CHARLES DICKENS
OSCAR WILDE
biography
1812 - 1870
born in portsmouth, second of eight siblings
sent to school at nine years old
three years later his father was imprisoned and Charles was forced to work ten-hour days in factory
all of this events were material for his future work
began his writing career as journalist
wrote a series of sketches under the pseudonym 'Boz'
produce and immense number of novels, initially as instalments in magazines and then as complete books
travelled to America and to Italy
1836 marries Catherine Hogarth and had 10 children
works
"pickwick papers"
a series of tales connected by featuring the same character, Mr Pickwick
the character was made to go through in the corse of the narrative with distinctive characteristics
"Oliver twist"
the story of an orphaned boy, touch the theme of the children exoloitation and cruelty of workhouses
beginning of social criticism
"A Christmas Carol"
a ghost story featuring the conversion of a miser to the spirit of Christmas
"David Copperfield"
"Bleak house"
the most explicit autobiographical
"Hard times"
representation of a city during the industrial revolution, decriptino of the Coke Town
"great expectation"
structure
plots
wrote quickly under the pressure both from his publisher and his own need for money
maintain the suspence from un episode to another with dramatic turn of events
characters
ofter were caricature embodying particular vices or virtues
included people from all walks of life
language
had an important impact on the English language
he spread words that already existed in English but were totally unknown (like "scrooge")
he used popular slang exoressions
Dickens novel success
novels increasingly focused on social criticism, they wanted to denounce the social evils of the time
dicken's abilities became popular among filmmakers and they used dickens novels to create many films
biography
1854 - 1900
born in Dublin, as the son of a wealthy and famous doctor, his mother was Lady Francesca Elgee (lady speranza)
was a brilliant student, went to study at trinity college
1881 American tour
1883 married Constance Lloyd, who gave him two sons
1900 - "the picture of dorian gray"
considered immoral, Wilde defended himself in a preface to the work, stating that 'vice and virtue are to the artist materials for an art'
"the importance of being earnest"
in the moment of his greatest success, he was involved in a legal case that would lead to his ruin
he was accused of homosexuality (a criminal offense) and was put on trial and sentenced to two years imprisonment
when he came out of prison he lived in exile in France
a series of short stories firstly published in an American periodic called "Lippincott's monthly magazine"
is his theatrical masterpiece
"Lady windermere's fan"
series of his most popular plays
he reported in New York the concept of aestheticism
met Walt Whitman
story of a rich, beautiful you man who has his portrait painted, he will sacrifice his soul if he can maintain his youth and beauty
his scandalous life is hidden by the fact that he remains young and beautiful