Today’s the day. All the 2012 hype around the bicentenary of Charles Dickens is centred on 7 February, exactly 200 years since the great man was born in Portsmouth. If we needed proof of the cultural significance of this birthday (and we don’t), Dickens

If a lot of people are celebrating and generally making a hoo-ha about something or somebody, you can bet your finest silk garment that someone will in due course pop up and start throwing cold water. Just so, with respect to Dickens today on his bicente

ON THE 200th anniversary of Charles Dickens' birth, commentators are celebrating the Victorian novelist as a literary genius, even if children today don't have the attention span to read his works. But is all this hero-worship a bit much? Dickens was not

John Sutherland says the idea of tackling all of the Charles Dickens back catalogue in one go is daunting - like a boa constrictor taking on a massive snake. So timed to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the writer, Sutherland, a recently retired Prof

He used to be a mere entertainer – now at his bicentenary he is 'the greatest'. Why should we elevate him above all others? The gravestone of Charles Dickens at Westminster Abbey is cleaned in preparation for a wreath-laying ceremony. Photograph: Peter M

This whole Dickens 200th anniversary thing is starting to feel a little over-saturated — to the extent that every review of a new Dickensian adaptation, or book, or film, or exhibition or mobile app is obliged to observe how over-saturated this whole Dic