A TALE OF TWO CITIES - INTRO - WEEK 1

A TALE OF TWO CITIES by Charles Dickens

Woohoo! It's kick off day for A Tale of Two Cities! To say I'm excited is the understatement of the year. The mystery, the twists and turns, the imagery and character development are downright brilliant, and I am thrilled to be on this journey with you! So without further delay, let's jump into today's purpose - the meeting of Charles Dickens.

Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812. At 12 years of age, Dickens' father landed in debtors prison due to his tendency to live above his means, and Charles was forced to quit school and go to work at Warren's Blacking Factory (a boot- blacking factory). He worked 10-hour days six days a week earning six shillings per week. (Looking up the conversion to U.S. currency in 1824 - it was approximately $1.34.) The conditions were appalling (filthy and rat infested) and Dickens' time there would haunt him for the rest of his life. How do we know this? The miseries experienced were the foundation for many of the books he wrote later in life. An example of how this time influenced him and later showed up in his writing was a run-in he had with an older boy that worked at the factory as well. This boy decided to humiliate Dickens teaching him how to be a "more efficient worker." The boy's name was Bob Fagin. Of course, we recognize the name Fagin that Dickens later uses when creating the villain in Oliver Twist. This nightmare lasted for about a year and finally came to an end when his father inherited money allowing the family to be reunited again and Charles to return to school. Interestingly, very few people knew about this experience. It wasn't until near the end of his life that he began to reveal to his friend and biographer, John Forester, the painful memories that he had kept locked away from the rest of the world.

After finishing school, Dickens became a law clerk and then a journalist. It was the latter that proved to be another great influence in his writing as he was exposed to the separation between the wealthy and those in desperate conditions during the Industrial Revolution. At the age of 20, he became a parliamentary reporter. He was very committed to reform but watching the members in parliament, he became very suspicious and unhappy with the reformers.

At the age of 25, Dickens published his first book, The Pickwick Papers. It was a huge success, and the name DIckens instantly became well known in the literary world.

Around the same time, he married Catherine Hogarth. Together they had 10 children. Over time, Charles became very unhappy with Catherine and ultimately blamed her for their large family that she was struggling to keep up with. Sadly, he meet Ellen Ternan, an 18-year-old actress (Dickens was 45), and after a short while, their affair began. He and Catherine were legally separated in June of 1858. Their oldest son Charley stayed with his mother, but Charles maintained custody of the other 9 children. They were allowed to see their mother, but it was not encouraged. Catherine understandably never recovered from this blow. He never married Ellen, but she was his companion until he died in 1870.

Dickens published 15 book and several short stories. Some of his most famous books are A Tale of Two Cities (200 million copies), A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist, Bleak House, David Copperfield, and Great Expectations.