Realism in English Literature

The critical realism of the 19th century flourished in the 40s and at the beginning of the 50s.

The critical realists set themselves the task of criticizing capitalist society, exposing social contradictions. Their strong point was their true reflection of life and their sharp criticism of existing injustice.

Charles Dickens (1812-1870) was born in Portsmouth on the 7th of February, 1812. He was the 2nd child and the eldest son of John and Elizabeth Dickens. After a short period in London, in 1817 John Dickens was transferred to the dockyard at Chatham and the family remained here until 1822. These were the happiest years of Charles's childhood and youth.

When Charles was about 10, the family left Chatham as John dickens had been recalled to London.

William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863) was the second representative of critical realism in English literature of the 19th century. Dickens and Thackeray were such near contemporaries that their work was often compared, but Thackeray's life was different from that of Charles Dickens.

William Makepeace Thackeray was born into a prosperous middle class family. His father was a well-to-do English official in Calcutta, India, where he was born. When his father died, the boy, aged six, was sent to England where he attended the famous Charterhouse School. In 1828 Thackeray entered Cambridge University. While a student he was clever at drawing cartoons and writing verses, chiefly parodies. He did not stay long at the University. The stagnant atmosphere of the place suffocated him. Besides his wish was to become an artist and therefore he left the University without graduating and went to Germany, Italy and France to study art.

There were 3 Brontes- novelists: Charlotte (1816-1855), Emily (1818-1848) and Anne (1820-1849). Their father was an Irish protestant, a clergyman in Yorkshire. Their mother died when the girls were little. The children were entirely devoted to reading, writing, drawing wandering over the open moors and playing a game of story telling about their imaginary heroes. The sisters received their education at a charity school and worked as governesses. Private teaching was the only profession open to educated women, and the Brontes had to earn their living.

Their life was hard and they tried to create a new world of their imagination. The sisters turned to literature though they knew of the difficulties a woman writer had to face when it came to publication. Their first volume of verse was published under a masculine pseudonym: "Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell" (1846).