Biographies
An Index of Notable Authors
Charles Dickens
1812-1870Charles John Huffam Dickens, pen-name "Boz", was an English novelist. During his career he achieved worldwide popularity, winning renown for his rich storytelling and memorable characters. Considered one of the English language's greatest writers, he was the foremost novelist of the Victorian era as well as a energetic social campaigner. Later critics, beginning with George Gissing and G. K. Chesterton, championed his mastery of prose, his endless invention of memorable characters and his powerful social sensibilities. Yet he also received criticism from his more rarefied readers, including George Henry Lewes, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf, who list faults such as sentimentality, unrealistic events and grotesque characters. The criticisms of these high brows shows the degree of resentment which Dickens's popularity and closeness to the British public caused among the literary elite. No one in touch with normal human emotions can deny the power of Dickens as a master of prose storytelling. The popularity of his novels and short stories during his lifetime and to the present is demonstrated by the fact that none have ever gone out of print. Dickens wrote serialised novels, which was the usual format for fiction at the time, and each new part of his stories would be eagerly anticipated by the reading public. He is regarded by many as the greatest writer of his time.
