Timeline Of The Life Of Charles Dickens 221912

Timeline of the Life of Charles Dickens •

1812 - Born on February 7 to John and Elizabeth Dickens.

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1824 - John Dickens arrested and sent to the Marshalsea prison. Charles Dickens worked at the Warren's Blacking Factory.

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1827 - Res the workforce as the clerk of an attorney.

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1830 - Dickens meets Maria Beadnell, his first love interest.

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1833 - The relationship with Maria Beadnell ends. A Dinner at Poplar Walk is published.

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1834 - Began using the pseudonym "Boz". Meets his future wife, Catherine Hogarth.

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1835 - Becomes engaged to Catherine.

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1836 - The first chapters of The Pickwick Papers are published.Marries Catherine Hogarth.

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1837 - The first of his 10 children, Charles Culliford Boz Dickens, is born. Mary Hogarth, Catherine's sister, dies. The publication ofoliver Twist begins.

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1838 - Dickens and Hablot Browne travel to Yorkshire to see the boarding schools. His daughter, Mary, is born. Publication ofnicholas Nickleby begins.

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1839 - His daughter, Kate, is born.

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1840 - Publication of The Old Curiosity Shop begins

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1841 - Barnaby Rudge is published. Charles and Catherine tour Scotland. Their son, Walter, is born.

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1842 - Charles and Catherine travel to America. Late in 1842 or early in the next year Dickens begins work on Martin Chuzzlewit.

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1843 - A Christmas Carol is published.

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1844 - His son Francis Jeffrey (Frank) is born. Dickens and family travel to Italy. Treated Madame de la Rue withmesmerism.

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1845 - Another son, Alfred, is born.

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1846 - Dickens and his family travel to Switzerland. Publication ofdombey and Son begins.

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1847 - His son, Sydney, is born.

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1848 - Dickens' sister, Fanny, dies. The Haunted Man, his last Christmas book is published.

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1849 - His son, Henry Fielding Dickens, is born. The publication of David Copperfield begins.

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1850 - His daughter, Dora Annie Dickens, is born.

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1851- Catherine Dickens suffers a nervous collapse. John Dickens, the father of Charles Dickens, dies. Dora Dickens dies when she is only eight months old. What Shall we have for Dinner?, a cookbook by Catherine Dickens is published.

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1852 - The publication of Bleak House begins. His son, Edwardor "Plorn", is born.

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1853 - Dickens gives his first public reading of one of his works.

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1854 - Hard Times is published.

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1855 - Dickens has a disappointing reunion with Maria Winter (Maria Beadnell). Publication of Little Dorrit begins.

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1856 - Dickens works with Wilkie Collins on The Frozen Deep. Dickens purchases Gad's Hill Place.

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1857 - Hans Christian Anderson is entertained at Gad's Hill Place. Dickens meets Ellen Ternan.

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1858 - Dickens separates from Catherine, his wife.

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1859 - A Tale of Two Cities is published.

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1860 - Publication of Great Expectations begins in All the Year Round. His daughter, Katie, marries and ten days later his brother, Alfred, dies. Dickens burns his personal papers.

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1863 - Dickens' mother, Elizabeth, dies. Dickens begins work onour Mutual Friend.

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1864 - His son, Walter, dies in India. The first installment of Our Mutual Friend is printed.

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1865 - Dickens is involved in the Staplehurst railway accidentalong with Ellen Ternan and her mother.

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1867 - Dickens tours America for the second time.

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1868 - He gives his first Murder of Nancy reading.

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1869 - Dickens is ordered by doctors to discontinue readings. Dickens begins writing The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

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1870 - Dickens gives his final public reading. Publication of The Mystery of Edwin Drood begins. Charles Dickens dies at Gad's Hill Place on June 9.

Welcome to Charles Dickens Literature Hello, and welcome to dickens-literature.com. I am a huge literature fan, and Charles Dickens is definetly one of my favourite authors. His classic novels and short stories will forever continue to entertain and provoke thought. This site contains almost all of Dicken's works, all of which are indexed and searchable. The site also contains a biography, related articles and quotes. If you have any , suggestions, or questions, please feel free to me. If you have written anything relating to dickens, please contribute it! Thanks for dropping by! Rob

A Brief Biography English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens's works are charactericized by attacks on social evils, unjustice, and hypocrisy. He had also experienced in his youth oppression, when he was forced to end school in early teens and work in a factory. Dickens's lively good, bad and comic characters, such as the cruel miser Scrooge, the aspiring novelist David Copperfield, or the trusting and innocent Mr. Pickwick, have fascinated generations of readers. Charles Dickens was born in Landport, Hampshire, during the new industrial age, which created misery for the class of low-paid workers and gave birth to theories of Karl Marx. His father was a clerk in the navy pay office, who was well paid but often ended in financial troubles. In 1814 Dickens moved to London, and then to Chatham, where he received some education. He worked in a blacking factory, Hungerford Market, London, while his family was in Marshalea debtor's prison in 1824 - later this period found its way to

the novel Little Dorrit (1855-57). In 1824-27 Dickens studied at Wellington House Academy, London, and at Mr. Dawson's school in 1827. From 1827 to 1828 he was a law office clerk, and then worked as a shorthand reporter at Doctor's Commons. He wrote for True Son (1830-32), Mirror of Parliament (1832-34) and the Morning Chronicle (1834-36). He was in the 1830s a contributor to Monthly Magazine, and The Evening Chronicle and edited Bentley's Miscellany. In the 1840s Dickens founded Master Humphrey's Cloak and edited the London Daily News. These years as a journalist left Dickens with lasting affection for journalism and suspicious attitude towards unjust laws. His sharp ear for conversation helped him reveal characters through their own words. Dickens's career as a writer of fiction started in 1833 when his short stories and essays to appeared in periodical. His SKETCHES BY BOZ and THE PICKWICK PAPERS were published in 1836; he married in the same year the daughter of his friend George Hogarth, Catherine Hogart. However, some people suspected that he was more fond of her sister, Mary, who moved into their house and died in 1837. Dickens requested that he be buried next to her when he died and wore Mary's ring all his life. Another of Catherine's sisters, Georgiana, moved in with the Dickenses, and the novelist fell in love with her. Dickens had with Catherine 10 children but they were separated in 1858. Dickens also had a long liaison with the actress Ellen Ternan, whom he had met by the late 1850s. The Pickwick Papers were stories about a group of rather odd individuals and their travels to Ipswich, Rochester, Bath and elsewhere. Dickens's novels first appeared in monthly instalments, including OLIVER TWIST (1837-39), which depicts the London underworld and hard years of the foundling Oliver Twist, NICHOLAS NICKELBY (1838-39), a tale of young Nickleby's struggles to seek his fortune, and OLD CURIOSITY SHOP (1840-41). Among his later works are DAVID COPPERFIELD (1849-50), where Dickens used his own personal experiences of work in a factory, BLEAK HOUSE (185253), A TALE OF TWO CITIES (1859), set in the years of the French Revolution. GREAT EXPECTATIONS (1860-61), the story of Pip (Philip Pirrip), was among Tolstoy's and Dostoyevsky's favorite novels. The unfinished mystery novel THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD was published in 1870.

From the 1840s Dickens spent much time travelling and campaigning against many of the social evils of his time. In addition he gave talks and reading, wrote pamphlets, plays, and letters. In the 1850s Dickens was founding editor of Household World and its successor All the Year Round (1859-70). In 1844-45 he lived in Italy, Switzerland and Paris. He gave lecturing tours in Britain and the United States in 1858-68. From 1860 Dickens lived at Gadshill Place, near Rochester, Kent. He died at Gadshill on June 9, 1870. Although Dickens's career as a novelist received much attention, he produced hundreds of essays and edited and rewrote hundreds of others submitted to the various periodicals he edited. Dickens distinquished himself as an essayis in 1834 under the pseudonym Boz. 'A Visit to Newgate' (1836) reflects his own memories of visiting his own family in the Marshalea Prison. In 'A Small Star in in the East' reveals the working conditions on mills and 'Mr. Barlow' (1869) draws a portrait of a unsensitive tutor. Characterization in Charles Dicken's A Tale of Two Cities 79 Rate or flag this page By johnb0127 Ads by Google A Tale of Two Cities, written by Charles Dickens, has many different characters with interesting personalities. Some of the characters in the novel all share one common fact that Dickens used throughout the book. Charles Dickens based the characters of A Tale of Two Cities on himself and his life. Charles Dickens based the virtuous Charles Darnay as a version of himself. Dickens portrays himself through Charles Darnay in the fact that Dickens and Darnay have the same initials (C.D.) (“A Tale”, Novels for Students par 7). Dickens might be portraying that Darnay and himself have so much in common, so Dickens gave Darnay the same initials. Charles Dickens also presents Darnay’s relationship with Carton to himself. Charles Darnay’s relationship with Sydney Carton could portray Dickens’ own problem with his honorable and commonly negative side (“A Tale”, Novels for Students par 7). Darnay’s relationship with Carton was strong, as seen in the last book where Carton takes Darnay’s place on the guillotine to be killed. Dickens might have done this to symbolize love Dickens had for another friend, just like Darnay had with Carton. As Dickens based himself on Darnay, Dickens might have also based Dr. Manette as a version of himself.

Charles Dickens might have portrayed himself through Dr. Manette. A Gale research source says, “They trace parallels between Manette’s career as a physician and his selflessness in reporting the abuses of the nobility with Dickens’ career as a journalist and advocate for social improvement” (“A Tale”, Novels for Students par 2). Dickens might have done this through Manette to show what issues Dickens stood for. Dickens portrayed himself through Dr. Manette in one more instance. Some critics see resemblance in Dickens’s conception of alternative worlds in his books with Dr. Manette’s conception of a place where he is only a cobbler (“A Tale”, Novels for Students par 2). Dickens might have done this to basically resemble the two lives he has lived: one as a child working in a factory, and two growing up and becoming a great author. Dickens went though a lot in his “two lives”. As Dickens portrayed himself through Dr. Manette, he will now portray Mr. Stryver on a lawyer friend. Charles Dickens might have based Mr. Stryver on a lawyer Dickens knew. A Gale research source says, “It has been surmissed that Dickens based the character on an actual person, Edwin James, a notoriously, unscrupulous lawyer…”(“Overview: A Tale”, Chars in Nineteenth par 6). Dickens might be portraying Mr. Stryver on this lawyer to show the rudeness and lying nature lawyers sometimes possess. Dickens also might have based Mr. Styver on one other characteristic. Charles Dickens based Mr. Stryver on a lawyer who had a bad reputation; hence, Mr. Styver gets a bad reputation (“A Tale Two”, Chars Young Adult,… Tl=, par 5). Dickens might have chosen Edwin James to portray Mr. Stryver to show that all lawyers have bad names. It is sad that even lawyers back then had bad reputations. Dickens now portrays Dr. Manette in many different ways. Charles Dickens might have based Dr. Manette on his own father. Dickens’ father was not well with finances, and in 1824, Dickens’ father was imprisoned for debt (Dickens: A Brief Biography”, par 1). Dickens’ father was imprisoned probably for not paying what he owed to other people. In the novel, the confounded Dr. Manette is also imprisoned. A Gale research source says, “Imprisoned in the Bastille for his attempt to imprison the Marquis St. Evermonde’s treachery, Manette was permanently altered from this experience” ( “Overview: A Tale”, Chars in Nineteenth par 4). Dr. Manette was also imprisoned, but in a different way then Dickens’ father. Dickens might have portrayed his own father through Dr. Manette and his own imprisonment. As Dickens might have based his father’s imprisonment with Dr. Manette’s, Dickens might have also based the emotional and psychological problems with imprisonment on this experience. Charles Dickens might have based the emotional and psychological side of imprisonment with his father’s and Dr. Manette’s imprisonment. David Cody writes, “When the family finances were put to at least partly to rights and his father was released, the twelveyear-old Dickens, already scarred psychologically by the experience, was further wounded by his mother’s insistence that he continued to work at the factory” (“Dickens: A Brief Biography”, par 1). The young Charles Dickens was hurt emotionally and psychologically because his father was in prison and he was forced to work in a factory with his whole family. Dickens might have portrayed emotional and psychological sickness through Dr. Manette and his experience with prison. Dr. Manette only identified himself as his jail cell

number (“Overview: A Tale”, Chars in Nineteenth par 4). Dr. Manette is emotionally and psychologically hurt so bad, it has effected his communication and social skills. Charles Dickens might have based his own emotional and psychological problem through Dr. Manette. Charles Dickens might have also based another event on imprisonment. Charles Dickens might have based solitude and loneliness through work and imprisonment on himself and Dr. Manette. David Cody writes, “His[Dicken’s father] wife and children, with the exception of Charles, who was put to work at Warren’s Blacking Factory, ed him in the Marshalsea Prison” (“Dickens: A Brief Biography”, par 1). Charles Dickens must have felt solitude and loneliness when he was put to work and all of his other family were in jail. Dickens might have portrayed this event in his life through Dr. Manette and his imprisonment. While Dr. Manette was in prison, all he did was cobble, or shoemaking, which was all he learned to do in prison (“A Tale Two”, Chars Young Adult,… Tl=, par 1). . Dr. Manette was so lonely and in complete solitude, no wonder all he did was shoemaking. Dickens might have portrayed his own case of solitude and loneliness with work through Dr. Manette’s case of solitude and loneliness in prison. As Dickens based imprisonment on solitude and loneliness, he might have also based Lucie rescuing her father on an event in Dickens life. Dickens might have based Dr. Manette’s rescue by his daughter on an event in Dickens’ life where he was rescued. A Glale research source says, “His father, however, rescued him[Charles] from this fate, and between 1824 and 1827, Dickens was a day pupil at a school in London” (“Dickens: A Brief Biography”, par 1). Even though Dickens’ mother wanted him to stay working in the factory, Dickens’ father rescued him from this doom and put him in school. Dickens’ might have symbolized this event through Dr. Manette and when he was rescued. Lucie Manette travels with Mr. Lorry to Rescue her father, Dr. Manette. Dickens might have allowed this event to take place to symbolize his own rescue from his father when Dickens was a child. It might have also felt good to as he wrote what happened and how his relationship with his father was strong. Dickens also bases some characters off love and relationships. Charles Dickens based many characters off love and relationships. Sydney Carton loves Lucie Manette so much, he took the place of her, husband Charles Darnay, and Carton died because of his love for Lucie (Dickens 363-364). Dickens might be portraying this relationship of love on Dickens own relationship with Ellen Turnan, an actress who Dickens fell in love. Charles Dickens also bases another relationship of his life off of one relationship between parent and child. Lucie Manette loves her father, Dr. Manette, so much that Lucie takes care of Dr. Manette after he escapes and leaves the prison, La Bastille (“A Tale”, Char Young Adult Lit …vsrn= par 1). Dickens might be portraying his own love for his father through Lucie and her relationship with her father. Dickens’ relationship with his father was much like Lucie’s relationship with her father. Charles Dickens aptly based many characters on love and relationships. Charles Dickens based the characters in A Tale of Two Cities on himself and his life. Charles Dickens portrays himself through the characters Charles Darnay, Dr. Manette,

Mr. Stryver, and different relationships with certain characters. The way Dickens portrayed himself through his characters is brilliant and clever. Biography David Cody, Associate Professorof English, Hartwick College

[Victorian Web Home —> Visual Arts —> Authors —> Charles Dickens —> Biography — > Works] Harles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812, the son of John and Elizabeth Dickens. John Dickens was a clerk in the Naval Pay Office. He had a poor head for finances, and in 1824 found himself imprisoned for debt. His wife and children, with the exception of Charles, who was put to work atwarren's Blacking Factory, ed him in the Marshalsea Prison. When the family finances were put at least partly to rights and his father was released, the twelve-year-old Dickens, already scarred psychologically by the experience, was further wounded by his mother's insistence that he continue to work at the factory. His father, however, rescued him from that fate, and between 1824 and 1827 Dickens was a day pupil at a school in London. At fifteen, he found employment as an office boy at an attorney's, while he studied shorthand at night. His brief stint at the Blacking Factory haunted him all of his life — he spoke of it only to his wife and to his closest friend, John Forster — but the dark secret became a source both of creative energy and of the preoccupation with the themes of alienation and betrayal which would emerge, most notably, in David Copperfield and in Great Expectations. In 1829 he became a free-lance reporter at Doctor's Commons Courts, and in 1830 he met and fell in love with Maria Beadnell, the daughter of a banker. By 1832 he had become a very successful shorthand reporter of Parliamentary debates in the House of Commons, and began work as a reporter for a newspaper.

In 1833 his relationship with Maria Beadnell ended, probably because her parents did not think him a good match (a not very flattering version of her would appear years later in Little Dorrit). In the same year his first published story appeared, and was followed, very shortly thereafter, by a number of other stories and sketches. In 1834, still a newspaper reporter, he adopted the soon to be famous pseudonym "Boz." His impecunious father (who was the original of Mr. Micawber in David Copperfield, as Dickens's mother

was the original for the querulous Mrs. Nickleby) was once again arrested for debt, and Charles, much to his chagrin, was forced to come to his aid. Later in his life both of his parents (and his brothers) were frequently after him for money. In 1835 he met and became engaged to Catherine Hogarth. The first series of Sketches by Boz was published in 1836, and that same year Dickens was hired to write short texts to accompany a series of humorous sporting illustrations by Robert Seymour, a popular artist. Seymour committed suicide after the second number, however, and under these peculiar circumstances Dickens altered the initial conception of The Pickwick Papers , which became a novel (illustrated byhablot K. Browne, "Phiz," whose association with Dickens would continue for many years). The Pickwick Paperscontinued in monthly parts through November 1837, and, to everyone's surprise, it became an enormous popular success. Dickens proceeded to marry Catherine Hogarth on April 2, 1836, and during the same year he became editor ofbentley's Miscellany, published (in December) the second series of Sketches by Boz, and met John Forster, who would become his closest friend and confidant as well as his first biographer. After the success of Pickwick, Dickens embarked on a full-time career as a novelist, producing work of increasing complexity at an incredible rate, although he continued, as well, his journalistic and editorial activities. Oliver Twist was begun in 1837, and continued in monthly parts until April 1839. It was in 1837, too, that Catherine's younger sister Mary, whom Dickens idolized, died. She too would appear, in various guises, in Dickens's later fiction. A son, Charles, the first of ten children, was born in the same year. Nicholas Nickleby got underway in 1838, and continued through October 1839, in which year Dickens resigned as editor of Bentley's Miscellany. The first number of Master Humphrey's Clock appeared in 1840, and The Old Curiosity Shop, begun in Master Humphrey, continued through February 1841, when Dickens commenced Barnaby Rudge, which continued through November of that year. In 1842 he embarked on a visit to Canada and the United States in which he advocated international copyright (unscrupulous American publishers, in particular, were pirating his works) and the abolition of slavery. His American Notes, which created a furor in America (he commented unfavorably, for one thing, on the apparently universal — and, so far as Dickens was concerned, highly distasteful — American predilection for chewing tobacco and spitting the juice), appeared in October of that year. Martin Chuzzlewit, part of which was set in a not very flatteringly portrayed America, was begun in 1843, and ran through July 1844. A Christmas Carol, the first of Dickens's enormously successful Christmas books — each, though they grew progressively darker, intended as "a whimsical sort of masque intended to awaken loving and forbearing thoughts" — appeared in December 1844. In that same year, Dickens and his family toured Italy, and were much abroad, in Italy, Switzerland, and , until 1847. Dickens returned to London in December 1844,

when The Chimes was published, and then went back to Italy, not to return to England until July of 1845. 1845 also brought the debut of Dickens's amateur theatrical company, which would occupy a great deal of his time from then on. The Cricket and the Hearth, a third Christmas book, was published in December, and his Pictures From Italy appeared in 1846 in the "Daily News," a paper which Dickens founded and of which, for a short time, he was the editor. In 1847, in Switzerland, Dickens began Dombey and Son, which ran until April 1848. The Battle of Life appeared in December of that year. In 1848 Dickens also wrote an autobiographical fragment, directed and acted in a number of amateur theatricals, and published what would be his last Christmas book, The Haunted Man, in December. 1849 saw the birth of David Copperfield, which would run through November 1850. In that year, too, Dickens founded and installed himself as editor of the weekly Household Words, which would be succeeded, in 1859, by All the Year Round, which he edited until his death. 1851 found him at work on Bleak House, which appeared monthly from 1852 until September 1853. In 1853 he toured Italy with Augustus Egg and Wilkie Collins, and gave, upon his return to England, the first of many public readings from his own works. Hard Times began to appear weekly in Household Words in 1854, and continued until August. Dickens's family spent the summer and the fall in Boulogne. In 1855 they arrived in Paris in October, and Dickens began Little Dorrit, which continued in monthly parts until June 1857. In 1856 Dickens and Wilkie Collins collaborated on a play, The Frozen Deep, and Dickens purchased Gad's Hill, an estate he had ired since childhood. The Dickens family spent the summer of 1857 at a renovated Gad's Hill. Hans Christian Anderson, whose fairy tales Dickens ired greatly, visited them there and quickly wore out his welcome. Dickens's theatrical company performed The Frozen Deep for the Queen, and when a young actress named Ellen Ternan ed the cast in August, Dickens fell in love with her. In 1858, in London, Dickens undertook his first public readings for pay, and quarreled with his old friend and rival, the great novelist Thackeray. More importantly, it was in that year that, after a long period of difficulties, he separated from his wife. They had been for many years "temperamentally unsuited" to each other. Dickens, charming and brilliant though he was, was also fundamentally insecure emotionally, and must have been extraordinarily difficult to live with. In 1859 his London readings continued, and he began a new weekly, All the Year Round. The first installment of A Tale of Two Cities appeared in the opening number, and the novel continued through November. By 1860, the Dickens family had taken up residence at Gad's Hill. Dickens, during a period of retrospection, burned many personal letters, and re-read his own David Copperfield, the most autobiographical of his novels, before beginning Great Expectations, which appeared weekly until August 1861.

1861 found Dickens embarking upon another series of public readings in London, readings which would continue through the next year. In 1863, he did public readings both in Paris and London, and reconciled with Thackeray just before the latter's death. Our Mutual Friend was begun in 1864, and appeared monthly until November 1865. Dickens was in poor health, due largely to consistent overwork. In 1865, an incident occurred which disturbed Dickens greatly, both psychologically and physically: Dickens and Ellen Ternan, returning from a Paris holiday, were badly shaken up in a railway accident in which a number of people were injured. 1866 brought another series of public readings, this time in various locations in England and Scotland, and still more public readings, in England and Ireland, were undertaken in 1867. Dickens was now really unwell but carried on, compulsively, against his doctor's advice. Late in the year he embarked on an American reading tour, which continued into 1868. Dickens's health was worsening, but he took over still another physically and mentally exhausting task, editorial duties at All the Year Round. During 1869, his readings continued, in England, Scotland, and Ireland, until at last he collapsed, showing symptoms of mild stroke. Further provincial readings were cancelled, but he began upon The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Dickens's final public readings took place in London in 1870. He suffered another stroke on June 8 at Gad's Hill, after a full day's work on Edwin Drood, and died the next day. He was buried at Westminster Abbey on June 14, and the last episode of the unfinished Mystery of Edwin Drood appeared in September.