Charles Dickens: A Life [Paperback]

This is a terrific biography, everything one would expect from Claire Tomalin: thoroughly researched, immensely readable and judicious. It is well illustrated with photographs, engravings, annotated maps and brief details of the vast number of figures who will move through its pages. It is also well referenced so the curious reader can easily follow up details for further exploration.

To capture her subject fully-formed, she prefaces the book with an account of the newly but still precariously successful writer's intervention in the case of a poor slavey accused of murdering her new born child: her plight and experience is profoundly shocking and deeply moving. Dickens' determination to see justice done and very real financial and moral support given, is vivid and moving testimony to what was a lifelong commitment to the poor, downtrodden and unjustly treated. Many such stories could be told and there isn't space in a volume of this size to detail them all. But we certainly get a vivid picture of Dickens as a man deeply animated by a desire to improve the world he also entertains, and as a powerhouse of energy and obsessive activity: the account of his literary commitments at the end of his annus mirabilis (1836) is quite terrifying; his determination to keep writing and giving public readings at the end of his life even more so. (It is unsurprising that the last, moving photograph in the volume shows an exhausted man looking far older than his 58 or so years.)

Tomalin acknowledges his greatness as a writer: though seeing the dross amongst the annual Christmas stories and significant sections of some of the novels, the great works of Dickens' later years particularly (Copperfield, Bleak House, Little Dorritt, Great Expectations and so on) are given their due. And many amongst his enormous public would not have made the same literary assessment as we do now. We understand completely why he was so universally loved.

Yet this is not hagiography: she is not blind to Dickens' darker side. The author remains committed to the conclusions of her ground breaking study of the writer's long and obsessively secretive affair The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens whilst acknowledging the element of speculation and the controversial nature of some of her hypotheses. But what is not speculative is the account of his brutally insensitive treatment of his wife, which is as perverse as it is shocking: `The spectacle of a man famous for his goodness and his attachment to domestic virtues suddenly losing his moral compass is dismaying ... You want to avert your eyes from what happened in ... 1858'. Friends who unquestioningly took his part remained in the fold: those who took a more balanced view of Catherine (who had done no actual wrong) and of his behaviour were often cast away. His treatment of his children is at times bewildering: the creator of Dotheboys Hall is surprisingly eager to send his (often disappointing, in his eyes) boys away from home, not always ensuring their return for Christmas. Later, at the end of his life, he writes of the admittedly rather feckless Sydney, once more in financial difficulties, `I fear [he] is much too far gone for recovery, and I begin to wish he were honestly dead', and he casts his son adrift. `Once Dickens had drawn a line, he was pitiless', Tomalin writes.

Overall Tomalin's book is a triumph. It is a gripping and fascinating story, superbly told, which captures the greatness, the energy, the generosity, the humanity and its occasional contrary to create a sense of the tragic element in the arc of the life: here is a giant of the age and of British culture, deeply flawed but profoundly impressive. My only real complaint is regarding the commentary on the great novels themselves, which I wish was more thorough and extensive. Not everyone would of course, and many will find her thoughtful reflections on the ways the life lived illuminates the literary creations wholly satisfying. For me, she is such an astute judge of the life, that it seems a pity not to explore more fully the creations which justify its writing in the first place. For me, though she often asserts that Dickens is a very great writer, which he undoubtedly is, her comments leave a question as to why he is so regarded: some of her assessments seem bland and lacking in insight. However, the genesis of each is well covered. For more interesting and thorough commentary within a biographical approach I would recommend Michael Slater's Charles Dickens.

Re the book as object: considering the cover price of 30.00, this is a disappointingly produced book. There is no dj but rather thin pictorial boards. The paper is adequate, though there is a degree of transparency I do not expect at this price. (Of course, most will have paid considerably less, and at the 13.50 I paid, as both object and read, the book is a bargain!)

The trouble with some biographies is the author presents such a plethora of facts that overwhelm the reader. Fortunately Claire Tomalin avoids this and she presents us with a brilliant and illuminating study of the life and work of Dickens. She writes with great enthusiasm for her subject - while not being totally uncritical of his writing.

Dickens is revealed as an exceptionally energetic character. After spending a whole day writing (and his output was prodigious) he then found time to play rowdy games with his children and have convivial evenings drinking with his friends. Despite having ten children with his wife he seemed to find truly affectionate relationships outside of marriage - whether with his friend John Forster or with his young sister-in-laws. I knew about Dickens doing public readings of his works but I hadn't realised just how many of these he did - and how they left him drained emotionally and physically.

Like many people of genius Dickens was full of contradictions. He complained about the lack of financial probity of his father but seemed to be quite a spendthrift himself. He showed genuine care and compassion people he tried to help but was ultimately callous and unfeeling to his own wife. He constantly clashed with his publishers - he felt that he did all the work while they made large profits.

But these perceived character defects pale into significance when we consider his body of work. It is his legacy of books like David Copperfield, Our Mutual Friend and Bleak House that ensure that we celebrate the 200th anniversary of his birth.

Charles Dickens - A Life is a terrific read from a superb biographer.

Claire Tomalin has produced a superbly researched and sourced biography of Charles Dickens with full references and acknowledgements. The book reads like a Dickens' novel. His life is replete with the influences that led to his writing output. 'Dickensian' is part of the English concept of Victorian living. It conjures up poverty, social injustice, gin-sodden lives with rags to riches opportunities. Claire Tomalin details the complex life of Dickens in great detail. It is remarkably concise with economy of words. Never a dull moment and never boring. We read Dickens (born 1812) had a privileged upbringing cut short by the exuberances of his father John who was committed to debtors' prison in Marshalsea, Southwark. Charles, age 12, was forced to work in a warehouse in Hungerford Stairs pasting labels on blacking 10 hours a day. The hours and observations of working conditions and sometimes cruelty clearly left it's mark. His later boarding with the Rylance family and working with the wealthy Crewe family gave Charles much of the background for his publications.
Initially publishing cliffhanger serial outputs, he used the pseudonym 'Boz' derived from his brother Augustus called Moses by Charles, then Boses, then (catarrh problems) Boz.

Charles Dickens was a prolific writer whose iconic prose has been written, translated, extended into film, TV series, musicals. His concern for social reform is well described by Claire Tomalin. His literary output was matched by his athletic and apparent sexual needs. He fathered ten children with wife Catherine Hogarth. Later, he found young actress Ellen Ternan whose relationship with Charles and the effects on his wife and family are profiled expertly by the author.
It is clear that Charles Dickens was more than a novelist. His contribution and fights for human rights were undertaken with effective subtlety. His visits to America may not have been to his liking, but he made his point with his readings and the inhumanity of slavery.
David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, Bleak House, A Christmas Carol are forever with us. Criticised for oversentimentality and implausibility (Henry James and Virginia Woolf) may be plausible but these characteristics add to the output of a great English novelist who describes the Victorian period in such graphic and memorable detail with situations and characters based on his observational interpretation. I read David Copperfield as a boy and it has always exemplified Dickens's characters. It made an impression never forgotten.

This may read as a verbose recommendation of Claire Tomalin's book but I cannot shorten the pleasure of reading it. She writes in such a caring and accurate way with pinpoint opinions (Dickens had a darker side as well). Thoughtful and professional. Shorter than the excellent Peter Ackroyd's biography and also complimentary to Chesterton's.