The Life and Lies of Charles Dickens, by Helena Kelly

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The Life and Lies of Charles Dickens by Helena Kelly

Charles Dickens created contingents of memorable characters with names that include Ebenezer Scrooge, David Copperfield, the Artful Dodger and Martin Chuzzlewit. British writer-scholar Helena Kelly suggests that one of his most outstanding fictional characters was called Charles Dickens.

Her The Life and Lies of Charles Dickens is an effort to debunk the story he told of himself, much of it posthumously through the biography penned by his personal Boswell, John Forster. Suspicions about the accuracy of Forster’s three-volume account (1871-74) were already raised at the time of their publication. Justifiably suspicious, Kelly conducts a thorough forensic investigation, pouring over surviving letters from Dickens’ associates, aided in her research by the digitalization of reports about his whereabouts in obscure provincial newspapers.

Kelly constructs a plausible narrative, essentially a river of doubt carrying Dickens’ and Forster’s accounts to no certain end. There is a “gotcha” journalism tone to some of Kelly’s writing. Her contention that portions of Dickens’ autobiographical essays “are probably rooted in genuine recollections, but how, in the circumstances, can we trust any in them?” is reasonable. But she concedes that he was among the first global cultural celebrities. “When it comes to that kind of fame, having a public persona is both good business sense and a psychological shield.”

Kelly’s revelations into Dickens’ life are often preceded by “might,” “perhaps” and “all we can say with any certainty”—honest admissions, perhaps, that a biographer’s search for truth will often result in more questions. The Life and Lies of Charles Dickens offers fascinating speculation, and penetrating analysis of his work, but many “facts” remain speculative.

Get The Life and Lies of Charles Dickens at Amazon here.

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