Charles Dickens (18 12- 1870) was a great British critical realism writer in the 19th century. He created a lot of works in his life, describing the social life of Victorian England in the19th century and exposing all kinds of evils in the bourgeois money world.
[Edit this paragraph] Life:
1865438+On March 7th, 2002, Dickens was born into a poor shop assistant family in Portsey, Portsmouth, southern England. My father, a clerk in the naval finance office, was thrown into a debt prison because he couldn't pay his debts. Dickens, who had just turned 65,438+00, had to shoulder the burden of family life. 1 1 years old, he was sent to a shoe polish workshop as a child laborer. In order to save money, both mother and sister-in-law moved into prison to live with their father. Dickens works outside the home, and when he gets paid every Sunday, he buys something to eat and visits his parents, brothers and sisters in prison. Later, Dickens' father inherited an inheritance from a distant relative and let him out of prison after he was in debt. Dickens left the shoeshine workshop to study in a primary school, and was very disgusted with the barbaric education that destroyed children in the school. Dickens' painful childhood made him deeply sympathize with the poor, especially their children. Later, he wrote many children's works, such as david copperfield, which reflected his childhood life.
Because of his poor family, Dickens began to work as a lawyer's scribe, a messenger in a firm and a court stenographer at the age of 16, which enabled him to travel all over the streets of London, go in and out of courts and prisons, meet all kinds of people and understand all kinds of litigation cases. 1832, he became an interviewer for the newspaper. During his time as a journalist, he had the opportunity to make extensive contact with British society, often went to Congress to record debates, witnessed the dirty inside story of the struggle of bourgeois political parties, and learned many evil facts of the upper class exposed in the debates, which collected rich life materials for his later literary creation.
Dickens had an indissoluble bond with literature since he was a child. In his childhood, he read many novels, such as Robinson Crusoe and Arabian Nights. His father loves drama, and often lets Dickens perform various plays, tells his acting experience, and teaches him to recite poems and improvise. Although this kind of education made little Dickens suffer a lot, it also cultivated his literary interest and the spirit of hard study. He often used his spare time working in several newspapers in London to study in the reading room of the British Museum and began to create literature when interviewed by reporters. From 1836 to 1837, Dickens published his first novel The Story of Pickwick in stages, which was widely welcomed by readers. Since then, he has left the press and started a career specializing in literary creation. 1842, he visited the United States. From 65438 to 0844, he often lived with his family in Switzerland, France and Italy. From 65438 to 0846, he founded the progressive newspaper Daily News as the editor-in-chief. 1858 conducted a recitation tour in China as an excellent recitator; He visited the United States again from 1867 to 1868. Dickens' tireless writing all his life has seriously damaged his health. 1On June 9th, 870, the "favored one" in English literature died of a sudden cerebral hemorrhage while writing his last novel, The Mystery of Edwin Druid. Dickens wrote in his will: "... I absolutely want my funeral to be simple." Don't make public. Don't send an obituary in the newspaper ... just engrave my name on the tombstone in ordinary font, without any words like' sir' and' your Excellency'. I implore my friends not to build monuments or write mourning articles for me. My book will make people remember me-that's enough for me ... "Except for the monument, Dickens' last wish was basically respected. However, his death caused the whole British people to mourn, and his ashes were buried in the "Poet's Corner" in Westminster.
[Edit this paragraph] Creation:
* * He has written 13 half novels in his life, most of which are representative works of nearly one million words, more than 20 novellas, hundreds of short stories, one close-up collection, two long travel notes, one children's English history, and a large number of speeches, letters, essays and miscellaneous poems. He traveled and lived in continental Europe many times and visited the United States twice. After middle age, he founded two periodicals, Household Stories and All Seasons of the Year, and discovered and trained a group of new writers.
Dickens lived and wrote in the middle of19th century and the early Victorian era. Dickens' life activities and creations always keep up with the trend of the times. He mainly exposed the hypocrisy, greed, meanness and cruelty of the upper class and the bourgeoisie with realistic brushstrokes, showed the tragic situation of the lower class, especially women, children and the elderly, with indignation and deep sympathy, and described the struggle of the awakening working people with a serious and prudent attitude. At the same time, he eulogized the truth, goodness and beauty in human nature with idealism and romanticism, and looked forward to a more reasonable society and a better life.
Dickens' early novels are magnificent, popular and fluent, humorous and full of sentimental sentiment, in which the exposure and criticism of society are generally limited to local systems and fields. Such as Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nicholby, Old Antique Shop, Martin Zhu Schulwitt, A Christmas Carol, etc.
After Dombey and Son, Dickens' creation became more mature. Through the relationship between Mr Dombey, his son Paul and his daughter Florence, this novel discusses the erosion of human nature by economic potential, and reflects the writer's anxiety about the future of human society. David copperfield, Dickens' important masterpiece, further explores the struggle course of life. It is autobiographical, and it is a long scroll of the middle and lower classes in England in the middle of19th century. David, the hero, is a model of middle-class youth who struggled for kindness and insisted on justice in society at that time. Bleak House, Hard Times and Little Li Du are three important works with strong political consciousness. Bleak House reveals the darkness of British legal system and judicature with complicated plots. Hard Times directly describes the strike struggle, which is a response to the British constitutional movement. Little Li Du describes the debtor's prison life in detail, and at the same time exposes the redundancy and decay of British bureaucracy and system in greater depth.
Dickens' later works clearly reflect the deepening of creative theme, the maturity of skills and the exploration in many aspects. Great Expectations can be regarded as the opposite of david copperfield, but the exploration of life path has more practical and warning significance, and the author's optimism in his early years is obviously reduced. Pip, the hero, is also an orphan, but he can't stand the temptation of the environment and loses his original simple nature. After experiencing severe hardships, he repented and started a new life, and the whole novel was more concise in structure. Our Friends is another critical novel that goes deep into the society. The exploration of human nature and philosophy of life contained in it are more profound, and the symbolism and detective novel techniques used in the works add to its artistic charm. Dickens' last novel, The Mystery of Edwin Druid, has only completed 23 chapters, from which we can see that it is elegant in writing, rigorous in conception, full of suspense and mysterious and attractive.
Among Dickens' novels, the early Barnabe Raj and the later A Tale of Two Cities are historical novels. "Barnabe Raj" is set in the Gordon riots of English Puritans against Catholic rule at the end of 18. A Tale of Two Cities is set in the French Revolution. The two novels also have obvious irony and vigilance, aiming to show that unreasonable system and rule will inevitably lead people to rise up and resist, and the rising masses (called "mobs" by Dickens) will be like a scourge, which will be out of control and form huge irrational destructive power. These two novels undoubtedly represent Dickens' reformist stance and pessimistic view of history, and Sidney Kalden in A Tale of Two Cities sacrificed her life for the happiness of the woman she loved, which is the embodiment of Dickens' highest moral ideal and the finale of noble sentiments repeatedly praised in his novels. From the vivid descriptions and gripping plots of these two novels, we can find the obvious influence of the historical novelist Scott. Especially A Tale of Two Cities has always been regarded as one of Dickens' best novels, because of its elegant and profound brushwork, simple and perfect structure, numerous suspense settings and creative exploration of life philosophy and subconscious activities of characters.
[Edit this paragraph] Impact:
Dickens' novels are well-known at home and abroad, with great length, all-encompassing content, elegant style and rich colors. He is the most outstanding representative writer in the prosperous period of English novels in the19th century, and also the most popular writer in Britain in the19th century. His influence spread all over Europe, America and other countries in the world. He was regarded as "a beacon to call people back to laughter and kindness" by later generations, and Marx regarded it as "a bright light". His works and various popular, children's books and entertainment programs evolved from these works are widely spread all over the world. In China, as early as the early 20th century, Lin Shu and others translated Dickens' novels, and many outstanding masterpieces were translated into Chinese.