Part of the genius of Edgar Allan Poe is that he exceeded in a number of different types of endeavors. In addition to his reputation as a poet, his originality in his literary criticisms, and the perfection he achieved in creating gothic tales of terror and science fiction, he is also acknowledged as the originator of detective fiction. Poe invented the term "Tale of Ratiocination." The ratiocination, however, is not just for the detective; Poe does not allow the reader to sit back and merely observe; the process of ratiocination which he sets up is also intended for the reader, as well as for the detective. In fact, the story becomes one in which the reader must also accompany the detective toward the solution and apply his own powers of logic and deduction alongside those of the detective. This idea becomes very important in all subsequent works of detective fiction. That is, in all such fiction, all of the clues are available for the reader, as well as the detective, to solve the crime (usually murder), and at the end of the story, the reader should be able to look back on the clues and realize that he could have solved the mystery. A detective story in which the solution is suddenly revealed to the reader is considered bad form. Poe, then, introduces one of the basic elements of the detective story — the presentation of clues for his readers, and in addition to the above, Poe is also credited with introducing and developing many other of the standard features of modern detective fiction.
For example, M. Auguste Dupin is the forerunner of a long line of fictional detectives who are eccentric and brilliant. His unnamed friend, who is a devoted admirer of the detective's methods, is less brilliant but, at times, he is perhaps more rational and analytical than Dupin is. He never, however, has the flashes of genius that the detective exhibits; instead, he begins the tradition of the chronicler of the famous detective's exploits — that is, he mediates between reader and detective, presenting what information he has to the reader, while allowing the detective to keep certain information and interpretations to himself. This technique has since been employed by numerous writers of detective fiction, the most famous being the Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson combination. Almost as popular are the well-known novels of Rex Stout, dealing with the eccentric Nero Wolfe and his sidekick, Archie Goodwin, further examples of Poe's methodology. In all the cases that these detectives attempt to solve, the eccentric detective has a certain disdain, or contempt, for the police and their methods, and this has also become a standard feature of many detective stories, along with the fact that the head of the police force feels, as he does in "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," that this amateur detective, while solving the murder, is a meddler.
Poe is clearly responsible for and should be given credit for giving literature these basics of the detective story as a foundation for an entirely new genre of fiction: (1) the eccentric but brilliant amateur sleuth; (2) the sidekick, or listener, or worker for the clever detective; (3) the simple clues; (4) the stupidity or ineptitude of the police; (5) the resentment of the police for the amateur's interference; and (6) the simple but careful solution of the problem through logic and intuition.
(http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/LitNote/Poe-s-Short-Stories-Summary-Analysis-and-Original-Text-Tales-Of-Ratiocination-Or-Detective-Fiction-Introduction-to-The-Murders-in-the-Rue-Morgue-and-The-Purloined-Letter-.id-145,pageNum-54.html )
Tuesday, 27 January 2009
Sunday, 25 January 2009
THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN THE VICTORIAN AGE
In the Victorian era women were seen as pure and clean. Because of this view, their bodies were seen as temples which should not be adorned with jewelery nor used for physical exertion or pleasurable sex. The role of women was to have children and tend to the house in contrast to men, according to the concept of Victorian masculinity. Although, women had been discriminated simply because of their sex; they did not stop fighting for their rights. In fact, women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott were involved in the Antislavery Crusade in the 19th century. Stanton along with Mott marked history by starting a reform about women's rights at the Seneca Falls convention in 1848. Stanton fought for her rights and changed the perspective of many egotistical people not only through her logic, but with the rights that our founding fathers had given us through the Declaration of Independence. Fortunately, she made a positive impact for women in history giving us equal rights and most importantly the right to vote. Women like Margaret Fuller was one of first women to take advantage of her rights by shining her potential and becoming the first woman literary editor. Even though women were given rights; they still struggled for their independence. The ideology of women being seen as their husbands' "property" was also reflected in the household. For instance, women could not manage their own sexual activity or had any protection against physical abuse.
WOMEN AS GENERALS OF HOUSEHOLD
The first mention of a woman being described as the general of a household was in 1876 by Isabella Beeton in her manual Mrs Beeton's book of Household Management. Here she explained that the mistress of a household is comparable to the Commander of an Army or the leader of an enterprise. In order to run a respectable household and secure the happiness, comfort and well-being of her family she must perform her duties intelligently and thoroughly. For example, she has to organize, delegate and instruct her servants; she has to be the "sick-nurse" who takes care of ill family members. This requires a good temper, compassion for suffering and sympathy with sufferers, quiet manners, love of order and cleanliness; all qualities a woman worthy of the name should possess in the 19th century. A very special connection existed between women and their brothers. Sisters had to treat their brothers as they would treat their future husbands. Also, it was difficult to establish a reputation. For example, if one person in a family did something horrible, the whole family would have to suffer the consequences. Women as generals of households were very common. Women always were basically the generals of a strict and proper household.
WOMEN'S WORK
Large numbers of working class women worked in factories or in the garment industry or in laundries or at various other jobs. From the mid-1850s nursing became a respectable occupation for women. In England nursing schools were started to give women a proper training. Women were increasingly employed in offices in the later part of the century, the invention of the typewriter led to an increase in office jobs for women, as they were found to make better typists than men. When the telephone was invented they were employed as telephone switchboard operators. Some women broke into professions like medicine, law, and journalism.
WOMEN AND SEX
Victorian society preferred to avoid talking about sex. Although this is difficult to do, sexual activities were highly regulated in Europe by church and state law. Sexuality, viewed by the doctrines of medieval church, was considered as a gift from God; they followed the teachings of St. Paul and encouraged a life of chastity. Church law also ruled out sexual activities between the same genders and placed sexual limitations on married couples. Sexual relations were solely for the purpose of reproduction; therefore the church opposed sexual relations for the intentions of solely obtaining pleasure. As for adultery, courts treated women and men differently. They typically granted more severe consequences to female adulterers than to males. Courts argued that it was not right that a woman's child from a father not her husband should inherit her husband's property. Women were thought to be emotional, not intelligent and in charge of the household.
WOMEN AS EDUCATIONAL INEQUALS
In the early part of the Victorian era, girls of the upper and middle class were educated mainly in fashionable 'accomplishments' like French, drawing, painting, singing, dancing, etc. However, in the later part of the century girls education was taken more seriously and schools were started which offered girls an education broadly modelled on that of boys of the same class, with an emphasis on academic subjects and outdoor games. The expansion of the educational system for poor children meant that both boys and girls of the working class were guaranteed a basic education. From the 1870s, women's colleges were started in places like Oxford and Cambridge, which offered female students an education on a par with men's, though it wasn't until the 20th century that they gained full acceptance by the universities.
REFORMING DIVORCE LAW
Great changes in the situation of women took place in the 19th century, especially concerning marriage laws and the legal status of women. The situation that fathers always received custody of their children, leaving the mother completely without any rights, slowly started to change. In fact lots of imporatnt reforms and acts were made. For example was gave women limited access to divorce and was extended access to children to all women in the event of separation or divorce. Also while the husband only had to prove his wife's adultery, a woman had to prove her husband had not only committed adultery but also incest, bigamy, cruelty or desertion. An important change was caused by an amendment that made a woman an independent and separate person. From 1886 women could be made the sole guardian of their children if their husband died.
SECOND-CLASS CITIZEN
Even if Britain's head of state was a woman, Queen Victoria, women could not vote. But for much of the Victorian era neither could most men. The franchise was extended to include most men in towns and some countrymen in 1867, which doubled the electorate. However, agricultural labourers did not get the vote until 1884. Many women did not consider the vote to be of much importance anyway and some men were opposed to the idea of women getting involved in politics. They thought women would be better occupied concentrating on improving healthcare, education, and social services.
Silvia Licciardi, Eleonora Lenci
WOMEN AS GENERALS OF HOUSEHOLD
The first mention of a woman being described as the general of a household was in 1876 by Isabella Beeton in her manual Mrs Beeton's book of Household Management. Here she explained that the mistress of a household is comparable to the Commander of an Army or the leader of an enterprise. In order to run a respectable household and secure the happiness, comfort and well-being of her family she must perform her duties intelligently and thoroughly. For example, she has to organize, delegate and instruct her servants; she has to be the "sick-nurse" who takes care of ill family members. This requires a good temper, compassion for suffering and sympathy with sufferers, quiet manners, love of order and cleanliness; all qualities a woman worthy of the name should possess in the 19th century. A very special connection existed between women and their brothers. Sisters had to treat their brothers as they would treat their future husbands. Also, it was difficult to establish a reputation. For example, if one person in a family did something horrible, the whole family would have to suffer the consequences. Women as generals of households were very common. Women always were basically the generals of a strict and proper household.
WOMEN'S WORK
Large numbers of working class women worked in factories or in the garment industry or in laundries or at various other jobs. From the mid-1850s nursing became a respectable occupation for women. In England nursing schools were started to give women a proper training. Women were increasingly employed in offices in the later part of the century, the invention of the typewriter led to an increase in office jobs for women, as they were found to make better typists than men. When the telephone was invented they were employed as telephone switchboard operators. Some women broke into professions like medicine, law, and journalism.
WOMEN AND SEX
Victorian society preferred to avoid talking about sex. Although this is difficult to do, sexual activities were highly regulated in Europe by church and state law. Sexuality, viewed by the doctrines of medieval church, was considered as a gift from God; they followed the teachings of St. Paul and encouraged a life of chastity. Church law also ruled out sexual activities between the same genders and placed sexual limitations on married couples. Sexual relations were solely for the purpose of reproduction; therefore the church opposed sexual relations for the intentions of solely obtaining pleasure. As for adultery, courts treated women and men differently. They typically granted more severe consequences to female adulterers than to males. Courts argued that it was not right that a woman's child from a father not her husband should inherit her husband's property. Women were thought to be emotional, not intelligent and in charge of the household.
WOMEN AS EDUCATIONAL INEQUALS
In the early part of the Victorian era, girls of the upper and middle class were educated mainly in fashionable 'accomplishments' like French, drawing, painting, singing, dancing, etc. However, in the later part of the century girls education was taken more seriously and schools were started which offered girls an education broadly modelled on that of boys of the same class, with an emphasis on academic subjects and outdoor games. The expansion of the educational system for poor children meant that both boys and girls of the working class were guaranteed a basic education. From the 1870s, women's colleges were started in places like Oxford and Cambridge, which offered female students an education on a par with men's, though it wasn't until the 20th century that they gained full acceptance by the universities.
REFORMING DIVORCE LAW
Great changes in the situation of women took place in the 19th century, especially concerning marriage laws and the legal status of women. The situation that fathers always received custody of their children, leaving the mother completely without any rights, slowly started to change. In fact lots of imporatnt reforms and acts were made. For example was gave women limited access to divorce and was extended access to children to all women in the event of separation or divorce. Also while the husband only had to prove his wife's adultery, a woman had to prove her husband had not only committed adultery but also incest, bigamy, cruelty or desertion. An important change was caused by an amendment that made a woman an independent and separate person. From 1886 women could be made the sole guardian of their children if their husband died.
SECOND-CLASS CITIZEN
Even if Britain's head of state was a woman, Queen Victoria, women could not vote. But for much of the Victorian era neither could most men. The franchise was extended to include most men in towns and some countrymen in 1867, which doubled the electorate. However, agricultural labourers did not get the vote until 1884. Many women did not consider the vote to be of much importance anyway and some men were opposed to the idea of women getting involved in politics. They thought women would be better occupied concentrating on improving healthcare, education, and social services.
Silvia Licciardi, Eleonora Lenci
THE BIRTH OF THE DETECTIVE STORY
THE BIRTH OF THE DETECTIVE STORY
By Matteo Baggiani & Francesco Poggi
A detective story has as protagonist a detective or a police officer that investigates on a crime or on a murder. There are different narrative techniques: the reader knows the development of the investigation step by step, but only at the end he discovers the identity of the assassin or he is acquainted with the criminal’s identity from the beginning and during the narration he fallows the detective’s investigation. Wystan Hugh Auden summarized the typical detective story’s plot in this way:” There is a murder, suspected people are many; one by one they are discarded except the assassin and he is arrested or he dies”.
This literary genre was born in the XIX century and it developed in the XX. From literature it extended to radio, cinema, television and comics. Even if the Norwegian writer Maurits Hansen wrote a novel ("The Murder of Engine Maker Rolfsen") in 1839 with some features of the detective novel, the exact year of the birth of this genre is 1841. In this year Edgar Allan Poe published “Murders in the Rue Morgue”, in which appeared the character of Auguste Dupin, the progenitor of all the detectives present in the following novels. Dupin is not a professional detective, he solved his cases using what Poe termed "ratiocination". Poe created the Dupin character before the word detective had been coined. It is unclear what inspired him but the character's name seems to imply "duping", or deception.
Edgar Allan Poe created this new genre because he was interested in describing the life of the lower classes where the criminality was extremely diffused: the birth of the detective story was a consequence of this attitude. Another cause of the origin of this genre was the fact that during the Victorian Age was established by Robert Peel the first organised police-force of the England: the Metropolitan Police.
Also in “Bleak House”(1853) by Charles Dickens there is an investigator Mr. Bucket. He is the key player in the murder investigation of Mr. Tulkinghorn and does solve the case. Dickens published his novels in split episodes in order to earn more money. But the author that took more inspiration from the character of Dupin was Arthur Conan Doyle for the detective Sherlock Holmes. He appeared for the first time in the novel “A Study in Scarlett”(1887). Sherlock Holmes was the first that applied the scientific method to solve his investigations, making criminology famous. The detective of Baker Street was supported by Sir John Watson, a sort of Conan Doyle alter ego and the narrator of all Holmes’ adventures.
In 1920 Agatha Christie published her first novel “The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Poirot a Styles Court)” in which appeared for the first time the figure of Hercule Poirot, a Belgian investigator. The author wanted her character not to be too similar to Sherlock Holmes both in the investigation method and especially in the physical aspect, in fact Poirot was short, fat, ugly, with mustache (his main characteristic).
Georges Simenon was the inventor of the Commissioner Maigret, another important protagonist of detective stories: he appeared in seventy five novels. This genre had a huge success and it arrived also in Italy where was called “Yellow Novel”. The reason why it was called in this way was because of the colour of the book covers of the first collection of detective story published in Italy by Arnoldo Mondadori in 1928. From this moment a lot of Italian authors started writing Yellow Novels and one of the most famous is Andrea Camilleri that set the adventures of the police commissioner Salvo Montalbano in his birth place, Sicily.
By Matteo Baggiani & Francesco Poggi
A detective story has as protagonist a detective or a police officer that investigates on a crime or on a murder. There are different narrative techniques: the reader knows the development of the investigation step by step, but only at the end he discovers the identity of the assassin or he is acquainted with the criminal’s identity from the beginning and during the narration he fallows the detective’s investigation. Wystan Hugh Auden summarized the typical detective story’s plot in this way:” There is a murder, suspected people are many; one by one they are discarded except the assassin and he is arrested or he dies”.
This literary genre was born in the XIX century and it developed in the XX. From literature it extended to radio, cinema, television and comics. Even if the Norwegian writer Maurits Hansen wrote a novel ("The Murder of Engine Maker Rolfsen") in 1839 with some features of the detective novel, the exact year of the birth of this genre is 1841. In this year Edgar Allan Poe published “Murders in the Rue Morgue”, in which appeared the character of Auguste Dupin, the progenitor of all the detectives present in the following novels. Dupin is not a professional detective, he solved his cases using what Poe termed "ratiocination". Poe created the Dupin character before the word detective had been coined. It is unclear what inspired him but the character's name seems to imply "duping", or deception.
Edgar Allan Poe created this new genre because he was interested in describing the life of the lower classes where the criminality was extremely diffused: the birth of the detective story was a consequence of this attitude. Another cause of the origin of this genre was the fact that during the Victorian Age was established by Robert Peel the first organised police-force of the England: the Metropolitan Police.
Also in “Bleak House”(1853) by Charles Dickens there is an investigator Mr. Bucket. He is the key player in the murder investigation of Mr. Tulkinghorn and does solve the case. Dickens published his novels in split episodes in order to earn more money. But the author that took more inspiration from the character of Dupin was Arthur Conan Doyle for the detective Sherlock Holmes. He appeared for the first time in the novel “A Study in Scarlett”(1887). Sherlock Holmes was the first that applied the scientific method to solve his investigations, making criminology famous. The detective of Baker Street was supported by Sir John Watson, a sort of Conan Doyle alter ego and the narrator of all Holmes’ adventures.
In 1920 Agatha Christie published her first novel “The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Poirot a Styles Court)” in which appeared for the first time the figure of Hercule Poirot, a Belgian investigator. The author wanted her character not to be too similar to Sherlock Holmes both in the investigation method and especially in the physical aspect, in fact Poirot was short, fat, ugly, with mustache (his main characteristic).
Georges Simenon was the inventor of the Commissioner Maigret, another important protagonist of detective stories: he appeared in seventy five novels. This genre had a huge success and it arrived also in Italy where was called “Yellow Novel”. The reason why it was called in this way was because of the colour of the book covers of the first collection of detective story published in Italy by Arnoldo Mondadori in 1928. From this moment a lot of Italian authors started writing Yellow Novels and one of the most famous is Andrea Camilleri that set the adventures of the police commissioner Salvo Montalbano in his birth place, Sicily.
Wednesday, 21 January 2009
Gold Rush
What is the gold rush?
A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers into the area of a dramatic discovery of commercial quantities of gold. Eight gold rushes took place throughout the 19th century in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United States.
Gold rushes were typically marked by a general buoyant feeling of a "free for all" in income mobility, in which any single individual might become abundantly wealthy almost instantly. The significance of gold rushes in history has given a longer life to the term, and it is now applied generally to denote any capitalist economic activity in which the participants aspire to race each other in common pursuit of a new and apparently highly lucrative market, often precipitated by an advance in technology.
Gold rushes helped spur permanent non-indigenous settlement of new regions and define a significant part of the culture of the North American and Australian frontiers. As well, at a time when money was based on gold, the newly-mined gold provided economic stimulus far beyond the gold fields. Gold rushes presumably extend back as far as gold mining, to the Roman Empire, whose gold mining was described by Diodorus Siculus and Pliny the Elder, and probably further back to Ancient Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
With gold prices soaring and poverty increasing, the world is currently experiencing an unprecedented gold rush. There are about 13 million to 20 million small-scale miners around the world, according to Communities and Small-Scale Mining (CASM). Approximately 100 million people are directly or indirectly dependent on small-scale mining. There are 800,000 to 1.5 million artisanal miners in Democratic Republic of Congo, 350,000 to 650,000 in Sierra Leone, and 150,000 to 250,000 in Ghana, with millions more across the Africa.
North American Gold Rushes
The first significant gold rush in the United States was the Georgia Gold Rush in the southern Appalachians, which started in 1829. It was followed by the California Gold Rush of 1848–52 in the Sierra Nevada, which captured the popular imagination. The California gold rush led directly to the settlement of California by Americans and the rapid entry of that state into the union in 1850. The gold rush in 1849 stimulated worldwide interest in prospecting for gold, and led to new rushes in Australia, South Africa, Wales and Scotland. Successive gold rushes occurred in western North America, moving north and east from California: Fraser Canyon, the Cariboo district and other parts of British Columbia, and the Rocky Mountains. Resurrection Creek, near Hope, Alaska was the site of Alaska's first gold rush more than a century ago, and placer mining continues today. Other notable Alaska Gold Rushes were Nome and the Forty Mile River.
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was discovered by James Wilson Marshall at Sutter's Mill, in Coloma, California. News of the discovery soon spread, resulting in some 300,000 men, women, and children coming to California from the rest of the United States and abroad.
These early gold-seekers, called "forty-niners," travelled to California by sailing boat and in covered wagons across the continent, often facing substantial hardships on the trip. While most of the newly-arrived were Americans, the Gold Rush attracted tens of thousands from Latin America, Europe, Australia and Asia. At first, the prospectors retrieved the gold from streams and riverbeds using simple techniques, such as panning. More sophisticated methods of gold recovery were later developed that were adopted around the world. Gold, worth billions of today's dollars was recovered, which lead to great wealth for a few. However, many returned home with little more than they started with.
The effects of the Gold Rush were substantial. San Francisco grew from a tiny hamlet of tents to a boomtown, and roads, churches, schools and other towns were built throughout California. A system of laws and a government were created, leading to the admission of California as a state in 1850. New methods of transportation developed as steamships came into regular service and railroads were built. The business of agriculture, California's next major growth field, was started on a wide scale throughout the state. However, the Gold Rush also had negative effects: Native Americans were attacked and pushed off traditional lands, and gold mining caused environmental harm.
Development of gold recovery techniques
In 1853 hydraulic mining was used on ancient gold-bearing gravel beds that were on hillsides and bluffs in the gold fields. In a modern style of hydraulic mining first developed in California, a high-pressure hose directs a powerful stream or jet of water at gold-bearing gravel beds. The loosened gravel and gold would then pass over sluices, with the gold settling to the bottom where it is collected. By the mid-1880s, it is estimated that 11 million ounces (340 t) of gold (worth approximately US$6.6 billion at November 2006 prices) had been recovered via "hydraulic king. This style of hydraulic mining later spread around the world.
A by product of this method of extraction was that large amounts of gravel and silt, in addition to heavy metals and other pollutants, went into streams and rivers. Many areas still bear the scars of hydraulic mining since the resulting exposed earth and downstream gravel deposits are unable to support plant life.
Quartz Stamp Mill in Grass Valley crushes the quartz before the gold is washed out.
After the Gold Rush had concluded, gold recovery operations continued. The final stage to recover loose gold was to prospect for gold that had slowly washed down into the flat river bottoms and sandbars of California's Central Valley and other gold-bearing areas of California (such as Scott Valley in Siskiyou County). By the late 1890s, dredging technology (which was also invented in California) had become economical, and it is estimated that more than 20 million ounces (620 t) were recovered by dredging (worth approximately US$12 billion at November 2006 prices).Both during the Gold Rush and in the decades that followed, gold-seekers also engaged in "hard-rock" mining, that is, extracting the gold directly from the rock that contained it (typically quartz), usually by digging and blasting to follow and remove veins of the gold-bearing quartz. Once the gold-bearing rocks were brought to the surface, the rocks were crushed, and the gold was separated out (using moving water), or leached out, typically by using arsenic or mercury (another source of environmental contamination).Eventually, hard-rock mining wound up being the single largest source of gold produced in the Gold Country.
Profits
Although the conventional wisdom is that merchants made more money than miners during the Gold Rush, the reality is perhaps more complex. There were certainly merchants who profited handsomely. The wealthiest man in California during the early years of the Gold Rush was Samuel Brannan, the tireless self-promoter, shopkeeper and newspaper publisher. Brannan alertly opened the first supply stores in Sacramento, Coloma, and other spots in the gold fields. Just as the Gold Rush began, he purchased all the prospecting supplies available in San Francisco and re-sold them at a substantial profit. However, substantial money was made by gold-seekers as well. For example, within a few months, one small group of prospectors, working on the Feather River in 1848, retrieved a sum of gold worth more than $1.5 million by 2006 prices.
On average, many early gold-seekers did perhaps make a modest profit, after all expenses were taken into account. Most, however, especially those arriving later, made little or wound up losing money. Similarly, many unlucky merchants set up in settlements that disappeared, or were wiped out in one of the calamitous fires that swept the towns springing up. Other businessmen, through good fortune and hard work, reaped great rewards in retail, shipping, entertainment, lodging, or transportation.
Boarding houses, food preparation, sewing, and laundry were highly profitable businesses often run by women (married, single, or widowed) who realized men would pay well for a service done by a woman. Brothels also brought in large profits, especially when combined with saloons/gaming houses.
By 1855, the economic climate had changed dramatically. Gold could be retrieved profitably from the goldfields only by medium to large groups of workers, either in partnerships or as employees. By the mid-1850s, it was the owners of these gold-mining companies who made the money. Also, the population and economy of California had become large and diverse enough that money could be made in a wide variety of conventional businesses.
Klondike Gold Rush
The news spread to other mining camps in the Yukon River valley. Gold was first discovered in Rabbit Creek which was later named Bonanza Creek because so many people came to the creek for gold. The Bonanza, Eldorado, and Hunker Creeks were rapidly staked by miners who had been previously working creeks and sandbars on the Forty mile and Stewart Rivers.
News reached the United States in July 1897 at the height of a significant series of financial recessions and bank failures in the 1890s. The American economy had been hard hit by the Panic of 1893 and the Panic of 1896 which caused widespread unemployment. Many who were adversely impacted by the financial crises were motivated to try their luck in the gold fields. The first successful prospectors arrived in San Francisco, California on July 15 and in Seattle, Washington on July 17, setting off the Klondike stampede. In 1898, the population in the Klondike may have reached 40,000, which threatened to cause a famine.
Men from all walks of life headed for the Yukon from as far away as New York, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Surprisingly, a large proportion were professionals, such as teachers and doctors, even a mayor or two, who gave up respectable careers to make the journey. Most were perfectly aware their chances of finding significant amounts of gold were slim to none, and went for the adventure. As many as half of those who reached Dawson City kept right on going without doing any prospecting at all. Thus, by bringing large numbers of entrepreneurial adventurers to the region, the Gold Rush significantly contributed to the economic development of Western Canada, Alaska and the Pacific Northwest.
Most prospectors landed at the Alaskan towns of Skagway, or Dyea, both located at the head of the Lynn Canal. From these towns they travelled the Chilkoot Trail and crossed the Chilkoot Pass, or they hiked up to the White Pass into and proceeded thence to Lake Lindeman or Bennett Lake, the headwaters of the Yukon River. Here, some 25 to 35 (40 to 56 km) gruelling miles from where they landed, prospectors built rafts and boats that would take them the final 500-plus miles (800-plus km) down the Yukon to Dawson City, near the gold fields. Stampedes had to carry a year's supply of goods — about a ton, more than half of it food — over the passes to be allowed to enter Canada. At the top of the passes, the stampedes encountered Canada's North West Mounted Police (NWMP and now the Royal Canadian Mounted Police) post that enforced that regulation, as well as customs and duties. It was put in place to avert shortages like those that had occurred in the previous two winters in Dawson City, and also to restrict the entry of guns, particularly handguns, into British territory. Another reason was to keep out of Canadian territory the criminal element which had established itself in Skagway and the other Yukon Ports (then still claimed as British territory), as well as the fears by British and Canadian authorities about a possible armed takeover of the goldfields as an American territory.
Once the bulk of the prospectors arrived at Dawson City, most of the major mining claims of the region were already established. However, any major potential unrest with the idle population was averted with the firm authority of the NWMP under the command of Sam Steele.
Leonardo D'Alessandro and Andrea Navicelli
A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers into the area of a dramatic discovery of commercial quantities of gold. Eight gold rushes took place throughout the 19th century in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United States.
Gold rushes were typically marked by a general buoyant feeling of a "free for all" in income mobility, in which any single individual might become abundantly wealthy almost instantly. The significance of gold rushes in history has given a longer life to the term, and it is now applied generally to denote any capitalist economic activity in which the participants aspire to race each other in common pursuit of a new and apparently highly lucrative market, often precipitated by an advance in technology.
Gold rushes helped spur permanent non-indigenous settlement of new regions and define a significant part of the culture of the North American and Australian frontiers. As well, at a time when money was based on gold, the newly-mined gold provided economic stimulus far beyond the gold fields. Gold rushes presumably extend back as far as gold mining, to the Roman Empire, whose gold mining was described by Diodorus Siculus and Pliny the Elder, and probably further back to Ancient Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
With gold prices soaring and poverty increasing, the world is currently experiencing an unprecedented gold rush. There are about 13 million to 20 million small-scale miners around the world, according to Communities and Small-Scale Mining (CASM). Approximately 100 million people are directly or indirectly dependent on small-scale mining. There are 800,000 to 1.5 million artisanal miners in Democratic Republic of Congo, 350,000 to 650,000 in Sierra Leone, and 150,000 to 250,000 in Ghana, with millions more across the Africa.
North American Gold Rushes
The first significant gold rush in the United States was the Georgia Gold Rush in the southern Appalachians, which started in 1829. It was followed by the California Gold Rush of 1848–52 in the Sierra Nevada, which captured the popular imagination. The California gold rush led directly to the settlement of California by Americans and the rapid entry of that state into the union in 1850. The gold rush in 1849 stimulated worldwide interest in prospecting for gold, and led to new rushes in Australia, South Africa, Wales and Scotland. Successive gold rushes occurred in western North America, moving north and east from California: Fraser Canyon, the Cariboo district and other parts of British Columbia, and the Rocky Mountains. Resurrection Creek, near Hope, Alaska was the site of Alaska's first gold rush more than a century ago, and placer mining continues today. Other notable Alaska Gold Rushes were Nome and the Forty Mile River.
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was discovered by James Wilson Marshall at Sutter's Mill, in Coloma, California. News of the discovery soon spread, resulting in some 300,000 men, women, and children coming to California from the rest of the United States and abroad.
These early gold-seekers, called "forty-niners," travelled to California by sailing boat and in covered wagons across the continent, often facing substantial hardships on the trip. While most of the newly-arrived were Americans, the Gold Rush attracted tens of thousands from Latin America, Europe, Australia and Asia. At first, the prospectors retrieved the gold from streams and riverbeds using simple techniques, such as panning. More sophisticated methods of gold recovery were later developed that were adopted around the world. Gold, worth billions of today's dollars was recovered, which lead to great wealth for a few. However, many returned home with little more than they started with.
The effects of the Gold Rush were substantial. San Francisco grew from a tiny hamlet of tents to a boomtown, and roads, churches, schools and other towns were built throughout California. A system of laws and a government were created, leading to the admission of California as a state in 1850. New methods of transportation developed as steamships came into regular service and railroads were built. The business of agriculture, California's next major growth field, was started on a wide scale throughout the state. However, the Gold Rush also had negative effects: Native Americans were attacked and pushed off traditional lands, and gold mining caused environmental harm.
Development of gold recovery techniques
In 1853 hydraulic mining was used on ancient gold-bearing gravel beds that were on hillsides and bluffs in the gold fields. In a modern style of hydraulic mining first developed in California, a high-pressure hose directs a powerful stream or jet of water at gold-bearing gravel beds. The loosened gravel and gold would then pass over sluices, with the gold settling to the bottom where it is collected. By the mid-1880s, it is estimated that 11 million ounces (340 t) of gold (worth approximately US$6.6 billion at November 2006 prices) had been recovered via "hydraulic king. This style of hydraulic mining later spread around the world.
A by product of this method of extraction was that large amounts of gravel and silt, in addition to heavy metals and other pollutants, went into streams and rivers. Many areas still bear the scars of hydraulic mining since the resulting exposed earth and downstream gravel deposits are unable to support plant life.
Quartz Stamp Mill in Grass Valley crushes the quartz before the gold is washed out.
After the Gold Rush had concluded, gold recovery operations continued. The final stage to recover loose gold was to prospect for gold that had slowly washed down into the flat river bottoms and sandbars of California's Central Valley and other gold-bearing areas of California (such as Scott Valley in Siskiyou County). By the late 1890s, dredging technology (which was also invented in California) had become economical, and it is estimated that more than 20 million ounces (620 t) were recovered by dredging (worth approximately US$12 billion at November 2006 prices).Both during the Gold Rush and in the decades that followed, gold-seekers also engaged in "hard-rock" mining, that is, extracting the gold directly from the rock that contained it (typically quartz), usually by digging and blasting to follow and remove veins of the gold-bearing quartz. Once the gold-bearing rocks were brought to the surface, the rocks were crushed, and the gold was separated out (using moving water), or leached out, typically by using arsenic or mercury (another source of environmental contamination).Eventually, hard-rock mining wound up being the single largest source of gold produced in the Gold Country.
Profits
Although the conventional wisdom is that merchants made more money than miners during the Gold Rush, the reality is perhaps more complex. There were certainly merchants who profited handsomely. The wealthiest man in California during the early years of the Gold Rush was Samuel Brannan, the tireless self-promoter, shopkeeper and newspaper publisher. Brannan alertly opened the first supply stores in Sacramento, Coloma, and other spots in the gold fields. Just as the Gold Rush began, he purchased all the prospecting supplies available in San Francisco and re-sold them at a substantial profit. However, substantial money was made by gold-seekers as well. For example, within a few months, one small group of prospectors, working on the Feather River in 1848, retrieved a sum of gold worth more than $1.5 million by 2006 prices.
On average, many early gold-seekers did perhaps make a modest profit, after all expenses were taken into account. Most, however, especially those arriving later, made little or wound up losing money. Similarly, many unlucky merchants set up in settlements that disappeared, or were wiped out in one of the calamitous fires that swept the towns springing up. Other businessmen, through good fortune and hard work, reaped great rewards in retail, shipping, entertainment, lodging, or transportation.
Boarding houses, food preparation, sewing, and laundry were highly profitable businesses often run by women (married, single, or widowed) who realized men would pay well for a service done by a woman. Brothels also brought in large profits, especially when combined with saloons/gaming houses.
By 1855, the economic climate had changed dramatically. Gold could be retrieved profitably from the goldfields only by medium to large groups of workers, either in partnerships or as employees. By the mid-1850s, it was the owners of these gold-mining companies who made the money. Also, the population and economy of California had become large and diverse enough that money could be made in a wide variety of conventional businesses.
Klondike Gold Rush
The news spread to other mining camps in the Yukon River valley. Gold was first discovered in Rabbit Creek which was later named Bonanza Creek because so many people came to the creek for gold. The Bonanza, Eldorado, and Hunker Creeks were rapidly staked by miners who had been previously working creeks and sandbars on the Forty mile and Stewart Rivers.
News reached the United States in July 1897 at the height of a significant series of financial recessions and bank failures in the 1890s. The American economy had been hard hit by the Panic of 1893 and the Panic of 1896 which caused widespread unemployment. Many who were adversely impacted by the financial crises were motivated to try their luck in the gold fields. The first successful prospectors arrived in San Francisco, California on July 15 and in Seattle, Washington on July 17, setting off the Klondike stampede. In 1898, the population in the Klondike may have reached 40,000, which threatened to cause a famine.
Men from all walks of life headed for the Yukon from as far away as New York, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Surprisingly, a large proportion were professionals, such as teachers and doctors, even a mayor or two, who gave up respectable careers to make the journey. Most were perfectly aware their chances of finding significant amounts of gold were slim to none, and went for the adventure. As many as half of those who reached Dawson City kept right on going without doing any prospecting at all. Thus, by bringing large numbers of entrepreneurial adventurers to the region, the Gold Rush significantly contributed to the economic development of Western Canada, Alaska and the Pacific Northwest.
Most prospectors landed at the Alaskan towns of Skagway, or Dyea, both located at the head of the Lynn Canal. From these towns they travelled the Chilkoot Trail and crossed the Chilkoot Pass, or they hiked up to the White Pass into and proceeded thence to Lake Lindeman or Bennett Lake, the headwaters of the Yukon River. Here, some 25 to 35 (40 to 56 km) gruelling miles from where they landed, prospectors built rafts and boats that would take them the final 500-plus miles (800-plus km) down the Yukon to Dawson City, near the gold fields. Stampedes had to carry a year's supply of goods — about a ton, more than half of it food — over the passes to be allowed to enter Canada. At the top of the passes, the stampedes encountered Canada's North West Mounted Police (NWMP and now the Royal Canadian Mounted Police) post that enforced that regulation, as well as customs and duties. It was put in place to avert shortages like those that had occurred in the previous two winters in Dawson City, and also to restrict the entry of guns, particularly handguns, into British territory. Another reason was to keep out of Canadian territory the criminal element which had established itself in Skagway and the other Yukon Ports (then still claimed as British territory), as well as the fears by British and Canadian authorities about a possible armed takeover of the goldfields as an American territory.
Once the bulk of the prospectors arrived at Dawson City, most of the major mining claims of the region were already established. However, any major potential unrest with the idle population was averted with the firm authority of the NWMP under the command of Sam Steele.
Leonardo D'Alessandro and Andrea Navicelli
Saturday, 17 January 2009
"OLIVER TWIST" by Charles Dickens
“Oliver Twist or the Parish Boy's Progress” was the second novel published by Charles Dickens. Its first edition appeared, on a monthly review with the title of “Bentley's Miscellany”, from February 1837 to April 1839, with illustrations realized by George Cruikshank. It’s still considered one of the most famous and influential of Dickens’ works and it was one of the first examples of social novel in literature, besides being the first English novel that chose a child as a protagonist. The anti-romantic portrayal of pourer people’s and of criminals’ life, as well as the overthrow of the novel of formation and a desecrating black humour used by the author to analyse the evil of the nineteenth century English society, were completely new for that period. As a matter of fact the fundamental nucleus of this novel were the poverty, the juvenile job, the urban crime and the intrinsic hypocrisy of Victorian culture. The book’s subtitle, “The Parish Boy's Progress”, was a reference to John Bunyan’s Christian novel “The Pilgrim's Progress” (the pilgrim's trip), since the tone of “Oliver Twist” clashed with the optimism of Bunyan’s novel.
The Plot:
Oliver was a small orphan, who was born in a Work House, that passed the first years of his life in a smaller Work House managed by Mrs Mann. Here the growth of the boy was allowed thanks to the use of very severe methods. After nine years, Oliver was brought to the Work House in which he was born, where he soon became a problem for the managers and for Mr. Bumble, that busied himself with the discipline of the boys. After an episode in which Oliver was involved against his will, the manager of the institute decided to get rid of him, offering 5 pounds to whoever wanted to bring with him the boy. So Oliver was entrusted to Gamfield, a chimney-sweeper who wanted the child as an apprentice. A judge, understanding the violent nature of the chimney-sweeper, prevented that it happened.Therefore Oliver was ordered to serve a coffins’ manufacturer, Mr. Sowerberry, but, exasperated by the continuous hits that he suffered, he escaped reaching London. There he met a contemporary, Jack Dawkins, nicknamed "Doger the robber". The new companion of adventures allowed Oliver to know a Jewish, Fagin, a sinister receiver of stolen goods. The boy was given hospitality by the jewish and he was taught the work of the thief . During a theft to Mr. Brownlow, Oliver, exchanged for the true thief, was arrested. Brownlow, a member of the high society, cleared him of the crime and offered him hospitality. After a few times, Fagin, who was afraid due to the possible revelations that Oliver could do, entrusted Sikes (a burglar always accompanied by a big dog) and his lover, the young Nancy, to kidnap the boy. Oliver, threatened, was forced to help Sikes to rob Mr. Brownlow’s house. The intrusion, however, was discovered and the Jewish Fagin came to an agreement with Monks, a mysterious man, to kill Oliver. After Nancy had known about the conspiracy, she told it to Rose and Mrs Maylie, that had assisted Oliver, wounded during the attempt of the robbery. But Nancy’s betrayal was discovered by Sikes, who killed her. So a crowd of people followed the assassin that, during the escape, accidentally remained hung. Mr. Brownlow ordered to arrest and to hang Fagin and, in the end, he discovered that Monks was, in the reality, Oliver’s stepbrother. Finally Oliver found the affection of a true family and the father that he had never had in the figure of Mr. Brownlow.
Film & Musical:
“Oliver Twist” has been used as a subject for a lot of cinema and television adaptations. In particular the most famous adaptations for the great screen were “Oliver Twist” by David Lean and, in 2005, Roman Polanski’s homonym film. In 1988, instead, Walt Disney Pictures had realized a film of animation inspired to the novel, “Oliver & Company”. The novel has furnished, besides, a starting point for an English musical of great success, “Oliver!”.
Roman Polansky represents on the screen the classical novel written by Dickens and, in particular, the figure of the protagonist, Oliver, with a lot of possible references, that seem to be less explicit than the original one (the author’s aim that consists in underling the picture of the children used, in very bad general conditions, in Workhouses). As a matter of fact, behind Oliver’s figure we can also see, from a different point of view, the same picture of the film’s director who, when he was still a child, managed to escaped by the nazis. But in reality, behind the protagonist’s traits, we can also notice all the children that continue to be exploited still nowadays. On the other hand, the director Roman Polansky maintains Dickens’ spirit, the spirit of an author who, since he was the son of a prisoner and he was used to the hard work since the first years of his life, has to tell his readers and the world still a lot of aspects of the reality where he himself lived.
Federica Parisi ed Elena Perini
The Plot:
Oliver was a small orphan, who was born in a Work House, that passed the first years of his life in a smaller Work House managed by Mrs Mann. Here the growth of the boy was allowed thanks to the use of very severe methods. After nine years, Oliver was brought to the Work House in which he was born, where he soon became a problem for the managers and for Mr. Bumble, that busied himself with the discipline of the boys. After an episode in which Oliver was involved against his will, the manager of the institute decided to get rid of him, offering 5 pounds to whoever wanted to bring with him the boy. So Oliver was entrusted to Gamfield, a chimney-sweeper who wanted the child as an apprentice. A judge, understanding the violent nature of the chimney-sweeper, prevented that it happened.Therefore Oliver was ordered to serve a coffins’ manufacturer, Mr. Sowerberry, but, exasperated by the continuous hits that he suffered, he escaped reaching London. There he met a contemporary, Jack Dawkins, nicknamed "Doger the robber". The new companion of adventures allowed Oliver to know a Jewish, Fagin, a sinister receiver of stolen goods. The boy was given hospitality by the jewish and he was taught the work of the thief . During a theft to Mr. Brownlow, Oliver, exchanged for the true thief, was arrested. Brownlow, a member of the high society, cleared him of the crime and offered him hospitality. After a few times, Fagin, who was afraid due to the possible revelations that Oliver could do, entrusted Sikes (a burglar always accompanied by a big dog) and his lover, the young Nancy, to kidnap the boy. Oliver, threatened, was forced to help Sikes to rob Mr. Brownlow’s house. The intrusion, however, was discovered and the Jewish Fagin came to an agreement with Monks, a mysterious man, to kill Oliver. After Nancy had known about the conspiracy, she told it to Rose and Mrs Maylie, that had assisted Oliver, wounded during the attempt of the robbery. But Nancy’s betrayal was discovered by Sikes, who killed her. So a crowd of people followed the assassin that, during the escape, accidentally remained hung. Mr. Brownlow ordered to arrest and to hang Fagin and, in the end, he discovered that Monks was, in the reality, Oliver’s stepbrother. Finally Oliver found the affection of a true family and the father that he had never had in the figure of Mr. Brownlow.
Film & Musical:
“Oliver Twist” has been used as a subject for a lot of cinema and television adaptations. In particular the most famous adaptations for the great screen were “Oliver Twist” by David Lean and, in 2005, Roman Polanski’s homonym film. In 1988, instead, Walt Disney Pictures had realized a film of animation inspired to the novel, “Oliver & Company”. The novel has furnished, besides, a starting point for an English musical of great success, “Oliver!”.
Roman Polansky represents on the screen the classical novel written by Dickens and, in particular, the figure of the protagonist, Oliver, with a lot of possible references, that seem to be less explicit than the original one (the author’s aim that consists in underling the picture of the children used, in very bad general conditions, in Workhouses). As a matter of fact, behind Oliver’s figure we can also see, from a different point of view, the same picture of the film’s director who, when he was still a child, managed to escaped by the nazis. But in reality, behind the protagonist’s traits, we can also notice all the children that continue to be exploited still nowadays. On the other hand, the director Roman Polansky maintains Dickens’ spirit, the spirit of an author who, since he was the son of a prisoner and he was used to the hard work since the first years of his life, has to tell his readers and the world still a lot of aspects of the reality where he himself lived.
Federica Parisi ed Elena Perini
Friday, 16 January 2009
Darwin and Darwinism
Charles Robert Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, England on 12 February 1809. He was the fifth of six children of doctor Robert Darwin and Susannah Wedgwood. When he was 16 he began studying medicine but he renounced for lack of interest. Then his father sent him to the University of Cambridge to become an Anglican priest, but he didn’t want to become that. So he studied theology but also natural science. In 1831 he started a long journey of five years around the world as naturalist on the research ship “Beagle”. During this voyage he collected an enormous quantity of biological and geological observations. He found fossils of extinct animals that were similar to modern species, noticed many variations among plants and animals of the same general type. His more famous observations were on the Galapagos Islands, archipelago to the west of South America, where he noted 13 different types of mockingbirds and different tortoise’s shape from island to island. Darwin came home in 1836 and in 1839 he married his rich cousin Emma Wedgwood: they went to live in a country’s residence called down house and they had 10 children. Darwin didn’t have economical problems and so he continued his studies: in 1859 he published “On The Origin of Species”. Charles Darwin died in Downe, England on 19 April 1882 and then he was buried in Westminster Abbey close to Isaac Newton.
In 1836, after his return to London from the voyage on the Beagle, Darwin started to analyze his observations. He was influenced by Malthus’s essay “On the principle of the population”: food and other factors controls the population, only the strongest being could survive. Darwin was also influenced by Lamarck’s theory of evolutionism: each species derived from another species, and there was the inheritance of characters. So there should be a gradual and slow evolution of species and the primary mechanism for evolution was a process called natural selection. He published “The Origin of Species” in 1859 and after that Darwin continued to write on botany, geology, and zoology until his death. Darwin explained that individuals of the same species differ for genetic characteristics: the characteristics that lead individuals to have more favourable features in certain environmental conditions are favoured. When individuals with certain characteristics inherited survive and reproduce while others with different hereditary characters are eliminated, the population will slowly change. After a long period of time natural selection leads to an accumulation of changes that differentiate groups of organisms. The same Darwin knew that his theory would have difficulties to be accepted and he published his work after a long time because he wanted to gather as much evidence to confirm his theory and because he was afraid to put himself against the creationist thought of the Victorian society.
Reactions due to the spread of Darwinism were immediate. Some intellectuals made satire on the Darwin’s theories. Some biologists supported that Darwin was not able to demonstrate experimentally his theories, while others criticized him saying that he could not explain the origin of the changes, or how they are transmitted to succeeding generations. The Anglican church attacked violently Darwin because he said materialism and indirectly denied the creation in six days by God. Last year, 126 years after his death, Anglican church apologized with the great scientist.
Lapi Matteo
CHARLES DICKENS
Charles Dickens was born on 7 February 1812, in Landport, Portsmouth, in Hampshire, the second of eight children to John Dickens and his wife, Elizabeth Barrow. When he was five, the family moved to Chatham, Kent. In 1822, when he was ten, the family relocated to 16 Bayham Street, Camden Town, in London.
Just before his father's arrest, the 12-year-old Dickens had begun working ten-hour days at Warren's Blacking Warehouse, on Hungerford Stairs, near the present Charing Cross railway station. He earned six shillings a week pasting labels on jars of thick shoe polish.
In March 1836 he wrote his first novel “The Pickwick Papers” and with this work he became famous.
On 2 April 1836, he married Catherine Thomson Hogarth (1816 – 1879), the daughter of George Hogarth, editor of the Evening Chronicle. After a brief honeymoon in Chalk, Kent, they set up home in Bloomsbury. They had ten children.
Dickens made two trips to North America. In 1842, he travelled with his wife to the United States and Canada and in 1844-45 he went in Italy and he visited Genoa, Rome, Naples and Florence and, after this journey he wrote “Pictures from Italy 1844-45”
When he came back in England he worked in some journal, the most famous is Daily News.
When Dickens separated from his wife in 1858, divorce was almost unthinkable, particularly for someone as famous as he was. He put an announcement on journals and accused her of incapacity in take care the children and the family.
Georgina, Catherine's sister, helped him and we think that he falled in love with her.
An indication of his marital dissatisfaction may be seen when, in 1855, he went to meet his first love, Maria Beadnell. Maria was by this time married as well, but seemed to have fallen short of Dickens's romantic memory of her.
On 9 June 1865 he was involved in railway accident of Staplehurst where six wagon of train falled from the bridge, the only wagon that remained on the bridge was Dickens'. This event is called “The miracle of the wagon”.
Charles was on this train because he was coming back from France where he had met Ellen Ternan and with her he forgot his wife.
During 1869 he collapsed, showing symptoms of mild stroke.
He suffered another stroke on 8 June 1870, after a full day's work and five years after the Staplehurst crash, on 9 June 1870, he died at his home in Gad's Hill Place. He was buried in Westminster Abbey in the Poet's corner.
The major part of his novels were published in a serial form, published in monthly installments, the most famous are “Oliver Twist”, that was published from 1837 to 1839, and “David Copperfield”, that was published from 1849 to 1850.
Many elements within the novel follow events in Dickens' own life, and it is probably the most autobiographical of all of his novels. David Copperfield is considered also an industrial novel because it talks about the misery of the Industrial Revolution, when the exploitation in the factories was very common.
The story is told almost entirely from the point of view of the first person narrator, David Copperfield himself, and was the first Dickens novel to do so.
The principal theme is the disciplining of the hero's emotional and moral life.
Characters in the novel generally belong to one of three categories: Those who have disciplined hearts, those who lack disciplined hearts, or those who develop disciplined hearts over time.
Some of the characters of this novel come from the real life of Dickens, as Maria Beadnell (his first love).
On 18 December 1843 he published “A Christmas Carol”. From this book we have taken the major part of our Christmas' traditions.
Christmas tree, presents, Santa Claus, good feelings, greeting card, dinner, family, holiday, snow, carols, charity, sweet come from this book.
In honour of the author, one crater of Mercury was called Dickens by International Astronomic Union.
Camilla Capaccioli, Sara Poggiali
Just before his father's arrest, the 12-year-old Dickens had begun working ten-hour days at Warren's Blacking Warehouse, on Hungerford Stairs, near the present Charing Cross railway station. He earned six shillings a week pasting labels on jars of thick shoe polish.
In March 1836 he wrote his first novel “The Pickwick Papers” and with this work he became famous.
On 2 April 1836, he married Catherine Thomson Hogarth (1816 – 1879), the daughter of George Hogarth, editor of the Evening Chronicle. After a brief honeymoon in Chalk, Kent, they set up home in Bloomsbury. They had ten children.
Dickens made two trips to North America. In 1842, he travelled with his wife to the United States and Canada and in 1844-45 he went in Italy and he visited Genoa, Rome, Naples and Florence and, after this journey he wrote “Pictures from Italy 1844-45”
When he came back in England he worked in some journal, the most famous is Daily News.
When Dickens separated from his wife in 1858, divorce was almost unthinkable, particularly for someone as famous as he was. He put an announcement on journals and accused her of incapacity in take care the children and the family.
Georgina, Catherine's sister, helped him and we think that he falled in love with her.
An indication of his marital dissatisfaction may be seen when, in 1855, he went to meet his first love, Maria Beadnell. Maria was by this time married as well, but seemed to have fallen short of Dickens's romantic memory of her.
On 9 June 1865 he was involved in railway accident of Staplehurst where six wagon of train falled from the bridge, the only wagon that remained on the bridge was Dickens'. This event is called “The miracle of the wagon”.
Charles was on this train because he was coming back from France where he had met Ellen Ternan and with her he forgot his wife.
During 1869 he collapsed, showing symptoms of mild stroke.
He suffered another stroke on 8 June 1870, after a full day's work and five years after the Staplehurst crash, on 9 June 1870, he died at his home in Gad's Hill Place. He was buried in Westminster Abbey in the Poet's corner.
The major part of his novels were published in a serial form, published in monthly installments, the most famous are “Oliver Twist”, that was published from 1837 to 1839, and “David Copperfield”, that was published from 1849 to 1850.
Many elements within the novel follow events in Dickens' own life, and it is probably the most autobiographical of all of his novels. David Copperfield is considered also an industrial novel because it talks about the misery of the Industrial Revolution, when the exploitation in the factories was very common.
The story is told almost entirely from the point of view of the first person narrator, David Copperfield himself, and was the first Dickens novel to do so.
The principal theme is the disciplining of the hero's emotional and moral life.
Characters in the novel generally belong to one of three categories: Those who have disciplined hearts, those who lack disciplined hearts, or those who develop disciplined hearts over time.
Some of the characters of this novel come from the real life of Dickens, as Maria Beadnell (his first love).
On 18 December 1843 he published “A Christmas Carol”. From this book we have taken the major part of our Christmas' traditions.
Christmas tree, presents, Santa Claus, good feelings, greeting card, dinner, family, holiday, snow, carols, charity, sweet come from this book.
In honour of the author, one crater of Mercury was called Dickens by International Astronomic Union.
Camilla Capaccioli, Sara Poggiali
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