"A Fanlisting is a place for all the fans of a particular show, movie, actor/actress, singer, etc. to come together and build the biggest listing of people all around the world who are fans of that subject."
- Janine, the creator of the Fanlistings.
This is the only Fanlisting for Charles Dickens approved by thefanlistings.org.

BOZ::

A boy christened Charles John Huffam Dickens was once born in Portsmouth, England February the seventh in the year 1812. This boy would one day become the renowned and cherished author of the Victorian era, Charles "Boz" Dickens, whose works today are considered the very embodiment of 19th Century England.
A voice for the voiceless, a champion of those forgotten and suffering, a sympathizer to the poor and let's face it, masterful entertainer: this largely self-educated boy brought himself up from a boot-blackening factory to become one of the greatest authors of his time, and ours, seeing it as even a century later, none of his works have ever gone out of print.

Dickens describes his early childhood as being an idyllic time and though he was often "a very small and not-over-particularly-taken-care-of boy," the son of moderately well-off parents, John Dickens, a naval clerk and Elizabeth Barrow, he received some education at a private school where he read voraciously.
This lifestyle, however, ended when Dickens reached the age of twelve and his father's spending habits out-reached his family's means landing him in debtors prison. Dickens was then forced to leave school and take up work in a boot-blackening factory to support his family, an experience which left him with panged feelings of poverty and abandonment would forever colour his works and strengthen his stance on social injustice.

Much of Dickens' early life is outlined and fictionalized in his novel, "David Copperfield," often seen as a pseudo-autobiography.

As a young man, Dickens entered the workforce as a law clerk. Quickly finding he had no taste for the profession he moved to journalism, which influenced his first collection of works, "Sketches By Boz" which later in turn, when he was twenty-four, lead to his first exceptional success, "The Pickwick Papers," which like most of his works was published episodically in monthly periodicals.

Dickens' first love occurred in 1830 and was for a banker's daughter, Maria Beadnell. Their relationship, however, was cut short by her parents after only three years.
In 1836, Dickens married Catherine Hogarth and together had ten children. The two were married for over twenty years before they divorced in 1858 (a very socially uncouth action, practically unthinkable in Victorian England). The divorce cited irreconcilable differences as Hogarth did not seem to share or relish the exuberant and boundless energy for life as did her husband along with the care of a famous household and almost a dozen children. Also, though charming and brilliant, Dickens was emotionally insecure and very devoted to his work leaving little quality time to spend with his family.
Also in 1858, ironically enough and perhaps spurring the imminent divorce, Dickens became acquainted with an actress, Ellen Ternan, who joined his theatrical company and became Dickens' mistress. Outspoken and headstrong, Ternan is purportedly the real life basis for such characters as Estella in Dickens' "Great Expectations." She was Dickens' constant companion until his death.

In his later years Dickens threw most of his energy into public readings of his most popular novels. After a particularly exhausting tour in America, Dickens returned to his native England where he suffered his first stroke in 1869, a precursor to his second stroke and eventual death on June the Ninth, in 1870.

Dickens is buried in the Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey. His legacy lives on in his works and some of the most famous characters ever created including: The Artful Dodger, Ebenezer Scrooge, Miss Havisham and Old England itself, because one can never think of 1800's London with its pickpockets, orphans, wronged women, pious girls, rogues, misers, aspiring gentlemen, debtors, corruptors, villains and heroes alike and not think, "Oh, how Dickensian."

SELECTED MAJOR WORKS::

Sketches by Boz (1836)
The Pickwick Papers (1836)
Oliver Twist (1837Ð1839)
Nicholas Nickleby (1838Ð1839)
The Old Curiosity Shop (1840Ð1841)
Barnaby Rudge (1841)
A Christmas Carol (1843)
Martin Chuzzlewit (1843-1844)
Dombey and Son (1846Ð1848)
David Copperfield (1849Ð1850)
Bleak House (1852Ð1853)
Hard Times (1854)
Little Dorrit (1855Ð1857)
A Tale of Two Cities (July 11, 1859)
Great Expectations (1860Ð1861)
Our Mutual Friend (1864Ð1865)
The Mystery of Edwin Drood (unfinished) (1870)

WHY::

This fanlisting was first created by Tuula, then later maintained by Pix, who in turn gave it over to st.o in May 2005 and lead this Webmistress, by hand, through the process of PHP-izing the site.
ME: What's a Database?
Thank you so much for all your help, Pix!
I am such a fan of Dickens' works. When I was young I went on a quest to read all of his books and became very into them up through out my early high school life. Years passed and nearing the end of my undergraduate career in college I began a script project which I decided I wanted to be Dickensian in nature. In an attempt to remind myself of his talent I reread some of his novels and rediscovered "Great Expectations" again. Then "Oliver Twist." Then "David Copperfield," "Dombey and Son," "Our Mutual Friend," "The Old Curiosity Shop" and so on. All of a sudden I remembered why I loved him in the first place. He is a hero and a creative inspiration for me and I am honored to be running this fanlisting.

SITE::

The title of this fanlisting refers to the famed nickname used by Charles Dickens, "Boz" which came from Dickens' younger brother's through-the-nose mispronunciation of the name, "Moses." The opening text is the epitaph of Dickens' gravestone in Westminster Abbey's Poet's Corner. The images used on this site were found via google.

END::

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