English writers. Мартемьянова Н.В. - 19 стр.

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Pre - reading Task
Before reading the aticle, skim the following paragraphs and answer the questions
below.
Paragraph 3
What influenced on Charles Dickens as a writer?
Paragraphs 5,6
What made Charles Dickens famous?
What were his works as an editor?
Paragraphs 13-15
What novels belong to the first phase of his work?
What are the second phase?
Last paragraph
Why does Dickens take such an important place in English literature?
CHARLES DICKENS
     Charles John Huffam Dickens was born in Portsmouth on Feb.7,1812.He moved
with his family to London when he was about two years old.Many of the events and
people in his books are based on events and people in his life.Dickens’ father, John
Dickens, was a poor and easygoing clerk who worked for the navy.John served in some
respects as the model for Wilkins Micawber in David Copperfield.He spent time in
prison for debt, an event Charles re-created in Little Dorrit.
    Even when John was free, he lacked the money to support his family adequately.At
the age of 12, Charles worked in a London factory pasting lables on bottles of shoe
polish.He held the job only a few months, but the misery of that experience remained
with him all his life.
    Dickens attended school off and on until he was 15, and then left for good.He
enjoyed reading and was especially fond of adventure stories, fairy tales and novels.He
was influenced by such earlier English writers a s William Shakespeare, Tobias
Smollett, and Henry Fielding.However, most of the knowledge he later used as an
author came from his observation of life around him.
    Dickens became a newspaper reporter in the late 1820’s.He specialized in covering
debates in Parliament, and also wrote feature articles.Dickens’ first book, Sketches by
Boz(1836, consisted of articles he wrote for the Monthly Magazine and the London
Evening Chronicle.These descriptions, fictional portraits, and short stories surveyed
manners and conditions of the time.
    Literary success Dickens won his first liteary fame with The Posthumous Papers
of the Pickwick Club.Published in monthly parts in 1836 and 1837, the book describes
the humorous adventures of a group of slightly eccentric characters in London and the
English countryside.At 24, Dickens suddenly found himself famous.He remained so
until his death.
    Dickens founded and edited two highly successful weekly magazinez.He edited
Household Words from 1850 to 1859 and All the Year Round from 1859 to his death.
    Personal Life Personal unhappiness marred Dickens’ public success.In 1836 he
married Catherine Hogarth.Catherine had a sister Mary, who died in1837.Dickens’
grief at Mary’s death has led some scholars to believe that he loved Mary more than his