The Pickwick Papers
"The Pickwick Papers" by Charles Dickens is a novel serialized from March 1836 to November 1837. It follows the kindly gentleman Samuel Pickwick and three companions as they journey through the English countryside, reporting their adventures to their club. Their travels lead to comic misadventures, colorful characters like the clever servant Sam Weller and the charlatan Alfred Jingle, and an infamous legal case that lands Pickwick in debtors' prison. This publishing phenomenon popularized serialized fiction and defined modern entertainment.