So the other day, I visited Charles Dickens' house here in London. It is the last remaining of Dickens' residences in London, the rest having been all destroyed. He only lived here a short time but it was a very important time in his career. It was in this house that he wrote Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby and the serialization of The Pickwick Papers began.
It is always interesting learning a bit about famous people that you have heard of all of your life, you know their work or works, but don't really know much about them. I enjoyed learning about him and found out that he was quite the character. I believe that real creative souls have something "different" about them that breeds that creative flair. Whether it be an odd personality type, a fixation or strange upbringing, in my experience the truly gifted artist, writer or musician has something in their life that they can channel or draw upon that helps them create their art. Dickens was born into a middle class family. His dad had some wealth and the family enjoyed a fairly comfortable life in London with social status and a few servants to help them get by. Apparently his dad was not a great money manager and he fell into debt and was sent to Debtor's prison. In those days the whole family went with you. So Papa & Mama Dickens and all 8 children went as well. Well not all 8, Charles, age 12, was sent to work in a boot blacking factory to provide support for the family in prison. Apparently the conditions were quite horrible and the experience scarred him for life. However, it also provided inspiration for many of his works, Oliver Twist and David Copperfield, for example. He takes the character name Fagan directly from one of his overseers at the factory. Quite a bit of responsibility for a young boy and it apparently scarred him for the rest of his life.
Eventually Dickens marries. His wife has two sisters, one of which he moves in right away to help with the wife with the household and the TEN kids as they come along. Dickens has a weird connection with his 15 year-old sister-in-law. Not that any impropriety was ever suggested but when she died unexpectedly after two years he took it very hard. He grieved at the bed where she died and he wore her ring on his finger until he died about 30 years later. I think that is a bit strange. He moved in another sister-in-law and things moved along. It was when he lived in this house that he started to find some commercial success. The Pickwick Papers had been serialized and he was putting some money in the bank. For one of the first times in his life he had some financial security. Which gave him the opportunity to do the things he enjoyed, socializing, entertaining and hanging out with 18 year old actresses.
Dickens started getting groups together to perform his works and it was in this manner that he met Ellen Ternan, a young actress that he hired to play one of the female roles. In those days, actresses were considered very low on the social and moral Victorian ladders. They were basically considered prostitutes. The gossip started when Dickens started spending more time with this actress then with his wife and family. It was quite the scandal of its day, on the level of Burton/Taylor, Woody Allen/Soon-Yi, Gary Hart/Donna Rice. Dickens initially denied the affair but he eventually separated from his wife and moved out. Interestingly enough, the kids, except the oldest son, and his sister-in-law moved with him. The sister-in-law managed his household until his death. I guess it is a good thing Dickens died first, he had run out of sisters-in-laws.
Another thing I found interesting was Dickens' travels to America. He went twice to America to do reading tours. He had discovered that there was lots of money to be made in reading his works in small gatherings. He did this in a room in his home and then took his act on the road. He decided to to America, do some readings , make some money and check out this "New World" everyone was talking about. I think he recognized quite a bit of potential in the country but there were several things that disturbed him. He spoke out quite vociferously against slavery, chewing tobacco and the American press who he felt didn't take seriously their obligation to inform the American public. He also lobbied Congress passionately about copyright laws. At that time there were no copyright provisions between various countries. So Americans could print and copy as many English authors as they wanted and not pay the authors a pence. Dickens obviously thought this was unfair and but was especially peeved about all the money he was missing out on. It fell on deaf ears and Dickens was rebuffed. It didn't stop Dickens from speaking out loud, long and often. Congress wouldn't budge but decided to fire the ultimate shot at Dickens. They told him, basically, that they thought him coming over to the US and making all that money on his speaking tour was cool but they had been thinking. Since he was earning that money on US soil, shouldn't he be paying taxes to the US government on it? Dickens hightailed it back to the UK and still was an advocate of enacting copyright laws but did it from a distance.
The house itself, truthfully, is not all that interesting. Old furniture, old clocks, his writing desk. It was learning all these tidbits that made it remarkable. We tend to romanticize our famous figures, thinking they are all "nice guys". It is surprising when we remember that they were in fact human beings, with all the good and bad that goes along with that. Dickens was, and is, still an extremely popular author. Did you know that not one of his books or short stories has ever gone out of print? That is amazing feat for any author let along an author whose last work, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, was published posthumously in 1870. Actually I think I might enjoy his works a little more knowing that he was a real person. Now - I am going to see what dirt I can dig up on Dr. Seuss.
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