Charles Dickens: Faith, Angels and the Poor

About the Book

"Deeply respecting, and bowing down before the character of Our Saviour, you cannot go very wrong, and will always preserve at heart a true spirit of veneration and humility." Charles Dickens Charles Dickens was a great storyteller; he possessed the unique ability of documenting the realities of life for both his contemporaries and future generations. A journalist, commentator, historian, and the social conscience of a nation, his influence and reach extended far beyond that normally associated with a novelist. Although the subject of numerous books, none have sought to detail how the writer tried through his work to change the hearts of his readers. In this authoritative and highly readable new biography, Keith Hooper explores the nature and development of Dickens's faith, and the means by which it was expressed. This excellent study of Dickens's beliefs and struggles with the contemporary church gives new and valuable insight into his literary work.

Table of Contents:

Contents
Acknowledgments 7
A Timeline of Charles Dickens’s Life 8
Introduction 12
1 Lady of John Dickens Esq. a Son 17
2 The Workhouse, the Theatre, and Royalty 24
3 The Happy Dream of Childhood 29
4 The Reader, the Watcher, and the Learner 39
5 Disturbing Shadows of Debt and Despair 46
6 The Prisoner and the Pupil 55
7 I Begin Life on My Account 64
8 The Actor, the Reporter, and the Writer 73
9 Sketches By Boz and Sparks on Sunday 91
10 Charitable Angels and the Invisible World of Poverty 101
11 Oliver Twist: The Parable of the Good Samaritan and Female Angels 111
12 Nicholas Nickleby: Charitable and Female Angels 126
13 The Old Curiosity Shop and the Ticking of the Clock 134
14 Death, the Resurrection, and Child Angels 140
15 A Christmas Carol 150
16 The Chimes 162
17 The Simple Faith of Dickens 170
18 The Private and Public Charity of Dickens 179
19 The Battle of Life 188
20 Telescopic Philanthropy and Original Sin 198
21 Law, Grace, and Feet of Clay 207
22 The Triumph of His Latter Years 217
The End 231
Select Bibliography 239

About the Author :
...A lecturer, speaker, English Tutor and writer...If it helps this is the sort of thing that appears in my lecture publicity...'Awarded a doctorate from the University of Exeter for his work on Charles Dickens, Keith Hooper regularly speaks on Victorian literature. His lectures, available on YouTube, have attracted thousands of viewers. His work has also appeared in the international journal The Dickensian. A qualified teacher, he currently works as an English tutor.

Review :
“The complexity of Dickens’s life and character never diminished his Christian charity and advocacy of the poor. Hooper’s new biography reveals a different Dickens, one who wrote “expressly for his children” The Life of our Lord. At the heart of this is a man who loved Jesus, acknowledging that there was none so good, so kind, so gentle, and so sorry for people who did wrong. Hooper gives us a Dickens who, in the midst of his complex and divided life struggled to translate his faith into practical social good.”