# English author Charles Dickenson **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 16, 2024, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-author-charles-dickenson/1002932 "2024-06-16T02:56:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2024, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-author-charles-dickenson/1002932/1 "2024-06-16T02:56:45Z")
I occasionally watch vids from a channel called “It’s History”, and the topics are usually pretty interesting. The history of old buildings and architectural artifacts and such. But when Ryan, the host, was describing a giant Philadelphia hell hole prison and related how it was visited by Charles Dickenson I was completely removed from the narrative. Wondering about snarky comments, I looked and there were none. It’s no big deal, just kind of funny, at least to me. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2024, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-author-charles-dickenson/1002932/2 "2024-06-16T03:15:29Z")
Okay, somebody had to Google “Charles Dickenson author” so I did it, thinking there might be an obscure author with that name I could link to. However, Google promptly disambiguates to Charles Dickens, so maybe not. But it’s a common mistake, if all the sites that came up are to be believed. Someone on Etsy is selling 2 books by Charles Dickenson, amazingly enough with the same names the other Charles D titled a couple of his books. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2024, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-author-charles-dickenson/1002932/3 "2024-06-16T03:18:48Z")
I’m looking forward to the episodes about Chaz Dickson, and Chuckie Dix. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2024, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-author-charles-dickenson/1002932/4 "2024-06-16T03:31:49Z")
Not Edmund Wells? [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/eCM2nEBE0RY/hqdefault.jpg "Monty Python - Bookshop Sketch (Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCM2nEBE0RY) ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2024, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-author-charles-dickenson/1002932/5 "2024-06-16T05:27:39Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > Charles Dickenson author When I search, I get an author named Charles Dickenson who has published several novels and a collection of short stories: [https://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=mcafee&type=E211US1393G0&p=Charles+Dickenson+author](https://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=mcafee&type=E211US1393G0&p=Charles+Dickenson+author) > **[Charles Dickinson - Biography](https://www.charlesdickinson.com/)** > > The website maintained by Charles Dickinson. > **[Charles Dickinson (author)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Dickinson_(author))** > > Charles Dickinson is an American writer known for his literary novels, which often mix realism with absurdity. His debut novel, Waltz in Marathon, was published in 1983. He has since written several other novels and a collection of short stories. > Born in Detroit, Michigan, Dickinson later attended the University of Kentucky. > Publishers Weekly called him "a splendid writer who has yet to reach the audience he deserves". Kirkus Reviews described his novel Crows as "uneven yet generously talented"... ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2024, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-author-charles-dickenson/1002932/6 "2024-06-16T07:22:42Z")
The dickens you say! ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2024, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-author-charles-dickenson/1002932/7 "2024-06-16T07:33:21Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I’m looking forward to the episodes about Chaz Dickson, and Chuckie Dix **[Public Enemy frontman](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_D)** has _Great Expectations_? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2024, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-author-charles-dickenson/1002932/8 "2024-06-16T08:23:09Z")
For those interested, the video can be found here: The relevant section starts at 17m 45s, with the author mentioned at 18m 05s https://www.youtube.com/embed/agEWPmSX_Z0?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque The author was Charles Dickens. No ‘son’. The work was [American Notes for General Circulation, Chapter 7](https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~cavitch/pdf-library/Dickens_Philadelphia%20Solitary%20Prison.pdf) The quote is somewhat paraphrased. " I hold this slow and daily tampering with the mysteries of the brain, to be immeasurably worse than any torture of the body: and because its ghastly signs and tokens are not so palpable to the eye and sense of touch as scars upon the flesh; because its wounds are not upon the surface, and it extorts few cries that human ears can hear; therefore I the more denounce it, as a secret punishment which slumbering humanity is not roused up to stay. " ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2024, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-author-charles-dickenson/1002932/9 "2024-06-16T09:14:20Z")
Are you sure it’s not Charles Dikkens, the well-known Dutch author?