A Tribute to Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens and his wife visited America in 1842 where he was received enthusiastically which pleased him at the beginning to disappointed him later and caused much offence in America the publication of American Notes (1842) and Martin Chuzzlewit (1844) as he portrayed American stereotypes and advocated for the abolition of slavery and international copyright. In England the demands of his public and his own growing family he published a collection of Christmas books by which A Christmas Carol (1843) to awaken the humankind towards goodness and solidarity is a must for Christmas times and to be extended through the rest of the year and he published them as a sort of “whimsical sort of masque intended to awaken loving and forebearing thoughts”. Next year he visited Italy and produced Pictures of Italy to the Daily News a new radical newspaper founded by himself in 1846. He also visited Switzerland where he started Dombey and Son (1848), next year he began the weekly periodical Household Words and it was incorporated to the All Year Round where he published the rest of his works and continued editing till the end of his life. Then appeared in monthly numbers David Copperfield (1850), Hard Times (1854), Little Dorrit (1855), A Tale of Two Cities (1859), Great Expectations (1861) and Our Mutual Friend (1865) which all became inmensely successful. He also found time for his large family, a growing number of friends and admirers, philanthropic enterprises, theatrical amateurs performances and a new love affair with the actress Ellen Ternan, separating from his wife definitely since 1858, his public readings, the voyage to America, the train accident and the scandal of his collapsed marriage provocked a huge strain on him and a physical and emotional deterioration that ended his life on 8th June 1870 by a heart stroke in his home at Gad´s Hill (Rochester, Kent). He left his unfinished detective novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood in collaboration with Wilkie Collins. There was a huge public grief at his death and he was buried in the Poet´s Corner at Westminster Abbey. The admiration of the public ranged from the low classes and poor people to his colleague writers such as Dostoevsky to the upper and well-off classes, the aristocracy and sovereigns (Queen Victoria) due to his literary talent for portraits, caricatures, his deep humanity and sentimentality despite his sensationalism and social criticism to raise consciousness towards injustices. I always admired his relentless and honest fight against unfairness both in private and public life, his natural compassion and his repeatedly proved charity and tenderness towards children and oppressed people both in his literary works and private life, he was a famous writer who was also a real champion against the unjustices and cruelty of society that is missed nowadays among dishonest celebrities with parodoxical attitudes between their public and private life who blend their collaboration with charities and NGOs with publicity, public image and prestige.