A project work by Cosimo Cannata,

Charles Dickens’ Biography ( )  Born in Portsmouth, 7 February 1812  1824, Dickens worked at Warren’s Blacking Warehouse  1824, Mr. Dickens (Charles’ father) taken to debtors’ prison; family goes with him  Imprisoned from February – May /12/ Cosimo Cannata

More Bio  Dickens family evicted from (= cacciata via) home for not paying rent  Charles is pulled out of private school  Charles, now 15, becomes law clerk and free- lance writer  Charles takes Boz as pen name  Charles’ Dad re-arrested for debts 03/12/ Cosimo Cannata

Dickens starts Publishing!  Sketches by Boz  The Pickwick Papers  and on a personal note...

“Here Comes the Bride…”  1836 (Dickens is 24) he and Catherine Hogarth get married  and… one year later, the first “little Dickens” is born  and one year after that, baby n. 2 is born... 03/12/ Cosimo Cannata

But, back to business!  Oliver Twist is serially published (appears in periodical magazines) 03/12/ Cosimo Cannata

Some other Dickens’ novels…  Nicholas Nickleby  The Old Curiosity Shop  Barnaby Rudge  American Notes  A Christmas Carol  Martin Chuzzlewit  The Chimes  The Cricket on the Hearth  The Battle of Life  Dombey and Son

And so writing goes on...  David Copperfield  Bleak House  A Child’s History of England and... a near nervous breakdown  Hard Times  Little Dorrit  A Tale of Two Cities  Great Expectations  Our Mutual Friends  The Mystery of Edwin Drood (unfinished)

What was happening in 1837?  King William IV of England dies  Victoria becomes queen of England  Benjamin Disraeli delivers his first speech in the House of Commons 03/12/ Cosimo Cannata

03/12/ Cosimo Cannata

And in the arts?  Nathaniel Hawthorne publishes Twice Told Tales – it becomes a best seller  William H. Prescott publishes The History of the Reign of Isabella and Ferdinand  John Constable died (English landscape painter)English landscape painter  Berlioz completes “Grande Messe des Morts,” Opus 5 03/12/ Cosimo Cannata

03/12/ Cosimo Cannata

In the sciences  Industrialist August Borsig opens iron foundry and engine-building factory in Berlin  Wheatstone and Cooke patent electric telegraph  Samuel Morse exhibits his electric telegraph  Dutchman Johannes Diderik born (Nobel Prize in physics in 1910)

03/12/ Cosimo Cannata

03/12/ Cosimo Cannata

Themes in Dickens’ novels The powerlessness of childrenpowerlessness of children Good’s ability to triumph over evil Man’s humanity to man Man’s inhumanity to maninhumanity The outcast’s search for status and identity The heinous (= hateful) nature of crime and criminals

03/12/2007Cosimo Cannata 18 Hard life for English teenagers in XIXth century

03/12/2007Cosimo Cannata 19 Cruelty and inhumanity in daily life

03/12/2007Cosimo Cannata 20

Dickens' style of writing  1. Dickens ’ descriptions show a wonderful eye for DETAIL.  2. Dickens ’ style of writing is filled spaces, and included lots of REPETITION and long LISTS.  3. Dickens loved words. He included lots of powerful ADJECTIVES, and is famous for his use of METAPHORS and SIMILES.  4. From the early 1850s, Dickens gave public readings of his novels. His writing is RHYTHMIC and designed to be read out loud.  5. The effect is COMIC or heart-breakingly  6. The tone becomes SENTIMENTAL.  7. D. used DIALECT and brilliant sections of DIALOGUE and EXAGGERATION.

Physical description — telling us what the character looks like dialogue — what the character says Physical actions — what the character does (particularly in relation to what he or she says or thinks.) Thoughts, or mental actions — the character's inner life, what the character thinks Techniques for characterization /12/ Cosimo Cannata

Techniques for characterization – 2 Judgment by others — what other characters say and think about this fictional person The narrator's judgement — what narrator tells us about the character The author's judgement — what the author thinks of the character (sometines difficult to determine until late in the narrative) 03/12/ Cosimo Cannata

Children and city (very hard) life 03/12/ Cosimo Cannata Children from low class suffered abuses, long working hours and were the weakest (= più deboli) members of London society

Not children from upper class…:easy life, dance, food and facilities…

Exercise of moral conscience…  He exercised his social conscience  He crusaded for children’s rights.  He was an advocate of child labour laws to protect children.  He opposed cruelty, deprivation, and corporal punishment of children.  He believed in and lobbied for just treatment of criminals.

What to watch (out) for...  Use of irony  Use of coincidence  Use of humour