0:00:07.828,0:00:11.936
The starving orphan seeking [br]a second helping of gruel.

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The spinster wasting away [br]in her tattered wedding dress.

0:00:15.591,0:00:20.468
The stone-hearted miser plagued [br]by the ghost of Christmas past.

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More than a century after his death,

0:00:22.676,0:00:27.358
these remain recognizable figures[br]from the work of Charles Dickens.

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So striking is his body of work [br]that it gave rise to its own adjective.

0:00:32.067,0:00:36.879
But what are the features of Dickens's[br]writing that make it so special?

0:00:36.879,0:00:39.528
Dickens’s fiction brims with anticipation

0:00:39.528,0:00:43.539
through brooding settings, [br]plot twists, and mysteries.

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These features of his work kept[br]his audience wanting more.

0:00:46.938,0:00:50.286
When first published, [br]his stories were serialized,

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meaning they were released a few chapters[br]at a time in affordable literary journals

0:00:55.515,0:00:58.621
and only later reprinted as books.

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This prompted fevered speculation[br]over the cliffhangers

0:01:01.621,0:01:04.412
and revelations he devised.

0:01:04.412,0:01:08.116
Serialization not only made fiction[br]available to a wider audience

0:01:08.116,0:01:09.813
and kept them reading,

0:01:09.813,0:01:13.407
but increased the hype[br]around the author himself.

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Dickens became particularly popular[br]for his wit,

0:01:16.955,0:01:21.225
which he poured into quirky characters[br]and satiric scenarios.

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His characters exhibit the sheer[br]absurdity of human behavior,

0:01:24.996,0:01:29.438
and their names often personify[br]traits or social positions,

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like the downtrodden Bob Cratchit,

0:01:31.426,0:01:33.997
the groveling Uriah Heap,

0:01:33.997,0:01:37.786
and the cheery Septimus Crisparkle.

0:01:37.786,0:01:42.095
Dickens set these colorful characters[br]against intricate social backdrops,

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which mimic the society he lived in.

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For instance, he often considered

0:01:46.257,0:01:49.276
the changes brought about [br]by the Industrial Revolution.

0:01:49.276,0:01:50.647
During this period,

0:01:50.647,0:01:55.207
the lower classes experienced [br]sordid working and living conditions.

0:01:55.207,0:01:58.620
Dickens himself experienced [br]this hardship as a child

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when he was forced to work in[br]a boot blacking factory

0:02:01.850,0:02:05.061
after his father was sent [br]to debtors' prison.

0:02:05.061,0:02:09.518
This influenced his depiction[br]of the Marshalsea prison in Little Dorrit,

0:02:09.518,0:02:13.868
where the titular character cares[br]for her convict father.

0:02:13.868,0:02:18.310
Prisons, orphanages, or slums[br]may seem grim settings for a story,

0:02:18.310,0:02:20.300
but they allowed Dickens to shed light

0:02:20.300,0:02:24.080
on how his society's [br]most invisible people lived.

0:02:24.080,0:02:25.449
In Nicholas Nickleby,

0:02:25.449,0:02:29.270
Nicholas takes a job with the schoolmaster[br]Wackford Squeers.

0:02:29.270,0:02:33.101
He soon realizes that Squeers[br]is running a scam

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where he takes unwanted children[br]from their parents for a fee

0:02:36.544,0:02:39.849
and subjects them to violence[br]and deprivation.

0:02:39.849,0:02:43.979
Oliver Twist also deals with the plight [br]of children in the care of the state,

0:02:43.979,0:02:46.490
illustrating the brutal conditions of[br]the workhouse

0:02:46.490,0:02:50.040
in which Oliver pleads[br]with Mr. Bumble for food.

0:02:50.040,0:02:55.090
When he flees to London, he becomes[br]ensnared in a criminal underworld.

0:02:55.090,0:02:57.860
These stories frequently portray[br]Victorian life

0:02:57.860,0:03:00.190
as grimy, corrupt, and cruel.

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But Dickens also saw his time[br]as one in which old traditions

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were fading away.

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London was becoming[br]the incubator of the modern world

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through new patterns in industry,[br]trade, and social mobility.

0:03:12.591,0:03:16.131
Dickens's London is therefore[br]a dualistic space:

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a harsh world that is simultaneously[br]filled with wonder and possibility.

0:03:21.038,0:03:24.107
For instance, the enigma [br]of Great Expectations

0:03:24.107,0:03:26.521
centers around the potential of Pip,

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an orphan plucked from obscurity[br]by an anonymous benefactor

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and propelled into high society.

0:03:32.700,0:03:34.289
In his search for purpose,

0:03:34.289,0:03:37.690
Pip becomes the victim [br]of other people’s ambitions for him

0:03:37.690,0:03:40.817
and must negotiate with [br]a shadowy cast of characters.

0:03:40.817,0:03:43.250
Like many of Dickens’s protagonists,

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poor Pip's position [br]is constantly destabilized,

0:03:46.769,0:03:49.278
just one of the reasons [br]why reading Dickens

0:03:49.278,0:03:51.269
is the best of times for the reader,

0:03:51.269,0:03:54.765
while being the worst of times [br]for his characters.

0:03:54.765,0:03:58.719
Dickens typically offered clear [br]resolution by the end of his novels,

0:03:58.719,0:04:02.449
– with the exception of[br]The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

0:04:02.449,0:04:07.390
The novel details the disappearance of the[br]orphan Edwin under puzzling circumstances.

0:04:07.390,0:04:10.429
However, Dickens died before the novel [br]was finished

0:04:10.429,0:04:13.619
and left no notes resolving the mystery.

0:04:13.619,0:04:18.761
Readers continue to passionately debate [br]over who Dickens intended as the murderer,

0:04:18.761,0:04:23.560
and whether Edwin Drood [br]was even murdered in the first place.

0:04:23.560,0:04:25.111
Throughout many adaptations,

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literary homages,

0:04:26.260,0:04:27.866
and the pages of his novels,

0:04:27.866,0:04:31.285
Dickens’s sparkling language[br]and panoramic worldview

0:04:31.285,0:04:33.460
continue to resonate.

0:04:33.460,0:04:35.340
Today, the adjective Dickensian

0:04:35.340,0:04:38.592
often implies squalid working [br]or living conditions.

0:04:38.592,0:04:43.127
But to describe a novel as[br]Dickensian is typically high praise,

0:04:43.127,0:04:46.931
as it suggests a story in which true [br]adventure and discovery

0:04:46.931,0:04:49.722
occur in the most unexpected places.

0:04:49.722,0:04:52.512
Although he often explored bleak material,

0:04:52.512,0:04:57.972
Dickens’s piercing wit never failed[br]to find light in the darkest corners.