Charles Dickens (1812-1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the 20th century critics and scholars had recognized him as a literary genius. His natural inclinations toward drama and the macabre made him a brilliant teller of supernatural tales such as "The Signal-Man," "To Be Read at Dusk," "The Hanged Man's Bride," "The Mothers' Eyes," and "Captain Murderer and the Devil's Bargain."