什麼是狄更斯

Dickens, Charles (John Huffam)

英國小說家，普遍被視為維多利亞時代最偉大的小說家。當他擔任夥計的父親因債務而入獄時，狄更斯被迫輟學而到工廠工作。年輕時從事記者工作。他的創作生涯始於重印的短篇文集《「博茲」特寫集》（Sketches by "Boz", 1836）。喜劇小說《匹克威克外傳》（The Pickwick Papers, 1837）使他成為當時最受歡迎的英國作家。隨後是《孤雛淚》（Oliver Twist, 1838）、《尼古拉斯.尼克爾貝》（Nicholas Nickleby, 1839）、《老古董店》（The Old Curiosity Shop, 1841）、《巴納比.拉奇》（Barnaby Rudge, 1841）。他到美國旅行後，在數週內寫下《聖誕頌歌》（A Christmas Carol, 1843），接著是《馬丁.朱述爾維特》（Martin Chuzzlewit, 1844）。從《董貝父子》（Dombey and Son, 1848）開始，他的小說表現出對維多利亞工業社會罪惡的高度不安，而在半自傳作品《塊肉餘生記》（David Copperfield, 1850）和《荒涼山莊》（Bleak House, 1853）、《艱苦時代》（Hard Times, 1854）、《小杜麗》（Little Dorrit, 1857）、《遠大前程》（Great Expectations, 1861）、《我們共同的朋友》（Our Mutual Friend, 1865）中變得更為強烈。《雙城記》（A Tale of Two Cities, 1859）出現於他極受讀者歡迎的時期。《埃德溫.德魯德》（The Mystery of Edwin Drood, 1870）沒有完成。狄更斯的作品特徵是：攻擊社會罪惡及不足的設施、對倫敦的全面知曉、悲天憫人、令人毛骨悚然的筆觸、仁慈與親切的心胸、源源不絕的人物創造力、角色特有的說辭、高度個人化及獨創的散文風格。

1812～1870年

Dickens, Charles (John Huffam)

British novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. He was born in Portsmouth. When his father, a clerk, was thrown into debtors prison, Charles was withdrawn from school and forced to work in a factory. As a young man he worked as a reporter. His fiction career began with short pieces reprinted as Sketches by “Boz” (1836). The comic novel The Pickwick Papers (1837) made him the most popular English author of his time. Oliver Twist (1838), Nicholas Nickleby (1839), The Old Curiosity Shop (1841), and Barnaby Rudge (1841) followed. After a trip to America, he wrote A Christmas Carol (1843) in a few weeks, followed by Martin Chuzzlewit (1844). With Dombey and Son (1848), his novels began to express a heightened uneasiness about the evils of Victorian industrial society, which intensified in the semiautobiographical David Copperfield (1850), as well as Bleak House (1853), Hard Times (1854), Little Dorrit (1857), Great Expectations (1861), and Our Mutual Friend (1865). A Tale of Two Cities (1859) appeared in the period when he achieved great popularity for his public readings. The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1870) was left unfinished. Dickens's works are characterized by attacks on social evils and inadequate institutions, an encyclopedic knowledge of London, pathos, a vein of the macabre, a pervasive spirit of benevolence and geniality, inexhaustible powers of character creation, an acute ear for characteristic speech, and a highly individual and inventive prose style.