I. Charles Dickens’ life

You may consult the following web pages:

http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/dickens/dickensbio1.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Dickens

Charles Dickens was born on February 7, ______ in _________________. His father was a _______________. Ten years later, the family moved to ____________. When Charles was twelve, his father was __________________ for ________. Charles had to work in a __________. However, he continued there even after the family’s situation had improved, a fact he blamed on his ___________.

Nevertheless he attended ___________ between 1824 and 1827.

At age fifteen, Dickens started working as a law ___________. He did not want to be a lawyer and in 1829 became a __________________ instead, under the pen-name ______. He became very successful reporting __________ hearings, and later ______________ debates.

In 1830, Dickens fell in love with Maria _____________. He was shattered not to be able to marry her because they were so far apart on the social ladder.

He started writing his first fictional pieces taking inspiration from his observations. These works were collected and published under the title ____________________ in Feburary1836.

From March 1836 to October 1837, Dickens published the twenty chapters of his first novel, ____________________________, in installments. From then on Dickens was constantly involved in both journalism and writing and publishing serialized novels and short stories.

In April 1836, Dickens married Catherine _____________. They would have _____ children.

In 1837, Dickens was devastated by the death of his wife’s ____________ Mary.

In 1842, he took his first trip to the ________________________.

In 1856 Dickens bought a country house in Kent named _______________________.

In 1857 Dickens met the actress Ellen _________. In 1858 he got __________ from his wife.

Also in 1858 he initiated his public _______________ of his own works, which would later in his life become an intensive and successful activity, throughout Great Britain and the USA.

Dickens died on June 9, _____. He was buried in the Poets’ Corner in __________________.


II. Charles Dickens’ novels.

1.                  1836-7:

2.                  1837-9:

3.                  1838-9:

4.                  1840-1:

5.                  1841: Barnaby Rudge

6.                  1843:

7.                  1846-8: Dombey and Son

8.                  1849-50:

9.                  1851-3:

10.              1854:

11.              1855-7:

12.              1859:

13.              1860-1:

14.              1864-5: Our Mutual Friend

III. Charles Dickens’ times

·        Prince Regent (1811-1820) and King of England (1820-1830): George IV.

·        King of England (1830-1837): George IV.

·        Queen of England (1837-1901): ______________________

Give two definitions, a historical one and a moral one, of the adjective Victorian :

1.                   

2.                   

______________________: novelist (1811-63), author of Barry Lyndon and Vanity Fair, Dickens’ friend.

______________________: another novelist and friend of Dickens’ (1824-89), a precursor of mystery fiction: The Woman in White, The Moonstone. He and Dickens visited Italy together and collaborated on a play.

______________________: Danish author (1805-75), famous throughout the world for his fairy tales. He stayed at Dickens’ house in 1857.




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