"I know enough of the world now, to have almost lost the capacity of being much surprised by anything; but it is matter of some surprise to me, even now, that I can have been so easily thrown away at such an age. A child of excellent abilities, and with strong powers of observation, quick, eager, delicate, and soon hurt bodily or mentally, it seems wonderful to me that nobody should have made any sign on my behalf. But none was made; and I became, at ten years old, a little laboring hind." Two years later, in 1835, John Dickens was released from prison and the family left to reclaim Charles and place him back in school in north London. His father fell into debt trouble again when Charles was fifteen, however, at that time when he left school he was hired as a clerk by a young solicitor. His father left the Navy Office around hat time and found work as a parliamentary reporter; Charles followed John into this work in 1828 and became a successful freelance shorthand-writer (despite his fervid interest in theatre).
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"The fact is, Mr. Dickens writes too often and too fast...If he persists much longer in this course, it requires no gift of prophecy to foretell his fate - he has risen like a rocket, and he will come down like the stick."
"I can do nothing that I want to do, go nowhere I want to go, and see nothing that I want to see. If I turn into the street, I am followed by a multitude. If I stay at home, the house becomes, with callers, like a fair."
While Americans pressed at him and badgered him for autographs, handshakes, and even locks of hair, many pegged him as a tiresome "dandy". He wore bright red or green vests rather than the black that was the fashion, he combed his hair at the dinner table, and (most audacious of all), he argued for international copyright protection. Despite the point that this would protect American work as well as international work, "the popular press was furious that Boz should insult his generous American hosts" (Hearn xxvi). Taking as much in as he could, he saw Niagara Falls, met the President, and witnessed slavery in Virginia. Yet, Dickens found that despite his hope and expectation that he would be enamored of America whilst there, he discovered and told his friend, actor William Macready:
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"But however much I like the ingredients of this great dish, I cannot but come back tot he point from which I started, and say that the dish itself goes against the grain with me, and that I don't like it."
"Ghost Story of Christmas".
Around this time, Dickens started to become more vocal about the good of education and the evil of poor working conditions (especially in regards to child labor). The 1842 reports on "the Employment and Condition of Children in Mines and Manufactures...so enraged [Dickens] that he went to Cornwall that autumn to see for himself how appalling conditions were" (Hearn xxxii). It was in mulling over Ignorance and Want during his three-day trip to Manchester that Dickens conceived the plot of A Christmas Carol in Prose (1843). Much of this beloved story is taken from his earlier works, including "The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton" (which was drawn from Washington's Rip Van Winkle), and Ebenezer Scrooge is a clear echo of Gabriel Grub, the bitter sinner who is whisked away on Christmas Eve by goblins who show him the proper way to celebrate the season and he, in turn, changes his ways for the good. Scrooge's childhood and the Cratchit Christmas dinner, however, are drawn more from Dickens' own childhood and experiences. |
"Who can listen to the objections regarding such a book as this? It seems to me a national benefit, and to every man or woman who reads it, a personal kindness."
The Actress.
In 1857, Dickens wrote a play, "The Frozen Deep", with his young protégé Wilkie Collins. One of the actresses they hired for the production of this piece was eighteen-year-old Ellen Ternan, with whom Dickens fell madly in love. Much against the conventions of his time, Dickens divorced his wife Catherine in 1858, never to see her or their children again. There is much mystery surrounding Ternan. She burned all of the letters Dickens wrote her and very little is known about their actual relationship. It is speculated that they had a son together that died young and also that Ternan possibly lived with Dickens secretly for thirteen years. What is clear is that Dickens paid Ternan an annuity on his deathbed, making her a financially independent woman after his death in 1870. |
Later works and the "Farewell Readings".
After separating from his wife, Dickens went on several reading tours. In 1859, A Tale of Two Cities was published, with Great Expectations (1861) following close on its heels. Dickens returned to America in 1867 to perform readings and visit literary friends such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. By this time, he was very ill, barely able to eat, and upon returning to England, he continued his "farewell readings" until he suffered a stroke in 1869, forcing his to cancel his tour for a time. He used this time to work on his final novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, which remained unfinished at the time of his death in 1870. Dickens died at home (likely, after a full day of writing Drood), suffering a stroke from which he never woke up. It's said his final words were "On the ground", in response to his sister-in-law Georgina's request that he lie down. He is buried in Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey. |