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Most of Charles Dickens's novels first appeared in instalments, in cheap monthly parts or in weekly magazines, before they came out as books. He often ended a part at a moment of suspense, so readers would buy the next one.

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Dickens's serial career began with The Pickwick Papers, sold in 19 illustrated monthly parts in 1836 and 1837. At a shilling a part, a novel became affordable to readers who could never pay for a whole book at once, and Pickwick made Dickens famous at 24. Later novels such as David Copperfield and Bleak House followed the same monthly pattern, while The Old Curiosity Shop, Hard Times and Great Expectations ran weekly in magazines. Writing only a few parts ahead, Dickens could respond to readers' letters and to sales. The Old Curiosity Shop, whose young heroine Little Nell dies at the end, gripped readers on both sides of the Atlantic. The popular story of New Yorkers crowding the docks to ask arriving sailors whether Nell was dead is probably a legend.

Türkçe oku
Charles Dickens'ın romanlarının çoğu, kitap olarak basılmadan önce parça parça yayımlandı: kimi ucuz aylık fasiküllerle, kimi haftalık dergilerde tefrika olarak. Dickens bölümleri çoğu zaman merakın doruğunda bitirirdi; böylece okur bir sonrakini de almak isterdi.

Dickens'ın bölüm bölüm yayımlanan ilk romanı, 1836–1837'de 19 resimli aylık fasikül hâlinde satılan Pickwick Kulübü'ydü. Her fasikül bir şilindi; böylece bütün bir kitabı tek seferde alamayacak okurlar da romana ulaşabildi. Pickwick, Dickens'ı 24 yaşında ünlü yaptı. David Copperfield ve Kasvetli Ev gibi sonraki romanlar da aylık fasiküllerle çıktı; Antikacı Dükkânı, Zor Zamanlar ve Büyük Umutlar ise dergilerde haftalık tefrika edildi. Dickens çoğu zaman yalnızca birkaç bölüm önden yazdığı için hikâyenin gidişatını okur mektuplarına ve satışlara göre değiştirebiliyordu. Genç kahramanı Küçük Nell'in sonunda öldüğü Antikacı Dükkânı'nı Atlantik'in iki yakasında okurlar merakla izledi. New Yorkluların rıhtıma doluşup gelen gemilerin tayfalarına Nell'in ölüp ölmediğini sorduğu meşhur hikâye ise büyük olasılıkla uydurmadır.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Charles Dickens
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