Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Charles Dickens

3.96 of 5 stars 3.96 · rating details · 80 ratings · 22 reviews

This long-awaited biography, twenty years after the last major account, uncovers Dickens the man through the profession in which he excelled. Drawing on a lifetime’s study of this prodigiously brilliant figure, Michael Slater explores the personal and emotional life, the high-profile public activities, the relentless travel, the charitable works, the amateur theatricals an...more

Hardcover, 696 pages

Published November 10th 2009 by Yale University Press (first published June 8th 2007)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

Dust Tracks on a Road by Zora Neale Hurston

The Life of Langston Hughes by Arnold Rampersad

Author Biographies and Memoirs

75th out of 144 books — 24 voters

What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew by Daniel Pool

The World of Charles Dickens by Angus Wilson

Charles Dickens and the Making of a Christmas Carol by Michael Norris

Books on Charles Dickens

5th out of 12 books — 8 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 285)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

May 23, 2013 MJ Nicholls rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, sassysassenachs, voluminous

This exhaustive but compulsively readable bio is a super-rollercoaster-speedy gallop through Dickens, done in a linear styleé. The revelations? Dickens was as superhumanly prodigious as publicly known: quilling novels and articles pretty much non-stop for the first twenty years of his professional life, taking breaks to act and perform and hang out in Switzerland, composing voluminous correspondence in the interstices. He was as radical and committed to liberal Victorian ideals as publicly known...more

23 likes · like · see review

Mar 19, 2012 Nick rated it 4 of 5 stars

There are a number of new biographies out in honor of the bicentennial of Dickens' birth, but this one came out in 2009. I'm just now getting around to it. I liked it much better than Ackroyd's weird novelistic imagining of Dickens' inner life. As a quondam Dickens scholar and author of a book on Dickens myself, I'm fussy, but this is a fine biography. The only issue is that there really isn't anything new to report about Dickens. We know what we're going to know about his emotional response to...more

1 like · like · see review

Nov 14, 2011 Janice rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

Nov 2, 2011: I am halfway through this biography, and enjoying it greatly, and now it is signed! I went to hear Michael Slater speak this evening at the Morgan Library, and he signed my copy. That wasn't the best part of the evening, though: Slater, in addition to being immensely knowledgeable about Dickens, is an amazingly entertaining speaker. He read excerpts from some of the novels as part of his lecture on Dickens and humor, and he had the audience howling with laughter. He did the voices a...more Nov 2, 2011: I am halfway through this biography, and enjoying it greatly, and now it is signed! I went to hear Michael Slater speak this evening at the Morgan Library, and he signed my copy. That wasn't the best part of the evening, though: Slater, in addition to being immensely knowledgeable about Dickens, is an amazingly entertaining speaker. He read excerpts from some of the novels as part of his lecture on Dickens and humor, and he had the audience howling with laughter. He did the voices and just generally had wonderful delivery. I recommend the book (though it is almost as much of a brick as a Dickens novel), but I doubly recommend hearing the author speak.

Nov 11: I finished! Dickens' life makes fascinating reading. I did find, though, that my interest flagged in the discussions of his writings that I haven't read, which makes me think that this biography may not be of interest to people who have read a couple of the novels and are mildly interested in the author's life. I've read all 15 novels (though I don't really remember *Pickwick*), and there was still a ton of writing that I haven't read. It's not hard to understand why so many people who write about Dickens comment on his productivity, and tend to give the impression that his early death came about in part through his relentless work schedule.

Dickens derived great satisfaction (and a fair bit of money) from his public readings. I assume that it is not a coincidence that the number of novels he produced declined as his reading schedule picked up. I know the people of his time relished the chance to watch these performances, which by all accounts were amazing, but I can't help regretting that he didn't reserve his time and energy for more novels.

Slater's biography paints an unapologetic picture of a complex man: an author who wrote idealized portraits of home and hearth, but who both abandoned and vilified his wife; a champion of the poor and down-trodden, an abolitionist, who advocated genocide as a response to rebellion in India. I put down the book wishing I'd had the chance to hear Dickens read "A Christmas Carol," but glad he wasn't my family member or friend. He was a remarkable person, but he was also a product of his era, and in some respects (chauvinism, racism) he failed to rise above the prejudices of his times.

(less)

1 like · like · see review

May 12, 2010 Davidberlin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Just got this in the post today. Slater is not only a brilliant Dickens' scholar, he is one of the few who is almost as entertaining as the 'Inimitable' himself.

1 like · like · see review

Aug 03, 2011 Terry rated it 3 of 5 stars

I trudged through this biography of Charles Dickens and have no idea way. Maybe it was the flu and pneumonia. I expected to find out more about Dickens than I already knew; and I got a little bit of that, but the author assumes you

like · see review

Jul 14, 2010 Judy rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a biography which focuses on Dickens as a writer, looking at how the various works he was writing at any one time intersect and influence one another. Early in his career he was often writing two novels at once in partworks, as well as a lot of journalism, and it is very interesting to see how all these worked together. Slater is an expert and really knows his stuff. I especially appreciate the focus on Dickens' journalism and his short stories, as well as the public speaking and reading...more

2 likes · like · see review

Jan 03, 2012 ·Karen· rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 19th-century, biography-memoir, non-fiction, mttbr-2012

"So, Mr Dickens, what did you think of Mr Slater's biography?"

"It was always my desire that my fame should for ever rest solely on my work, on the achievements of my writing life, and it must be admitted that Mr Slater displays a most fitting and seemly respect for my towering body of work. His research is meticulous, I could not possibly fault him, either on his knowledge of all my writings, or on his detailed catalogue of the circumstances under which each and every essay, article and novel wa...more "So, Mr Dickens, what did you think of Mr Slater's biography?"

"It was always my desire that my fame should for ever rest solely on my work, on the achievements of my writing life, and it must be admitted that Mr Slater displays a most fitting and seemly respect for my towering body of work. His research is meticulous, I could not possibly fault him, either on his knowledge of all my writings, or on his detailed catalogue of the circumstances under which each and every essay, article and novel was produced. His praise for my literature is fulsome and judicious, his admiration for my industry and energy no less laudatory than it should be, and his assessment of my contribution to the welfare of my fellow writers is well-placed and felicitous. He is also gratifyingly appreciative of my acting skills."

"Do I detect a 'but'?"

"Surely you can hardly expect my wholehearted endorsement of his portrayal of my dealings with publishers and particularly with that uncongenial woman to whom I was so incompatibly tied for so many years? He makes me appear at best disingenuous, at worst duplicitous in my arrangements with Macrone, for example!"

"Aye, but then you did sell Sketches by Boz to Banks for his Carlton Chronicle although Macrone was preparing a second series, and undersigned a formidable contract with Bentley in which you promised to engage in no other literary production until the first of two three-volume novels was written for him, even though you had agreed to publish your first novel with Macrone."

"Macrone was a penny-pinching cheapskate who had no inkling of the literary market and my position within it. Clearly any verbal arrangement with him would become null and void when positions shifted so swiftly. But Mr Slater regularly implies, nay, baldly states that I would often re-write my own past in order to appear more virtuous, not only with regard to business dealings, but also in my treatment of Mrs Dickens. Yet he cannot possibly base his opinion on any evidence. At least he has the grace to examine the chronology of my meeting the Ternans and thus to realise that my meeting Miss Ellen Ternan was significantly later than the breakdown of my relationship with the woman I was married to. The fact remains that she was a poor mother to our ten children, and a less than satisfactory companion to me; a man cannot be expected to live like that forever."

"Don't you think that you were a little harsh in your treatment of Catherine after your separation?"

"Do you call an annual payment of 600 pounds harsh?"

"Hmmm. How do you react to the psychological interpretation that Slater puts on some of your work? I mean his speculation about how the incident of the blacking factory would inform your work?"

"To be honest, I'm grateful to Mr Slater for his reticence there. He is sensitively cautious in that spurious kind of cod-psychology that equates fiction with autobiography. Naturally my experiences in life inform and influence my work. But my own life, my walks through London, my observation of those ground down by poverty and destitution, my encounters with all stripes and walks of life, they act only as inspiration. It is the movement of my mind that creates the story. And there I am a master. Who else was ever so loved by his reading public? Who else from that time is still so loved? Bulwer-Lytton? Charles Reade? No, my work has endured. That is testimony to my worth. I have vanquished them all."

(less)

8 likes · like · see review

Apr 23, 2013 Mikey B. rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is an examination of the life of Charles Dickens mainly based from the books and the multitude of articles he wrote. As the author points out Dickens’s life was writing. His written output was enormous – he wrote novels, he was a magazine editor and wrote numerous essays for other journals and newspapers. He often juggled all these activities simultaneously – sometimes meeting the deadlines, at other times extending the deadlines. In addition he was a charismatic public speaker and loved to...more This is an examination of the life of Charles Dickens mainly based from the books and the multitude of articles he wrote. As the author points out Dickens’s life was writing. His written output was enormous – he wrote novels, he was a magazine editor and wrote numerous essays for other journals and newspapers. He often juggled all these activities simultaneously – sometimes meeting the deadlines, at other times extending the deadlines. In addition he was a charismatic public speaker and loved to recite his works (which he would re-edit to fit into the framework of his public performance). One needs also to understand that words for Dickens were a means to trigger active social change – his writings reflect the poor and the homeless – their living conditions were abominable. He constantly advocated the intervention of government in public hygiene and public education. He set up a centre for homeless women.

Dickens avidly explored his world – he knew the streets – the sights and sounds of London. He would often take walks of ten to fifteen miles – an enormous distance on foot. Unlike some writers today who seem sequestered in an inner world – Dickens went to the outer world to get his stories – in the teeming streets of London. Additionally the author shows us very well the creative method in action as we can feel the generative process at work in the stories of Dickens – the moulding of his characters and scenes is aptly demonstrated.

He was an ebullient personality and enjoyed being with people – he could be the centre of attention wherever he was. He was extremely popular during his lifetime and wanted to feel the love of his reading public. He connected emotionally with them through his public readings. When his books were released – by two to three chapters at a time – they were awaited upon enthusiastically by his audience; in very much the same way that people today await the next episode of a favourite TV show or concert performance. Dickens was the superstar of his era.

I learnt much of Dickens from this book, but there are some things that seem to be missing.

When his marriage dissolved (after having innumerable children – I lost count) his wife’s sister, Georgina, continued to live in the Dickens household and looked after his children. This does appear rather odd, but the author offers no explanation. Dickens had a very clandestine affair with a young actress – but due to the “Victorian” nature of the times there are only coded references to the true nature of the relationship – the author speculates that she may have had a child from Dickens, but leaves it at that.

The author points out one episode in which Dickens was shocked by a painting of Millais – “Christ in the House of His Parents” and wrote disparagingly of it. By today’s standards this painting is very innocuous. In later years Dickens and Millais became more amiable with each other (according to the art book I referenced).

The author also speaks admirably of all of Dickens works – I feel this should have been toned down or been more evaluative. He makes Dickens novels too equal in their intensity. What is also absent is a retrospective analysis of the works of Dickens through the ages. Why is it that most of us have heard (or even read) “David Copperfield” or a “Tale of Two Cities”, but novels like “Barnaby Rudge” or “Bleak House” are much more obscure. I do find some of Dickens characters somewhat of a caricature and the woman tend to be overly angelic.

I also find this book giving substantial details of Dickens weekly activities – people encountered, articles written… this makes for lengthy reading, plus the print size in my hardcover edition is small.

Nevertheless I am prompted to re-read some of the Dickens I already have and to venture into the ones I have not. The author amply demonstrates, Dickens (aside from Shakespeare) is the supreme author in the Anglo-Saxon world. His stories resonate through the ages.
(less)

2 likes · like · see review

May 19, 2013 Kathy Kattenburg rated it 4 of 5 stars

Although I’ve read many of Charles Dickens’s books, I knew very little of him beyond that, before now. I chose Michael Slater’s 2009 biography because of the glowing reviews (“eagerly awaited,” “authoritative,” etc.). and having read it, I can say with conviction that the reviews are deserved. Slater is one of the foremost, if not the foremost, experts on Dickens and, according to one of the blurbs on the back cover, he is “the first biographer to have had unhampered access to the whole range of...more Although I’ve read many of Charles Dickens’s books, I knew very little of him beyond that, before now. I chose Michael Slater’s 2009 biography because of the glowing reviews (“eagerly awaited,” “authoritative,” etc.). and having read it, I can say with conviction that the reviews are deserved. Slater is one of the foremost, if not the foremost, experts on Dickens and, according to one of the blurbs on the back cover, he is “the first biographer to have had unhampered access to the whole range of Dickens primary material, in its final edited form.” He is also a first-class writer; this book is a page-turner, filled with the kind of rich detail that only comes from years of study and meticulous research.

It needs a biographer of this standing to do justice to a literary figure such as Charles Dickens -- an immensely creative, imaginative, multitalented writer who emotionally and psychologically was a very complex, complicated man. He had a gift for friendship to match his gift for writing, and as a result was surrounded throughout his life by dear and close friends who treasured and cherished him as much as he did them. He was capable of enormous kindness and generosity, not just toward his friends but also toward struggling writers who looked to him as a role model. His anger at the way the poor and powerless were treated in Victorian society was burned into him by his own experiences at the age of 12, when his father went to debtor’s prison, and Dickens had to leave school to work in a blacking (shoe polish) factory.

During his lifetime, Dickens was easily England’s most beloved author, and he is still considered so today. But he did have a darker side which remained well hidden from his adoring public. When, in his mid-40s, he fell in love with an 18-year-old actress and decided his marriage to Catherine Hogarth, which had been unhappy for some years, was no longer tolerable, he banished his wife from their home (divorce, although legal, was too scandalous an option in upper-class Victorian society for Dickens to seriously consider). It’s unclear from what Slater tells us (and perhaps from what is known) whether he allowed their children the choice of staying with him, or going with her, but in any event they stayed with him. Given that Catherine had borne 10 children in her almost 20-year marriage to Dickens (one died in infancy, so there were nine living), and given what we know about the options a woman had in Victorian society for an independent life that could support nine children, it’s difficult to see how she could have taken the children with her regardless of what her own wishes might have been. After Dickens sent her into exile, Catherine never saw or spoke to her husband again, and Slater does not tell us how much she saw any of her children after that, or even whether she saw them at all. Slater does make it clear that there are very few confirmable answers to these questions that can be gleaned from what is known in the public record, so perhaps they must remain unanswerable.

What IS known -- and what Slater makes abundantly clear -- is that, in the 12 years between 1858 (when these events occurred) and 1870, when he died, Dickens’s behavior toward Catherine was often shockingly cruel, inflicting more pain than would have been inherent in the situation itself. As adults, many of his and Catherine’s children led dysfunctional lives, getting into one mess after another in their personal and in their work lives (the sons, that is, and they were all sons except for two), and Dickens attributed the reason to Catherine having been a bad mother. Worst, though, he actually said this to many of his friends over the years, lamenting to them his misfortune in having been yoked to a woman whose maternal abilities were so inadequate as to produce such children. (And yes, Slater does note that Dickens never appeared to consider the obvious response to this complaint.)

Equally hurtful was Dickens’s revision of his personal history to exclude Catherine -- as when he responded to a letter from Catherine (graciously) wishing him bon voyage on his 1867 readings tour to America with a stiff and formal letter in which he mentioned the American tour they had made together in 1842, but wrote her out of it, as in “You will recall when I made my first trip to America,” as if she had never been on that trip with him at all -- even though at the time he wrote to friends back home of what a lively and cheerful companion she was.

It’s hard to understand what need or deficit in Dickens’s nature drove him to such gratuitous cruelty toward the woman who was his wife for two decades and the mother of 10 children they created together. But that’s part of what made him so complex and fascinating. The dark and the light together are what made Dickens, Dickens -- and Michael Slater does a truly admirable job of opening Dickens to us in the full roundness of the man and the author.(less)

like · see review

Oct 30, 2011 Jason rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction, biography, literary_criticism

An indispensible biography of Charles Dickens. Aptly subtitled, "A Life Defined By Writing" -- this biography focuses on Dickens' writing, not just his novels but also his short stories, journalism and editing. The process of writing just about every number of every novel is detailed (the major ones were released in 19 monthly installments -- with the final one being a double issues), often down to where Dickens was living, who was visiting him, and what time pressures he was under. In contrast,...more An indispensible biography of Charles Dickens. Aptly subtitled, "A Life Defined By Writing" -- this biography focuses on Dickens' writing, not just his novels but also his short stories, journalism and editing. The process of writing just about every number of every novel is detailed (the major ones were released in 19 monthly installments -- with the final one being a double issues), often down to where Dickens was living, who was visiting him, and what time pressures he was under. In contrast, the death of Dickens' sister-in-law Mary Hogarth, which might get a chapter in a more psychological or personal treatment of Dickens, initially gets just a single paragraph that a less-than-fully alert reader might miss. But then Slater returns to Hogarth's death multiple times as Dickens writes it into books from the Old Curiousity Shop to David Copperfield. Although Dickens' relationship with Ellen Ternen gets more space, Slater refuses to delve or speculate -- and again seems mostly interested in Ternan as a model for some of the women in Dickens' later novels as well as in the geographic pull she exerts on him.

The process by which novels and other writings were composed would not be of interest for most writers. But for Dickens, it is integral. Whether he was sending back letters from America to support his trip there or resuscitating his latest periodical by contributing a novel, the process was an important part of the end result. Great Expectations, for example, would have been a different had Dickens written it in monthly installments as originally planned rather than the weekly numbers he ultimately utilized to help promote his publication All the Year Round.

Slater is an excellent writer and an authority on Dickens who lets his subject speak for himself through extensive excerpts. Although I would not recommend this for casual or light reading (Peter Ackroyd's Dickens would be a better choice for that -- notwithstanding it's 1,000+ page length), there isn't a better book for those who are interested.(less)

like · see review

Mar 16, 2010 Sam Schulman rated it 4 of 5 stars

Not entirely successful, but an interesting attempt to write a history of Dickens' writings and Dickens at work. This method both empowers and limits - on the one hand it allows Slater to focus on the process and the glory of someone who thought hard about the process of writing and was superbly good at it. (And incidentally it allows Slater to spend more time on the writings than other biographers do, which allowed me to realize that there was a lot of Dickens I hadn't read - such as the Christ...more

1 like · like · see review

Feb 24, 2012 Kirk Lowery rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography

Dickens' life is astonishing. A 19th century superstar. Immensely popular in his own time, he struggled with all the issues celebrities have. Nevertheless, his incredible energy buoyed him along. Slater, as his biographer, has focused upon Dickens as the writer (naturally), interweaving external events with detailed narration of the actual writing of his many works, connecting the dots between what was happening to Dickens at the time and what happened to his characters he was writing at the sam...more

like · see review

Aug 23, 2012 Drtaxsacto rated it 5 of 5 stars

I am a big fan of Dickens and have always wondered about how much of his material was autobiographical. Slater does a superb job of retelling Dickens' life with its relevance to his books. This is a long book that i had trouble putting down.

like · see review

Feb 27, 2010 Kathleen Schuerger rated it 5 of 5 stars

Dr. Slater's biography supercedes all others. He knows the journalism as well as anyone living, has access to the new research on the letters and the Ternan affair, and writes with a sure hand. Peter Ackroyd, eat your heart out.

like · see review

Jul 14, 2010 Christine rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: literary-biography, crap-i-refuse-to-finish

OK, I didn't finish this. I gave up about 100 pages in. It's really a shame. Obviously Slater's knowledge of Dickens is thorough. Dickens is a fascinating character. And yet, Slater's telling of his story is terribly dry and uninteresting. What a waste.

like · see review

Apr 16, 2011 Pip rated it 5 of 5 stars

If you are a Dickens freak you must have this thorough academic look at the man through his works. And vice-versa. Not for the casual Dickens fan.

like · see review

Feb 20, 2010 Jack Goodstein rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography

Focuses on Dickens' minor works and their relation to his novels--less emphasis on the details of his life.

like · see review

Jul 30, 2011 Terry Dullum rated it 4 of 5 stars

Fine biography, but prefer Ackroyd book.

like · see review

Mar 25, 2013 Abul Kalam rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was very comprehensive it covers a Dickens’s life from birth to death. It gives a very detailed description of every stage of his life. Before this book I had no real idea of who Dickens was only that he was one of the great writers of English history.
I would not say that everything about Dickens personality was agreeable to me however I would recommend others to read it.

like · see review

Mar 11, 2012 Hillingdon Libraries added it

Shelves: cityread_dickens2012

Find this book at Hillingdon Libraries

like · see review

Aug 15, 2012 Nancy rated it 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book it too me a while to read it as it quite heavy going but gave me a great insight into this amazing writers life. Not the best of husbands but I will forgive him.

like · see review

Aug 15, 2010 Naomi rated it 5 of 5 stars

Best written biography of Dickens I've read so far. But I need to get Claire Tomalin's now!

like · see review

Jun 12, 2013 Kristen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, anglophilia, non-fiction

Jun 05, 2013 Pat Padden rated it 4 of 5 stars

May 30, 2013 Josh Hogan marked it as to-read

May 27, 2013 Kyle marked it as to-read

May 26, 2013 Dustin marked it as to-read

Shelves: classics, non-fiction

May 25, 2013 Maciek marked it as to-read

Shelves: biography, big-tomes, non-fiction, lives-of-writers

May 24, 2013 Kris marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: biography, england, literary-criticism, non-fiction, victorian-studies

May 24, 2013 Aloha marked it as to-read-1 · review of another edition

Shelves: a-ebooks, a-own, z-slater-michael

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend it | Stats | Recent status updates

combine
Other Editions (5)

More editions...

Genres

Biography

22 users

Non Fiction

8 users

European Literature > British Literature

3 users

Classics

2 users

Literature

2 users

Criticism > Literary Criticism

2 users

Biography Memoir

2 users

History

2 users

See top shelves...

About Michael Slater

Michael Slater is Emeritus Professor of Victorian Literature at Birkbeck College, University of London, past President of the International Dickens Fellowship and of the Dickens Society of America, and former editor of the journal The Dickensian. He has taught and continues to lecture widely in the USA, across Europe, Australasia and the Far East.

Read an article by Michael Slater at Yale's London...more

More about Michael Slater...

Books by Michael Slater

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Charles Dickens

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

title link	preview: Charles Dickens
avg rating	preview: Charles Dickens Goodreads rating: 3.96 (80 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6708277-charles-dickens?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328827625l/6708277.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6708277-charles-dickens?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Charles Dickens by Michael Slater[/url]

Charles Dickens

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topicDiscuss This Book

combineOther Editions (5)

Genres

About Michael Slater

Books by Michael Slater

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About Charles Dickens

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (5)