UNITED KINGDOM: Admired around the world for his works of literature, Charles Dickens's legacy lives on 200 years later

Record ID: 899101

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: Admired around the world for his works of literature, Charles Dickens's legacy lives on 200 years later
  • Date: 4th February 2012
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) PARI SHAHMAR AND HOLLY ANNE HULL SAYING: ''It's quite interesting though because it's so different to the characters that we normally play and you just, it's really fun because you get to explore a completly different kind of state of mind of different charactes."
  • Embargoed: 18th February 2012 21:12
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Kingdom, United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,History
  • Reuters ID: LVA5U2A2CEFRTB3PFJCFAXUF2H0Z
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: He found fame when he was just 25 years old, and now 200 years after his birth Charles Dickens is still a household name around the world. One of the great imaginative writers and social commentators of the Victorian period his heartfelt novels about poverty have stood the test of time and been made into some of today's most popular films and musicals.
    Born in Portsmouth in 1812, Dickens' rags to riches story has it's heart in London where he spent his formitive years. He was a champion of the poor and his novels shone a light on the appalling lives of the poorer citizens of London. His only surviving London home is now a museum in his honour, set-up in parts as Dickens himself may have had it when he lived there at the start of his career between 1837-1839.
    Newly married to Catherine Hogarth and finding fame with the help of 'The Pickwick Papers' it was an exciting time for the young Dickens, but as Florian Schweizer director of The Charles Dickens Museum explains the new family had a lot to cope with: ''There was a tragic incident, because his sister in-law died, she was only 17-years-old lived with the Dickens' and one evening after coming back from the theatre she suddenly became very ill and died the following day so there was a bit of tragedy as well as all the wonderful activity, he had a social circle here full of artists and writers and actors, he wrote Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby an enormously productive time for him.'' Like most legends Dickens also had his fair share of secrets - that only came to light after his death. Arguably the biggest celebrity of his time, he liked to keep his private life to himself, in particular his difficult upbringing and his affair with actress Ellen Terman. ''His main secret was the fact that he worked in a blacking factory when he was 12 years old and the shame of that experience and the fact that his father was in prison for debt during that time that was in a way a greater shame to him, the secret of his mistress that was something that just didn't sit quite right with his image in the public, the idea that he came from such a humble background and had such a horrific experience in his childhood is something that scarred him deeply and affected his sense of justice or injustice more than anything else.'' Being sent to work in Warren's blacking factory and enduring appalling conditions was an experience Dickens never forgot and became fictionalised in two of his best known novels, David Copperfield and Great Expectations.
    An adaptation of Great Expectations, starring Gillian Anderson as Miss Havisham, was recently broadcast on the BBC. Writer Sarah Phelps was the brains behind it and a previous adaptation of Oliver! For her it is being able to hear Dickens' 'voice' in his work that makes his talent so unique: ''He surprises you constantly, shocks you constantly, moves you, but for me it the flame of anger about inequity and poverty and cruelty that's what endures for me.'' Much of Dickens' work was serialised and Phelps wonders if he were alive today if he might have written soap operas: 'Maybe he would, he certainly understands a cliff hanger and he understands you know like the multiple points of view from the comic and the different characters and all the different characters you need to make a great big blockbusting novel.'' Dickens novels have also been the inspiration for several musicals and in celebration of his 200 anniversary a dinner is due to be held at prestigious London venue Mansion House on February 7 featuring Dickensian entertainment. South England theatre group West End Kids will perform music from A Tale Of Two Cities, Edwin Drood, Scrooge, A Christmas Carol and Oliver! At the event.
    Young performer Pari Shahmir found taking on Dickens' gritty characters different to the ones she's previously portrayed: ''It's quite interesting though because it's so different to the characters that we normally play and you just, it's really fun because you get to explore a completely different kind of state of mind of different characters.'' While that dinner is a one-off, Dickens' life has always been of fascination, visitors to London can take part in a walking tour exploring the areas of the city he lived in and loved. Run by London Walks the London of Charles Dickens Tour follows the great writers footsteps around Lincoln's Inn where his novel Bleak House was set and see Grays Inn where as a teenager he worked as a legal clerk.
    As well as his success as a writer, Dickens and his wife had ten children. He split from Hogarth in 1858, but maintained relations with his mistress.
    Fitting perhaps for such a gifted story teller Dickens died will he was in the middle of writing The Mystery Of Edwin Drood. Aged just 58, he suffered a stroke. He is buried at Westminister Abbey.
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