Charles Dickens is an English writer, essayist and novelist, one of the greatest prose writers of the 19th century, a recognized classic of world literature. All of Dickens's novels are written in the style of high realism and are permeated with criticism of the injustice of hypocrisy and the vices of society.
The main literary works of Dickens include 20 novels, 1 collection of stories, 3 collections of selected stories and a large number of essays.
Dickens's most famous novels
"The Pickwick Papers" is the very first novel of the writer, after the publication of which Dikkenasa expected a dizzying success. The work tells about a comic epic, the main character of which is a good-natured, eccentric, highly moral, impeccably honest, selflessly courageous and infinitely naive optimist Mr. Pickwick - the creator of the club of the same name. The novel in its satirical presentation of the life of English society and grotesque protagonist is very similar to "Don Quixote" by Cervantes.
Dickens spontaneously fell into a trance quite often, was subject to visions and from time to time experienced states of déjà vu.
The Adventures of Oliver Twist is the second novel that tells the life story of a little orphan boy forced to wander through the London slums. On his way, he meets the baseness and nobility of people from various walks of English society. The pages of the work depict quite plausible pictures of the life of British society in the 19th century. In this novel, the writer acts as a humanist, affirming the power of a good beginning in a person. The boy Oliver's sincere desire for an honest life overcomes a cruel fate, and everything ends well.
Dickens's next novel was The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, which continued the theme of a destroyed childhood. Like Oliver Twist, this tale has a good ending. The novel was published in small parts from March to September in 1839.
Even before the last issue of Nicholas Nickleby was published, the writer began work on a new project called The Antiquities Shop, which was also published in small portions every week from April 1840 to February 1841. The novel was very popular in Great Britain and America.
Immediately after the publication of the Antiquities Shop, a new work by the writer, entitled Barneby Raj, begins to appear in the same format. This novel was a well-worn thing of Dickens, he promised to write it back to his very first publisher in 1836, but became carried away by the "Pickwick Club" and postponed the matter for later.
After that, the publication of books began, included in the collection of selected works under the general title "Christmas stories", which were devoted to the theme of Christmas and everything connected with it. This collection includes such works of the writer as: "Christmas Carol", "Bells", "Cricket Behind the Hearth", "Battle of Life", "Persecuted Man". All the works included in this collection are written in the style of social preaching, but in a light artistic form.
After traveling to America, Dickens wrote a parody novel of the American way of life called Martin Chuzzlewit. Many overseas critics and readers did not like the writer's caustic satire, they met this work with hostility and condemned the writer, considering the publication of the novel an extreme tactlessness.
The next novel of the writer was called "Dombey and Son" and became one of the best in the work of Dickens. In this work, all facets of Dickens' talent are very well spelled out. A wealth of colors, an endless series of eccentric characters, life situations and situations, constant graceful, indignation bordering on revolutionary pathos: all this is filled with the novel "Dombey and Son".
Another major work of Dickens, which no longer contained so much humor and was largely autobiographical, was the novel "David Copperfield", published after the publication of "Dombey and Son". The work has a serious and elaborate theme of protesting against the new soulless capitalist society and praising moral values and family.
Despite the fact that in his will the writer asked not to erect monuments to him, in 2012 it was decided to erect a monument on the main square of Portsmouth. The monument will be unveiled on June 9, 2013, by Martin Jeggins.
Late works
After "David Copperfield" in Dickens's novels there is more melancholy and hopelessness, humor fades into the background, values that were undeniable in the past are increasingly questioned. Late works of the writer include the novels: Bleak House, Hard Times, Little Dorrit, A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, the last completed novel Our Mutual Friend and the unfinished detective work The Mystery of Edwin Drood ".
