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内容简介

Our Mutual Friend was the last novel Charles Dickenscompleted and is, arguably, his darkest and most complex. The basicplot is vintage Dickens: an inheritance up for grabs, a murder, arocky romance or two, plenty of skullduggery, and a host ofunforgettable secondary characters. But in this final outing theauthor's heroes are more flawed, his villains more sympathetic, andthe story as a whole more harrowing and less sentimental. The moodis set in the opening scene in which a riverman, Gaffer Hexam, andhis daughter Lizzie troll the Thames searching for drowned menwhose pockets Gaffer will rifle before turning the body over to theauthorities. On this particular night Gaffer finds a corpse that islater identified as that of John Harmon, who was returning fromabroad to claim a large fortune when he was apparently murdered andthrown into the river.

Our Mutual Friend was the last novel Charles Dickens
completed and is, arguably, his darkest and most complex. The basic
plot is vintage Dickens: an inheritance up for grabs, a murder, a
rocky romance or two, plenty of skullduggery, and a host of
unforgettable secondary characters. But in this final outing the
author's heroes are more flawed, his villains more sympathetic, and
the story as a whole more harrowing and less sentimental. The mood
is set in the opening scene in which a riverman, Gaffer Hexam, and
his daughter Lizzie troll the Thames searching for drowned men
whose pockets Gaffer will rifle before turning the body over to the
authorities. On this particular night Gaffer finds a corpse that is
later identified as that of John Harmon, who was returning from
abroad to claim a large fortune when he was apparently murdered and
thrown into the river.
Harmon's death is the catalyst for everything else that happens
in the novel. It seems the fortune was left to the young man on the
condition that he marry a girl he'd never met, Bella Wilfer. His
death, however, brings a new heir onto the scene, Nicodemus Boffin,
the kind-hearted but low-born assistant to Harmon's father. Boffin
and his wife adopt young Bella, who is determined to marry money,
and also hire a mysterious young secretary, John Rokesmith, who
takes an uncommon interest in their ward. Not content with just one
plot, Dickens throws in a secondary love story featuring the
riverman's daughter, Lizzie Hexam; a dissolute young upper-class
lawyer, Eugene Wrayburn; and his rival, the headmaster Bradley
Headstone. Dark as the novel is, Dickens is careful to leaven it
with secondary characters who are as funny as they are
menacing--blackmailing Silas Wegg and his accomplice Mr. Venus, the
avaricious Lammles, and self-centered Charlie Hexam. Our Mutual
Friend is one of Dickens's most satisfying novels, and a
fitting denouement to his prolific career. --Alix Wilber

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作者简介

Charles John Huffam Dickens was born on February 7, 1812 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. In 1824, his father was imprisoned for debt, so Charles was sent to work in a shoe-dye factory. He later became a clerk in a law firm, a shorthand reporter in the courts, and a parliamentary and newspaper reporter. In 1833, Dickens began to contribute short stories and essays to periodicals, heralding the start of a glittering and prolific literary career. He married Catherine Hogarth in 1836, with whom he had nine surviving children before they separated in 1858. Dickens died suddenly at home on June 9, 1870, leaving behind an internationally acclaimed canon of work, including Oliver Twist (1837), Nicholas Nickleby (1838), David Copperfield (1849-50), Bleak House (1852-53), Little Dorrit (1855-57), A Tale of Two Cities (1859), Great Expectations (1860-61) and Our Mutual Friend (1864-65). He was buried in Westminster Abbey. Michael Slater is Professor of Victorian Literature at Birkbeck College in the University of London. He was editor of The Dickensian (1968-77) and President of the International Dickens Fellowship (1988-90). He has published many books and articles on Dickens.

媒体评论

From School Library Journal
Grade 7 Up-With a cast of characters that covers the whole spectrumof London life, Dickens weaves a tapestry of tales that are by turnfunny, moving and tragic.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refersto an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal 
Grade 7 Up-With a cast of characters that covers the whole spectrum
of London life, Dickens weaves a tapestry of tales that are by turn
funny, moving and tragic. 
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers
to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From AudioFile 
[Editor's Note--The following is a combined review with DAVID
COPPERFIELD, GHOST STORIES, GREAT EXPECTATIONS, HARD TIMES, MARTIN
CHUZZLEWIT, THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD, NICHOLAS NICKLEBY, OLIVER
TWIST, THE PICKWICK PAPERS, and A TALE OF TWO CITIES.]--New
Millennium presents the distinguished Academy Award winner Paul
Scofield interpreting abridgments of the novels and stories of
Charles Dickens. These are excellent readings, sonorous and
compelling. However, they lack the verve and character of the old
Victorian qualities that have been so wonderfully captured on
cassette by Martin Jarvis and Miriam Margolyes, among others. And
while few authors benefit more from pruning than the
paid-by-the-word Dickens, some of these cuttings are far too
drastic. In addition, hurried post-production is evident in
numerous audible edits, frequent mouth noises, and occasional
overlapping of announcer and narrator. Y.R. © AudioFile
2002, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland,
Maine --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition
of this title.
Review 
?The fact that Dickens is always thought of as a caricaturist,
although he was constantly trying to be something else, is perhaps
the surest mark of his genius.? ?George Orwell
 
From the Trade Paperback edition. --This text refers to an out of
print or unavailable edition of this title.

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