Question: When did the writer whose novels painted a dismal portrait of Victorian London start to write books?

full_context: Document 1: Age of Enlightenment: In France, the established men of letters (gens de lettres) had fused with the elites (les grands) of French society by the mid-18th century. This led to the creation of an oppositional literary sphere, Grub Street, the domain of a "multitude of versifiers and would-be authors". These men came to London to become authors, only to discover that the literary market simply could not support large numbers of writers, who, in any case, were very poorly remunerated by the publishing-bookselling guilds.
Document 2: London: London has been the setting for many works of literature. The literary centres of London have traditionally been hilly Hampstead and (since the early 20th century) Bloomsbury. Writers closely associated with the city are the diarist Samuel Pepys, noted for his eyewitness account of the Great Fire, Charles Dickens, whose representation of a foggy, snowy, grimy London of street sweepers and pickpockets has been a major influence on people's vision of early Victorian London, and Virginia Woolf, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the 20th century.
Document 3: Great Plague of London: People began to be alarmed. Samuel Pepys, who had an important position at the Admiralty, stayed in London and provided a contemporary account of the plague through his diary. On 30 April he wrote: ``Great fears of the sickness here in the City it being said that two or three houses are already shut up. God preserve us all! ''Another source of information on the time is a fictional account, A Journal of the Plague Year, which was written by Daniel Defoe and published in 1722. He had been only six when the plague struck but made use of his family's recollections (his uncle was a saddler in East London and his father a butcher in Cripplegate), interviews with survivors and sight of such official records as were available.
Document 4: David Copperfield: David Copperfield is the eighth novel by Charles Dickens. The novel's full title is The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery (Which He Never Meant to Publish on Any Account). It was first published as a serial in 1849 -- 50, and as a book in 1850. Many elements of the novel follow events in Dickens's own life, and it is often considered his veiled autobiography. It was Dickens' favourite among his own novels. In the preface to the 1867 edition, Dickens wrote, ``like many fond parents, I have in my heart of hearts a favourite child. And his name is David Copperfield. ''The novel describes the journey of the protagonist David Copperfield; modeled after Dickens himself, from impoverished and miserable childhood to becoming a successful and famous author. Like some of his other novels, it contains disturbing descriptions of child abuse.
Document 5: Great Expectations: Great Expectations is the thirteenth novel by Charles Dickens and his penultimate completed novel: a bildungsroman that depicts the personal growth and personal development of an orphan nicknamed Pip. It is Dickens's second novel, after David Copperfield, to be fully narrated in the first person. The novel was first published as a serial in Dickens's weekly periodical All the Year Round, from 1 December 1860 to August 1861. In October 1861, Chapman and Hall published the novel in three volumes.
Document 6: Virginia Woolf: During the interwar period, Virginia Woolf was an important part of London's literary and artistic society. She published her first novel, titled The Voyage Out, in 1915, through her half - brother's publishing house, Gerald Duckworth and Company. Her best - known works include the novels Mrs Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse and Orlando (1928). She is also known for her essays, including A Room of One's Own (1929), where she wrote the much - quoted dictum, ``A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction. ''
Document 7: Pub: Many of London's pubs are known to have been used by famous people, but in some cases, such as the association between Samuel Johnson and Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, this is speculative, based on little more than the fact that the person is known to have lived nearby. However, Charles Dickens is known to have visited the Cheshire Cheese, the Prospect of Whitby, Ye Olde Cock Tavern and many others. Samuel Pepys is also associated with the Prospect of Whitby and the Cock Tavern.
Document 8: London: London's buildings are too diverse to be characterised by any particular architectural style, partly because of their varying ages. Many grand houses and public buildings, such as the National Gallery, are constructed from Portland stone. Some areas of the city, particularly those just west of the centre, are characterised by white stucco or whitewashed buildings. Few structures in central London pre-date the Great Fire of 1666, these being a few trace Roman remains, the Tower of London and a few scattered Tudor survivors in the City. Further out is, for example, the Tudor period Hampton Court Palace, England's oldest surviving Tudor palace, built by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey c.1515.
Document 9: A Tale of Two Cities: A Tale of Two Cities Cover of serial Vol. V, 1859 Author Charles Dickens Illustrator Hablot Knight Browne (Phiz) Cover artist Hablot Knight Browne (Phiz) Country United Kingdom Language English Genre Historical novel Published 1859 Publisher London: Chapman & Hall Pages 341 pages (Paperback) Preceded by Little Dorrit (1855 -- 1857) Followed by Great Expectations (1860 -- 1861)
Document 10: Charles Dickens: The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (Known as ``The Pickwick Papers '') (Monthly serial, April 1836 to November 1837)
Document 11: Sketches by Boz: Sketches by "Boz," Illustrative of Every-day Life and Every-day People (commonly known as Sketches by Boz) is a collection of short pieces Charles Dickens originally published in various newspapers and other periodicals between 1833 and 1836. They were re-issued in book form, under their current title, in February and August 1836, with illustrations by George Cruikshank. The first complete one volume edition appeared in 1839. The 56 sketches concern London scenes and people, and the whole work is divided into four sections: "Our Parish", "Scenes", "Characters" and "Tales". The material in the first three sections consists of non-narrative pen-portraits, but the last section comprises fictional stories.
Document 12: Melbourne: Melbourne's rich and diverse literary history was recognised in 2008 when it became the second UNESCO City of Literature. The State Library of Victoria is one of Australia's oldest cultural institutions and one of many public and university libraries across the city. Melbourne also has Australia's widest range of bookstores, as well the nation's largest publishing sector. The city is home to significant writers' festivals, most notably the Melbourne Writers Festival. Several major literary prizes are open to local writers including the Melbourne Prize for Literature and the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. Significant novels set in Melbourne include Fergus Hume's The Mystery of a Hansom Cab, Helen Garner's Monkey Grip and Christos Tsiolkas' The Slap. Notable writers and poets from Melbourne include Thomas Browne, C. J. Dennis, Germaine Greer and Peter Carey.
Document 13: Charles Dickens: The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (Known as ``The Pickwick Papers '') (Monthly serial, April 1836 to November 1837) The Adventures of Oliver Twist (Monthly serial in Bentley's Miscellany, February 1837 to April 1839) The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (Monthly serial, April 1838 to October 1839) The Old Curiosity Shop (Weekly serial in Master Humphrey's Clock, April 1840 to November 1841) Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of Eighty (Weekly serial in Master Humphrey's Clock, February to November 1841) A Christmas Carol (1843) The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit (Monthly serial, January 1843 to July 1844) Dombey and Son (Monthly serial, October 1846 to April 1848) David Copperfield (Monthly serial, May 1849 to November 1850) Bleak House (Monthly serial, March 1852 to September 1853) Hard Times: For These Times (Weekly serial in Household Words, 1 April 1854, to 12 August 1854) Little Dorrit (Monthly serial, December 1855 to June 1857) A Tale of Two Cities (Weekly serial in All the Year Round, 30 April 1859, to 26 November 1859) Great Expectations (Weekly serial in All the Year Round, 1 December 1860 to 3 August 1861) Our Mutual Friend (Monthly serial, May 1864 to November 1865) The Mystery of Edwin Drood left unfinished due to Dickens's death (Monthly serial, April 1870 to September 1870)
Document 14: London Labour and the London Poor: London Labour and the London Poor is a work of Victorian journalism by Henry Mayhew. In the 1840s he observed, documented, and described the state of working people in London for a series of articles in a newspaper, the "Morning Chronicle", that were later compiled into book form.
Document 15: Charles Dickens: Dickens's literary success began with the 1836 serial publication of The Pickwick Papers. Within a few years he had become an international literary celebrity, famous for his humour, satire, and keen observation of character and society. His novels, most published in monthly or weekly instalments, pioneered the serial publication of narrative fiction, which became the dominant Victorian mode for novel publication. Cliffhanger endings in his serial publications kept readers in suspense. The instalment format allowed Dickens to evaluate his audience's reaction, and he often modified his plot and character development based on such feedback. For example, when his wife's chiropodist expressed distress at the way Miss Mowcher in David Copperfield seemed to reflect her disabilities, Dickens improved the character with positive features. His plots were carefully constructed, and he often wove elements from topical events into his narratives. Masses of the illiterate poor chipped in ha'pennies to have each new monthly episode read to them, opening up and inspiring a new class of readers.
ground_truth: 1836
sub_queries: Which author's novels painted a dismal portrait of Victorian London? Answer: Charles Dickens
when did Charles Dickens start to write books Answer: 1836