Charles Dickens, A Life

By Claire Tomalin

Dickens’s books are known all over the world and have been translated in every language. But what do we know exactly about the man himself , the novelist, the journalist, the playwright, the reader of his own works, the supporter of charitable organisations , the man who raised awareness about the social problems in London in Victorian times ? The man whose personal family life was his darkest side ?

Dickens was a creative genius : 

He drew his inspiration from his own poor childhood, storing up impressions of what he saw in the squalid and overcrowded streets of London to use in his novels.

He raised himself out of poverty, with an exceptional determination and maintained his dignity, never allowing any one to see his distress. He was a child-labourer, who got little academic instruction, who then worked as an office-boy in a law firm. The law, in its many ramifications fascinated him and lawyers figures are to be found in almost all his novels.

He was then a reporter at the House of Commons.

When starting to write his novels, it was as weekly sequels, meaning that there was  no way back to alter the course of the story, before reaching the point of being published as books.

He became immediately successful and the money he earned made his life easier. He took up  supporting charitable organisations and set up an ambitious enterprise to help young prostitutes  to start a better new life.

What struck us was his restlessness :

Walking the streets of London for hours during the night, moving home all the time with the family in tow. When he started giving readings of his books, he became an incessant traveller ( UK,US),which eventually led to his exhaustion.

As a human being, although his was a love-marriage in the first place, he has been a poor and unfaithful husband and a poor father ( of 10 children).

What is most important about his work is his social message :

His  aim as a writer was to draw attention to abuses, to the plight of women. He celebrated  the small people living on the margin of society, alerting those who might do something to help.

His formidable energy never flagged and until the end, he believed that working through his writing was more effective than any political action.

This book by Claire Tomalin was very long and detailed but worth reading !

                                                                                           Anne Van Calster  May 2021