Fred+and+Matt

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 * Most of Dickens' work was published serially, in parts over time. Because of this, Dickens had to be very conscientious of structure; stories had to make sense in monthly passages, and eventually in volume form.
 * This also increased Dickens' publicity, as readers could afford monthly installments, as opposed to entire books.
 * Each chapter had to remain interesting to readers, so that they would purchase the next journal.
 * In Dickens early years, his family moved around often. This time was very influential on his work and he viewed himself as a “very small and not-over-particularly-taken-care-of boy”
 * At age 10, Dickens' family was forced into debtor's prison, leaving only Charles to work for 10 hours a day for 6 shillings per week to support himself and his imprisoned family.
 * Dickens later reported parliamentary debates as a law clerk.
 * After his brief career in parliament he became the editor for a magazine "Bentley's Miscellany."
 * Later still, Charles separated from his wife (unheard of for Victorian times) but kept her in a house away from him.
 * Dickens' works reflect his views on poverty, the working class, as well as aristocracy.
 * Dickens was provincial and viewed London almost as the center of the universe. He was ignorant of the reality of France, but he displayed amazing intuitive perception of the truth about the revolution. He was inspired by Thomas Carlyle and his writing about the French Revolution, but Dickens did not read anything else besides this and did not do much research. However, he shows his literary genius by simplifying the subject and using his life's experience to touch upon rebellion and human nature in this work.

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