内容简介
(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed) By 1854, when Hard Times was
published, Charles Dickens' magisterial progress as a writer had
come to incorporate a many-sided, coherent vision of English
society, both as it was and as he wished it to be. Hard Times. a
classic Dickensian story of redemption set in a North of England
town beset by industrialism, everywhere benefits from this vision -
in the trenchancy of its satire, in its sweeping indignation at
social injustice, and in the persistent humanity with which its
author enlivens his largest and smallest incidents.
作者简介
Charles Dickens was born at Portsmouth on 7 February 1812. He
received little formal education, but taught himself shorthand and
became a reporter of parliamentary debates for the Morning
Chronicle. He began to publish sketches in various periodicals,
which were subsequently republished as Sketches by Boz. The
Pickwick Papers were published in 1836--7 and after a slow start
became a publishing phenomenon and Dickens's characters the centre
of a popular cult. He began Oliver Twist in 1837, followed by
Nicholas Nickleby (1838) and The Old Curiosity Shop
(1840--41).After finishing Barnaby Rudge (1841) Dickens set off for
America; he went full of enthusiasm for the young republic but, in
spite of a triumphant reception, he returned disillusioned. His
experiences are recorded in American Notes (1842). Martin
Chuzzlewit (1843--4) did not repeat its predecessors' success but
this was quickly redressed by the huge popularity of the Christmas
Books, of which the first, A Christmas Carol, appeared in 1843.
During 1844--6 Dickens travelled abroad and he began Dombey and Son
while in Switzerland. This and David Copperfield (1849--50) were
more serious in theme and more carefully planned than his early
novels. In later works, such as Bleak House (1853) and Little
Dorrit (1857), Dickens's social criticism became more radical and
his comedy more savage. Charles Dickens died on 9 June 1870.