狄更斯(1812～1870年)
Dickens, Charles (John Huffam)
英国小说家，普遍被视为维多利亚时代最伟大的小说家。当他担任伙计的父亲因债务而入狱时，狄更斯被迫辍学而到工厂工作。年轻时从事记者工作。他的创作生涯始於重印的短篇文集《「博兹」特写集》（Sketches by "Boz", 1836）。喜剧小说《匹克威克外传》（The Pickwick Papers, 1837）使他成为当时最受欢迎的英国作家。随後是《孤雏泪》（Oliver Twist, 1838）、《尼古拉斯.尼克尔贝》（Nicholas Nickleby, 1839）、《老古董店》（The Old Curiosity Shop, 1841）、《巴纳比.拉奇》（Barnaby Rudge, 1841）。他到美国旅行後，在数周内写下《圣诞颂歌》（A Christmas Carol, 1843），接着是《马丁.朱述尔维特》（Martin Chuzzlewit, 1844）。从《董贝父子》（Dombey and Son, 1848）开始，他的小说表现出对维多利亚工业社会罪恶的高度不安，而在半自传作品《块肉余生记》（David Copperfield, 1850）和《荒凉山庄》（Bleak House, 1853）、《艰苦时代》（Hard Times, 1854）、《小杜丽》（Little Dorrit, 1857）、《远大前程》（Great Expectations, 1861）、《我们共同的朋友》（Our Mutual Friend, 1865）中变得更为强烈。《双城记》（A Tale of Two Cities, 1859）出现於他极受读者欢迎的时期。《埃德温.德鲁德》（The Mystery of Edwin Drood, 1870）没有完成。狄更斯的作品特徵是：攻击社会罪恶及不足的设施、对伦敦的全面知晓、悲天悯人、令人毛骨悚然的笔触、仁慈与亲切的心胸、源源不绝的人物创造力、角色特有的说辞、高度个人化及独创的散文风格。
English version：
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 When his father, a clerk, was thrown into debtors prison, Charles was withdrawn from school and forced to work in a factory.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.