Charles Dickens' Private Life Was Far Stranger Than His Writing Suggested

Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities — it's obvious why Charles Dickens is among the greatest writers ever. But many readers don't realize that the author's own life was as deep and textured as any of his novels. From his unusual hobbies to his secret pen name, Dickens rarely experienced a dull moment. Given some of the more bizarre details, it's no surprise that he kept his personal life out of the pages of his books.

Forced to Work

Charles John Huffam Dickens was born in 1812 in Landport, Hampshire, England. The eldest son in a poor family, he would recall himself to have been a “very small and not over-particularly-taken-care-of boy." We might have expected him to come out of the womb with a pen in his hand, but in reality, young Charles started out on a very different career path.

Writing by Accident

At the tender age of 15, Charles began working as an entry-level legal clerk at Ellis and Blackmore, an established law office. He was there to learn the tricks and trades of being a lawyer, but also how to write quickly about the cases he was working on.

Secret Author

Charles began developing as a secret writer in more ways than one. Firstly, he was learning the tricks of the writing trade from his job as an office clerk. Secondly, when it finally became time to publish, he wrote under the pseudonym "Boz," which was an homage to one of his favorite pieces of writing.

What the Dickens

"Boz" was a reference to the character Moses from Oliver Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield — somehow Dickens twisted it to "Boses" before dropping the second syllable. Though he later reverted to his actual name, he was hesitant because the phrase, "What the Dickens," was another way of summoning the devil dating back to William Shakespeare's heyday. While Charles didn't inspire that saying, his popularity helped keep the saying relevant.