Dickens, Charles
Dickens, Charles (1812–70),English novelist. Dickens was a passionate supporter of fairy tales. In ‘A Christmas Tree’ (Household Words, Christmas Number, 1850) he recalled the favourite tales of his youth, above all The Thousand and One Nights, which he frequently invoked in his writings, and Jack and the Beanstalk, Valentine and Orson, Little Red Riding Hood, and Mme d' Aulnoy's ‘The Yellow Dwarf’. Tales of the Genii (1764), modelled on The Arabian Nights , by ‘Sir Charles Morell’ (in reality the Revd James Ridley) had also made a great impression on him. He was angered by attempts to ‘improve’ fairy tales, and in ‘Frauds on the Fairies’ (Household Words, 1 October 1853) he mocked George