English literature the book is designed to acquaint students with the main outlines

(1812 - 1870)

Charles Dickens, the first novelist o f the trend of Critical Realism, was bom in 1812 near Portsmouth on the southern coast of England. His father was a clerk and the family lived on his small salary. They belonged to the lower middle class. The father was often transferred from place to place. First they moved to the ancient town of Rochester, then, in 1822 to London. In Rochester Charles began to attend school. He continued his studies in London as well. But soon his father lost his job and was imprisoned for debt. Charles had to begin to work at a factory. In about a year the Dickenses received a small sum of money after the death of a relative, so all the debts were paid. Charles got a

chance to go to school again. Dickens left school when he was twelve. He had to continue his education by himself. His father sent him to a lawyer’s office to study law. He did not stay there long, but he learned the ways and manners of lawyers, as many ofhis books show.
In 1832 Dickens became a parliamentary reporter. Dickens’s first efforts at writing were little stories about the ordinary Londoners he saw. He signed them Boz (the nickname given to him by his youngest brother). At the age of 24 Dickens married Catherine Hogarth. Later he discovered his ability as a novelist and devoted himself to literary work. Twice he visited the USA. Besides Dickens was a master of reading. He had invented the theatre for one actor. From 1858 to 1868 he had give i dramatic readings ofhis novels in England and America. An audience to Dickens was like a potent wine, he delighted in the applause. Dickens knew more than he revealed. His own nature was involved in a high emotionalism, which prevented him from reaching the sense of tragedy of Dostoyevsky, or that full vision of life, which makes Tolstoy supreme among novelists of the world. Short of this he had eveiything. In 1867-186 8 Dickens made a triumphant reading tour in the United States during his second visit, which was a great strain on him and undermined his health. He died suddenly on June 9, 1870. Dickens was buried in Westminster Abbey. When Dickens died something had gone out of English life that was irreplaceable, a bright light thal had shone upon the drab commercialism of the century, calling men back to laughter and kindliness, and the disruption of the cruelties in which they were entangling themselves. Like all great artists he saw the world as if it was an entirely fresh experience seen for the first time, and he had an extraordinary range of language, from comic invention to great eloquence. He invented character and situation with a range that had been unequalled since Shakespeare. So deeply did he affect his audiences that the view of life behind his novels has entered into the English tradition. Reason and theory he distrusted, but compassion and cheerfulness of heart he el­ evated into the supreme virtues. He knew in his more reflective
moments that cheerfulness alone would not destroy the Coketowns of the world. This reflection he kept mainly to himself, and his inlense emotionalism helped him to obscure it.

Dickens’s Creative Work

Dickers was the greatest novelist ofhis age. He wrote a tre­ mendous number of works. He created a new type of novel - a social novel. The great contrast between rich and poor Dickens considered abnormal in a civilized society. Dickens put all his hopes in the good qualities of human nature. To the end ofhis life he hoped to find means to better the world he lived in. But while painting hard reality, Dickens changed his attitude as years went by, as to the causes of poverty and exploitation. His creative work has been divided into four periods.

1. 
   The works written between the years 1833-1841 belong to the first period. They are: “Sketches by Boz” (1833-1836), “The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club”, “Oliver Twist”, “Nicholas Nickleby”, “Barnaby Rudge”, “The Old Curiosity Shop”. Dickens’s heroes and heroines of the first period are remarkable for their fortitude. They never hesitate to take the wisest way and remain true to the principles of honor. They pre­ fer to live in poverty and work hard. Finally virtue conquers evil. Humor and optimism are characteristic of the first period in Dickens’s writings.
   
2. 
   The following books, written between the years 1842-1848, belong to the second period in the w riter’s creative work: ’ American Notes”, “Martin Chuzzlewit”, “The Christmas Books”, “Dombey and Son”. In the works of the second period Dickens begins, to describe the crimes that arise from the existing system itself.
   
3. 
   During the third period (1850-1859) he wrote “ David Copperfield”, “Bleak House”, “HardTimes”, “Little Dorrit”, “A Tale ofTwo Cities”. These novels are the strongest for the social criticism expressed in them. Dickens describes in detail the social
   

institutions of the day and draws a vivid picture of the English people life.
IY. The fourth period in Dickens’s creative work was the six­ ties. During those years he wrote only 2 novels: “Great Expecta­ tions”, and “Our Mutual Friend”. These works are written in a spirit of disillusionment. Now he feels that a better future is too far off and he only allows himself, as a writer, to dream of that future. His heroes show the moral strength and patience of the common people.

“Dom bey and Son”

In this novel, the writer turns away for the first time from the world of little people to that of the high bourgeoisie.

The full title of the novel is: “Dealings with the Firm of Dombey and Son, Wholesale, Retail and for Exportation.” It tells the story of a rich family, the Dombeys. Mr Dombey is a merchant and his only interest in life is the prosperity ofhis family firm.
Mrs. Dombey dies at the close of Chapter 1, after giving birth to her only son, which is depicted as glacial and cavernous. Little Paul Dombey is a sickly, sensitive child, whose father adopts toward him the attitude of ihe prince consort to an eldest son; he must be made “the most perfect man”, and to that end he is starved of the affection he needs, and sent, at the age of five, to Mrs. Pipchin’s establishment in Brighton. If he has received little, his sister Florence, older than he by six years, gets even less. As a daughter, she is of no consequence to her father, or to anyone else except her faithful and outspoken attendant, Susan Nipper.
The machinery of the plot is comparatively simple in contrast to the richness of its orchestration. Dombey, distressed by the death ofhis son and the foundering ofhis hopes, increasingly rejects his daughter Florence, in spite of her attempts to win his affection. Dombey marries again, this time choosing a beauty of superior social standing to his own. Edith Dombey is instantly drawn to Florence, who in her teens, not only takes warmly to her stepmother but counts on her help to overcome her father’s hos
tility. However, Edith has her own kind of pride. She sets up in flat opposition to her husband, whom her one aim is to humiliate. For Florence’s sake, she begins to keep the little girl at arm’s length until, after a final scene, she leaves for France with Dombey’s trusted manager.
Dickens considers all blows that have fallen upon Mr. Dombey as punishment deserved. Mr. Dombey is the symbol of all that was cruel and far from human in the upper middle class in Dickens’s time.
But the character of Mr. Dombey changes unexpectedly at the end of the novel. Misfortunes soften his character and he becomes a good man. Old Mr. Dombey lives in the happy home of Florence, who is now married to Walter Gay. Now Mr. Dombey loves his daughter and grandchildren.
The author of the book, Charles Dickens, always wanted to reconcile people with one another, and the end of the book is a vivid example of it.

Questions and Tasks

1. 
   Speak about the 19,hcentury England?
   
2. 
   What poets are considered to be the two great pillars of the literature of the Victorian Age?
   
3. 
   What forced Tennyson to leave Cambridge without completing his education?
   
4. 
   When did Robert Browning become famous and Tennyson’s equal among Victorian readers?
   
5. 
   Name the greatest English critical realists you know.
   
6. 
   Whet books belong to Dickens’s first period of literary work?
   
7. 
   What books were written by Dickens between the years 1842-1848?
   
8. 
   When was Dickens’s “Hard Times” written and what was described in it?
   
9. 
   Why is Dickens called the creator of the theatre for one actor?
   
10. 
    What impression did the novel “Dombey and Son” make on you?
    

William Makepeace Thackeray