2. Charles Dickens
(Portsmouth, United
Kingdom, 1812-Gad's Hill, id.,
1870) British writer. In 1822, his
family moved from Kent to
London, and two years later
his father was imprisoned for
debt. The future writer then
went to work in a shoe
factory, where he met the
harsh living conditions of the
lower classes, whose
complaint devoted much of
his work.
In these years, he evolved from a light
style to the socially engaged attitude of
Oliver Twist. These first novels gave him a
huge popular success and gave him
some popularity among the upper and
educated classes, which was received
with great honors in the United States, in
1842; however, soon he disabused of
American society, perceiving in it all the
vices of the Old World. His criticisms,
reflected in a series of articles and in the
novel Martin Chuzzlewit, incensed in the
United States, and the novel marked the
most resounding failure of his career in
the UK. However, he regained the favor
of the public in 1843, with the publication
of Christmas song.
