Despite this request, some museums house some of his original manuscripts and statues erected in his honor. There is the Charles Dickens Museum in London and the Charles Dickens Birthplace Museum in Portsmouth. There are other works and documents kept at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

In Philadelphia, PA there is a bronze statue called Dickens and Little Nell. In Sydney, Australia another life-sized statue of Charles Dickens exists. In 2014, another statue erected in Portsmouth, England of Charles Dickens at his birthplace was supported by his great-grandsons. Charles Dickens has even appeared on many postage stamps as well.

Out of all his writings, A Christmas Carol is probably his most famous work.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Dickens
I got my information from this link or items linked to this page.
Created for "Celebrating Authors"