204-] English Literature

204- ] English Literature

Charles Dickens 

The Early Novels

Mary Hogarth

Mary HogarthIn March, 1836 Dickens began writing a loose collection of the adventures of a sporting club titled The Pickwick Papers. Published in monthly installments at the suggestion of his new publishers, Chapman and Hall (Ackroyd, 1990, p. 177-178), the popularity of the series soared, especially after the introduction of Pickwick's servant, Samuel Weller, in chapter 10 (Johnson, 1952, p. 148-149). While Pickwick was still being serialized, Dickens began writing Oliver Twist, which appeared in weekly parts in the magazine, Bentley's Miscellany (Ackroyd, 1990, p. 215-218).

On January 6, 1837, Catherine and Charles celebrated the birth of their first child, Charles Jr, called Charley. In March the growing family moved to new quarters at 48 Doughty Street. On May 7, after attending the theatre with Charles and Catherine, seventeen-year-old Mary became ill. She worsened during the night and died the next day in Charles’ arms (Slater, 2009, p. 100).

Georgina Hogarth

The family was devastated, none more so than Charles. He took a ring from Mary’s finger and wore it the rest of his life. Mary lives again in Dickens’ fiction in the character of some of his "perfect females" including Rose Maylie and Little Nell (Pugh, 1912, p. 68). Another of Catherine's sisters, Georgina, eventually took Mary's place in the Dickens household (Ackroyd, 1990, p. 337).

While weekly episodes of Oliver Twist were appearing in Bentley's Miscellany, Dickens began monthly serialization of Nicholas Nickleby. To research the story Dickens and his illustrator, Hablot Knight Browne (Phiz) made a trip to Yorkshire, incognito, to investigate the notorious boarding schools there (Forster, 1899, v. 1, p. 112-113). After Nickleby, Dickens began a weekly magazine entitled Master Humphrey's Clock that featured, among other stories, the story of Little Nell and her grandfather called The Old Curiosity Shop.

Master Humphrey's Clock

Master Humphrey's ClockThis tale became so popular that it completely took over weekly editions of Master Humphrey's Clock to the exclusion of all other writing (Johnson, 1952, p. 297-298). With the conclusion of The Old Curiosity Shop, Dickens immediately started weekly publication, also in Master Humphrey's Clock, of Barnaby Rudge (Schlicke, 1999, p. 30).

After the completion of Barnaby Rudge, Dickens decided to take some time off and persuaded his publishers, Chapman and Hall, to advance him money to make a trip to America, with the promise of a travel book upon return. Charles and Catherine now had four children: Charley (1837), daughters Mary (1838) and Katie (1839), and youngest son Walter (1841). It was decided that the children should be left at home with Dickens' friend, actor William Macready and his wife (Ackroyd, 1990, p. 334-335).

Dickens in America 1842Charles and Catherine, along with Catherine's maid, Anne Brown, set sail aboard the steamship Britannia on January 3, 1842 and landed at Boston on January 22. He was instantly subjected to the American brand of hero worship that quite confounded him. He wrote home that "I can do nothing that I want to do, go nowhere where I want to go, and see nothing that I want to see. If I turn into the street, I am followed by a multitude" (Forster, 1899, v. 1, p. 229) . Dickens’ initial enthusiasm turned to disappointment as the tour of America dragged on. He was hounded in the press for his continued harping on the issue of international copyright, stemming from the fact that although extremely popular in the States, he received nothing for his work sold there (Johnson, 1952, p. 380-382). Dickens' travels in America 1842

Dickens' travels in America 1842To Macready he wrote "this is not the republic I came to see; this is not the republic of my imagination" (Letters, 1974, v. 3, p. 156).

Upon returning home he penned the promised travel book, American Notes, a rather unflattering description of America, and followed that with Martin Chuzzlewit, published in monthly parts, in which the protagonist goes to America and is subjected to the same sort of puffed up, mercenary people Dickens found there. The story was not well received and did not sell well (Patten, 1978, p. 133). Neither had Barnaby Rudge (Schlicke, 1999, p. 33), and Dickens felt that perhaps his lamp had gone out.

Dickens found himself in dire financial straits. He had borrowed heavily from his publishers for the American trip and his family continued to grow with their fifth child, son Francis, on the way. His feckless father was borrowing money in Charles' name behind his back. He needed an idea for a new book that would satisfy his pecuniary problems (Slater, 2009, p. 215-220).

A Christmas Carol

The seeds for the story that became A Christmas Carol were planted in Dickens' mind during a trip to Manchester to deliver a speech in support of education. Thoughts of education as a remedy for crime and poverty, along with scenes he had recently witnessed at the Field Lane Ragged School, caused Dickens to resolve to "strike a sledge hammer blow" for the poor (Ackroyd, 1990, p. 408-409). As the idea for the story took shape and the writing began in earnest, Dickens became engrossed in the book. He wrote that as the tale unfolded he "wept and laughed, and wept again' and that he 'walked about the black streets of London fifteen or twenty miles many a night when all sober folks had gone to bed" (Forster, 1899, v. 1, p. 326). Dickens was at odds with Chapman and Hall over the low receipts from Martin Chuzzlewit and decided to self-publish the book, overspending on color illustrations and lavish binding and then setting the cost low so that everyone could afford it (Slater, 2009, p. 220). The book was an instant success but royalties were low after production costs were paid.

First visit to the United States

On 22 January 1842, Dickens and his wife arrived in Boston, Massachusetts, aboard the RMS Britannia during their first trip to the United States and Canada. At this time Georgina Hogarth, another sister of Catherine, joined the Dickens household, now living at Devonshire Terrace, Marylebone to care for the young family they had left behind. She remained with them as housekeeper, organiser, adviser and friend until Dickens's death in 1870. Dickens modelled the character of Agnes Wickfield after Georgina and Mary.

He described his impressions in a travelogue, American Notes for General Circulation. In Notes, Dickens includes a powerful condemnation of slavery which he had attacked as early as The Pickwick Papers, correlating the emancipation of the poor in England with the abolition of slavery abroad citing newspaper accounts of runaway slaves disfigured by their masters. In spite of the abolitionist sentiments gleaned from his trip to America, some modern commentators have pointed out inconsistencies in Dickens's views on racial inequality. For instance, he has been criticised for his subsequent acquiescence in Governor Eyre's harsh crackdown during the 1860s Morant Bay rebellion in Jamaica and his failure to join other British progressives in condemning it. From Richmond, Virginia, Dickens returned to Washington, D.C., and started a trek westward, with brief pauses in Cincinnati and Louisville, to St. Louis, Missouri. While there, he expressed a desire to see an American prairie before returning east. A group of 13 men then set out with Dickens to visit Looking Glass Prairie, a trip 30 miles into Illinois.

During his American visit, Dickens spent a month in New York City, giving lectures, raising the question of international copyright laws and the pirating of his work in America. He persuaded a group of 25 writers, headed by Washington Irving, to sign a petition for him to take to Congress, but the press were generally hostile to this, saying that he should be grateful for his popularity and that it was mercenary to complain about his work being pirated.

The popularity he gained caused a shift in his self-perception according to critic Kate Flint, who writes that he "found himself a cultural commodity, and its circulation had passed out his control", causing him to become interested in and delve into themes of public and personal personas in the next novels. She writes that he assumed a role of "influential commentator", publicly and in his fiction, evident in his next few books. His trip to the U.S. ended with a trip to Canada – Niagara Falls, Toronto, Kingston and Montreal – where he appeared on stage in light comedies.

Dickens' travels in Italy 1844-45

Serialization of Martin Chuzzlewit came to a conclusion in July, 1844, and Dickens conceived of the idea of another travel book; this time he would go to Italy (Ackroyd, 1990, p. 426). The family spent a year in Italy, first in Genoa, and then traveling through the southern part of the country. He wrote the second of his Christmas Books, The Chimes (Slater, 2009, p. 230-231), while in Genoa and sent his adventures home in the form of letters which were published in the Daily News. These were collected into a single volume entitled Pictures from Italy in May, 1846 (Davis, 1999, p. 318).

Dickens followed the Italian trip with the monthly serialization of Dombey and Son. The book was remarkable for being the first where Dickens used notes he called mems to outline the story in advance.

Return to England

Soon after his return to England, Dickens began work on the first of his Christmas stories, A Christmas Carol, written in 1843, which was followed by The Chimes in 1844 and The Cricket on the Hearth in 1845. Of these, A Christmas Carol was most popular and, tapping into an old tradition, did much to promote a renewed enthusiasm for the joys of Christmas in Britain and America. The seeds for the story became planted in Dickens's mind during a trip to Manchester to witness the conditions of the manufacturing workers there. This, along with scenes he had recently witnessed at the Field Lane Ragged School, caused Dickens to resolve to "strike a sledge hammer blow" for the poor. As the idea for the story took shape and the writing began in earnest, Dickens became engrossed in the book. He later wrote that as the tale unfolded he "wept and laughed, and wept again" as he "walked about the black streets of London fifteen or twenty miles many a night when all sober folks had gone to bed".

 

After living briefly in Italy (1844), Dickens travelled to Switzerland (1846), where he began work on Dombey and Son (1846–48). This and David Copperfield (1849–50) mark a significant artistic break in Dickens's career as his novels became more serious in theme and more carefully planned than his early works.

At about this time, he was made aware of a large embezzlement at the firm where his brother, Augustus, worked (John Chapman & Co). It had been carried out by Thomas Powell, a clerk, who was on friendly terms with Dickens and who had acted as mentor to Augustus when he started work. Powell was also an author and poet and knew many of the famous writers of the day. After further fraudulent activities, Powell fled to New York and published a book called The Living Authors of England with a chapter on Charles Dickens, who was not amused by what Powell had written. One item that seemed to have annoyed him was the assertion that he had based the character of Paul Dombey (Dombey and Son) on Thomas Chapman, one of the principal partners at John Chapman & Co. Dickens immediately sent a letter to Lewis Gaylord Clark, editor of the New York literary magazine The Knickerbocker, saying that Powell was a forger and thief. Clark published the letter in the New-York Tribune and several other papers picked up on the story. Powell began proceedings to sue these publications and Clark was arrested. Dickens, realising that he had acted in haste, contacted John Chapman & Co to seek written confirmation of Powell's guilt. Dickens did receive a reply confirming Powell's embezzlement, but once the directors realised this information might have to be produced in court, they refused to make further disclosures. Owing to the difficulties of providing evidence in America to support his accusations, Dickens eventually made a private settlement with Powell out of court.