Born in 1812, Charles Dickens was a literary genius and the most famous author of the 19th century. He possessed what scholars called “the conscience of his age”, combining social critique, characterisation and humour in his writing, exploring the inequalities and contradictions of Victorian society. First published as a serial in 1849-50, and as a book in 1850, David Copperfield is one of his best-loved novels and according to the author himself “is a very complicated weaving of truth and invention.”
EDUCATION
A middle-aged David Copperfield narrates the novel in first person. Now an eminent author, he looks back on his formative years and experiences in classic bildungsroman style. David’s father dies before he is born and his mother passes away when he is still very young. At the age of ten, he is taken out of school by his stepfather and sent to work in a factory —which was also Dickens’ experience as a child:
“You have received some considerable education already. Education is costly; and even if it were not, and I could afford it, I am of the opinion that it would not be at all advantageous to you to be kept at school. What is before you, is a fight with the world; and the sooner you begin it, the better.”
“Già hai ricevuto una certa istruzione. L’istruzione è costosa; e anche se così non fosse, e potessi dartela, ho la convinzione che non ti sarebbe vantaggioso mandarti a scuola. Ciò che ti sta innanzi è la lotta col mondo, e più presto la comincerai, meglio.”
DEBT
David’s “fight with the world” is helped and sometimes hindered by a memorable cast of characters: Peggotty, Betsey Trotwood, Barkis, Uriah Heep, Steerforth, Agnes and Mr. and Mrs. Micawber. Mr. Micawber finds himself imprisoned for debt, as was Dickens’ own father. Micawber shares the rule of happiness in life with David, a rule he himself has sadly failed to follow:
“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery… In short you are for ever floored. As I am!”
“[…] osservando che chi ha venti sterline all’anno direndita, e spende diciannove sterline, diciannove scellinie sei pence, è felice; ma che, invece, è da compiangere, se ne spende ventuna.”
PERSERVERANCE
Tragedy and romance often go hand-in-hand in Dickens’ novels, and David Copperfield is no exception. Committing himself to a marriage with young Dora, despite fundamental differences in outlook and values, David Copperfield suffers heartbreak, but also insight. He concludes that good character, integrity and hard work are more important than talent or sophistication:
“I will only add, to what I have already written of my perseverance at this time of my life, and of a patient and continuous energy which then began to be matured in me, and which I know to be the strong part of my character, if it have any strength at all, that there, on looking back, I find the source of my success.”
“Aggiungerò soltanto a ciò che ho già scritto della mia perseveranza al lavoro in quel periodo, e della paziente e instancabile energia che allora cominciavano a maturarsi in me, e che so ora formano la parte solida del mio carattere, se si può parlare di solidità, che proprio in quelle qualità io trovo le basi della mia buona riuscita.”
AUTHOR
Charles Dickens worked in a law office, taught himself shorthand and became a reporter before writing fiction. David Copperfield follows a similar path, training as a legal clerk and writing newspaper reports on parliamentary debates before reinventing himself as an author. When Copperfield visits his aunt and suggests going for a horse ride, she remarks on his progress:
“The ride will do his master good, at all events,’ observed my aunt, glancing at the papers on my table. ‘Ah, child, you pass a good many hours here! I never thought, when I used to read books, what work it was to write them.’
‘It’s work enough to read them, sometimes,’ I returned. ‘As to the writing, it has its own charms, aunt.’”
“– Ad ogni modo la cavalcata farà bene al padrone –osservò mia zia con un’occhiata ai fogli sul mio tavolino. – Ah, figlio mio, tu passi molte ore qui! Io non pensavo mai, quando leggevo i libri, che ci volesse tanta fatica per scriverli.– A volte è già una bella fatica leggerli – io risposi. –Ma lo scriverli ha i suoi fascini, zia.”
READING TOURS
Dickens described David Copperfield as his “favourite child”, and the book was hugely popular on his reading tours, which were attended by large crowds. When he died in 1870, Dickens left a legacy of fifteen novels, five novellas, and hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles. Alongside his list of enduring characters and stories, Dickens is remembered for his campaigning and support for children’s rights, education and other social reforms. David Copperfield marks the point where Dickens matures as a serious writer, following an ethos explained by David Copperfield himself: “Whatever I have tried to do in life, I have tried with all my heart to do well.”