Charles Dickens and social criticism. On the other hand, Oscar Wilde, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf complained of a lack of psychological depth, loose writing, and a vein of saccharine sentimentalism. The term "Dickensian" is used to describe something that is reminiscent of Dickens and his writings, such as poor social conditions or comically repulsive characters. Charles John Huffam Dickens was born on 7 February 1812, at 1 Mile End Terrace (now 393 Commercial Road), Landport in Portsea Island (Portsmouth), the second of eight children of Elizabeth Dickens (née Barrow; 1789–1863) and John Dickens (1785–1851). His father was a clerk in the
Portsmouth for Portsmouth Association Football Club, an amateur team not to be confused with the later professional Portsmouth Football Club. Rudyard Kipling, poet and author of the "Jungle Book", and H. G. Wells, author of "War of the Worlds" and "The Time Machine", lived in Portsmouth during the 1880s. Sir Walter Besant, a novelist and historian, was born in Portsmouth, writing one novel set exclusively in the town, "By Celia's Arbour, A Tale of Portsmouth Town". Historian Frances Yates was born in Portsmouth and is known for her work on Renaissance esotericism. Sir Francis Austen, brother of Jane Austen, briefly lived