Category: Classics

Lifespan: (February 7, 1812 - June 9, 1870)

Interesting & Unique Facts: Dickens' full name was Charles John Huffam Dickens. Dickens played a major role in popularizing the serialized novel, each new part of his stories was eagerly anticipated by the reading public. He is remembered by many as the greatest writer of his time. He is frequently referred to by his last name only, even on first reference much like Shakespeare.

In 1834, Dickens became a political journalist, reporting on parliamentary debate and traveling across Britain by stagecoach to cover election campaigns for the Morning Chronicle. His reporting, in the form of sketches which appeared in periodicals from 1833, formed his first collection of pieces "Sketches by Boz" which were published in 1836.

Dickens was in his twenties when he wrote his first novel The Pickwick Papers.

Author's work in order (with publication dates):

Novels

• The Pickwick Papers (April 1836 - November 1837)
• The Adventures of Oliver Twist (February 1837 - April 1839)
• The Lives & Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (April 1838 - October 1839)
• The Old Curiosity Shop (April 1840 - February 1841)
• Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty (February 1841 - November 1841)
• The Life & Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit (January 1843 - July 1844)
• Dombey and Son (October 1846 - April 1848)
• David Copperfield (May 1849 - November 1850)
• Bleak House (March 1852 - September 1853)
• Hard Times: For These Times (April 1854 - August 1854)
• Little Dorrit (December 1860 - August 1861)
• A Tale of Two Cities (April 1859 - November 1859)
• Great Expectations (December 1860 - August 1861)
• Our Mutual Friend (May 1864 - November 1865)
• The Thoroughfare (1867)
• The Mystery of Edwin Drood (April 1870 - September 1870)
• The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices (1890)

Christmas Novels

• A Christmas Carol (1843)
• The Chimes (1844)
• The Cricket on the Hearth (1845)
• The Battle of Life (1846)
• The Haunted Man & the Ghost's Bargain (1848)

Short Stories

• Dinner at Poplar Walk (1833)
• A Child's Dream of a Star (1850)
• Captain Murderer
• George Silverman's Explanation
• Holiday Romance
• The Queer Chair
• The Ghosts of the Mail
• The Baron of Grozwig
• Hunted Down
• The Lamplighter
• The Perils of Certain English Prisoners [with Wilkie Collins]
• A Madman's Manuscript
• The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain
• A Ghost in the Bride's Chamber
• The Signal-Man (1866)
• Sunday Under Three Heads
• The Trial for Murder
• A House to Let (1858)
• The Long Voyage (1853)
• The Goblins who stole a Sexton
• To be Read at Dusk

Christmas Short Stories

• A Christmas Tree (1850)
• What Christmas is, as We Grow Older (1851)
• The Poor Relation's Story (1852)
• The Child's Story (1852)
• The Schoolboy's Story (1853)
• Nobody's Story (1853)
• The Seven Poor Travelers (1854)
• The Holly-tree Inn (1855)
• The Wreck of the Golden Mary (1856)
• The Perils of Certain English Prisoners (1857)
• Going into Society (1858)
• The Haunted House (1859)
• A Message from the Sea (1860)
• Tom Tiddler's Ground (1861)
• Somebody's Luggage (1862)
• Mrs Lirriper's Lodgings (1863)
• Mrs Lirriper's Legacy (1864)
• Doctor Marigold's Prescriptions (1865)
• Mugby Junction (1866)
• No Thoroughfare (1867)

Short Story Collections

• Sketches by Boz (1836)
• Boots at the Holly-tree Inn: And Other Stories (1858)
• Reprinted Pieces (1861)
• The Haunted House (1862) [with Wilkie Collins, Elizabeth Gaskell, Adelaide Proctor, George Sala and Hesba Setton]
• The Mudfog Papers (1880) [also published as Mudfog and Other Sketches]
• To Be Read At Dusk (1898)