Looking into the works of Charles Dickens, one may wish to start chronologically; therefore we will take a look at his first publication, The Pickwick Papers. This first novel by Dickens was lesser known as The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, and was a result of Dickens taking over a monthly publication whose previous author had committed suicide.

The Pickwick Papers was made up of a series of instalments, based of a loosely connected series of adventures. The main protagonist was Samuel Pickwick, Esquire, a kind and wealthy old gentleman who formed the Pickwick club, whose members travelled around the British countryside and experiencing various adventures; their reporting back to the HQ in London formed the main theme of the novel. However, the main literary value was within it’s characters, and these are what the audience at the time grew attached to. Each character in The Pickwick Papers, as in many other Dickens novels, is drawn comically, often with exaggerated personality traits.

The novel was published in 19 issues over 20 months; the last was double-length and cost two shillings and has since been made into many adaptations, for many different types of media.

 

The next piece of Dickensian drama we shall look at today is a personal favourite, Great Expectations. Published, again in serial form, from 1st December 1860 to August 1861 in All the Year Round , Great Expectations was Dickens’ second novel to be narrated entirely in the first person, after David Copperfield. The novel is considered to be concise and condensed, not typical of Dickens’ style, however it has been said that he originally intended Great Expectations to be twice as long, but constraints imposed by the management of All the Year Round limited the novel’s length.

Much of the novel is set on the dark and foreboding marshes of Kent and mid-1800’s London, of which Dickens’ descriptive literary style is expressed on every page. The moody tone is set from page 1, and the novel is at times very dark, full of extreme graphic imagery, poverty, prison ships (“the hulks”), barriers and chains, and fights to the death. The eventual triumph of good versus evil lends this novel to Dickens’ regularly visited themes.

The plot follows Pip, a poverty stricken orphan, and his quest to become a gentleman. The book is filled with again, Dickens’ characters that have stood the test of time, and are still some of the most lovable and notable characters in the literary world today, including Miss Havisham a wealthy, eccentric old spinster, who perpetually wears her wedding dress. Great Expections has also enjoyed many adaptations over the years, and is the subject of many inter-textual references in modern media; including the protagonist of the Hollywood film, Sunset Boulevard. Furthermore, in science, the term “The Miss Havisham effect” has been coined by scientists to describe a person who suffers a painful longing for lost love.

 

Two examples of Charles Dickens’ work simply do not do him justice! David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, Ebeneezer Scrooge… Just some of the names we haven’t touched upon! But limited for space and with many more book and décor topics to cover, we have included a short list of further great works, so if you have been inspired, get out there and do your Dickensian research!

 

 

• – The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (1836-1837)
• – The Adventures of Oliver Twist (1837-1839)
• – The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1838-1839)
• – The Old Curiosity Shop (1840-1841)
• – Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of ‘Eighty (Feb 1841-Nov 1841)
• – A Christmas Carol (1843)
• – Dombey and Son (1846-1848)
• – David Copperfield (1849-1850)
• – Bleak House (1852-1853)
• – Hard Times: For These Times (April 1854-August 1854)
• – A Tale of Two Cities (April 1859-November 1859)
• – Great Expectations (1860-1861)