{"product_id":"hard-times-9781551110752","title":"Hard Times","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDespite the title, Dickens's portrayal of early industrial society here is less relentlessly grim than that in novels by contemporaries such as Elizabeth Gaskell or Charles Kingsley. \u003cem\u003eHard Times\u003c\/em\u003e weaves the tale of Thomas Gradgrind, a hard-headed politician who raises his children Louisa and Tom without love, of Sissy the circus girl with love to spare who is deserted and adopted into their family, and of the honest mill worker Stephen Blackpool and the bombastic mill owner Josiah Bounderby. The key contrasts created are finally less those between wealth and poverty, or capitalists and workers, than those between the head and the heart, between \"Fact\"—the cold, rationalistic approach to life that Dickens associates with utilitarianism—and \"Fancy\"—a warmth of the imagination and of the feelings, which values individuals above ideas.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eConcentrated and compressed in its narrative form, \u003cem\u003eHard Times\u003c\/em\u003e is at once a fable, a novel of ideas, and a social novel that seeks to engage directly and analytically with political issues. The central conflicts raised in the text, between government's duty not to intervene to guarantee the liberty of the subject, and between quantitative and qualitative assessments of progress, remain unresolved today in the late or post industrial stages of liberal democracies.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGraham Law's edition of \u003cem\u003eHard Times\u003c\/em\u003e is the most useful edition for teaching Dickens that I have seen. Its text is authoritative, and the range of contextual documents included gives readers an opportunity to situate the work in the discussions of industrialization and labor as they took place in nineteenth-century England.\" - Barry V. Qualls, Rutgers University\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"This beautifully produced edition combines a freshly written, informative introduction with helpful and well-judged notes. Particularly welcome is the wealth of documentary material and examples carefully chosen from other contemporary fiction, enabling readers to place \u003cem\u003eHard Times\u003c\/em\u003e within its full Victorian context. This is an excellent edition—clear, authoritative and stimulating.\" - Kate Flint, University of Oxford\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIntroduction\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAcknowledgements\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA Note on the Text\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSelect Bibliography\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCharles Dickens: A Brief Chronology\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHARD TIMES: FOR THESE TIMES\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAppendices: Contemporary Documents\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eAppendix A: The Composition of the Novel\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eHousehold Words\u003c\/em\u003e Partners’ Agreement\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e Announcements in \u003cem\u003eHousehold Words\u003c\/em\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDickens’s Working Memoranda\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMentions in Dickens’s Letters\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ol\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eAppendix B: Contemporary Reviews of the Novel\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eAthanaeum\u003c\/em\u003e (12 August 1854)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eExaminer\u003c\/em\u003e (9 September 1854)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eGentleman’s Magazine\u003c\/em\u003e (September 1854)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eBritish Quarterly Review\u003c\/em\u003e (October 1854)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eRambler\u003c\/em\u003e (October 1854)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eSouth London Athanaeum and Institution Magazine\u003c\/em\u003e (October 1854)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eWestminster Review\u003c\/em\u003e (October 1854)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eBlackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine\u003c\/em\u003e (April 1855)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ol\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eAppendix C: On Industrialization: Commentary\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThomas Carlyle\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e“Signs of the Times,” \u003cem\u003eEdinburgh Review\u003c\/em\u003e (June 1829)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eChartism\u003c\/em\u003e (1839)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cem\u003ePast and Present\u003c\/em\u003e (1843)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ol\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAndrew Ure, \u003cem\u003eThe Philosophy of Manufactures\u003c\/em\u003e (1836)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eP. Gaskell, \u003cem\u003eArtisans and Machinery\u003c\/em\u003e (1836)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJ.S. Mill\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e “Bentham,” \u003cem\u003eLondon and Westminster Review\u003c\/em\u003e (August 1838)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cem\u003ePrinciples of Political Economy\u003c\/em\u003e(1848)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ol\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e Arthur Helps, \u003cem\u003eThe Claims of Labour\u003c\/em\u003e (1844)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e Friedrich Engels, \u003cem\u003eThe Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844\u003c\/em\u003e (1845)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCharles Dickens, “On Strike,” \u003cem\u003eHousehold Words\u003c\/em\u003e (11 February 1854)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e Henry Morley, “Ground in the Mill,” \u003cem\u003eHousehold Words\u003c\/em\u003e (22 April 1854)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHarriet Martineau, \u003cem\u003eThe Factory Controversy: A Warning Against Meddling Legislation\u003c\/em\u003e (1855)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eW.B. Hodgson, “On the Importance of the Study of Economic Science as a Branch of Education for all Classes,” \u003cem\u003eLectures in Education Delivered at the Royal Institution of Great Britain\u003c\/em\u003e (1855)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJohn Ruskin, “Unto This Last,” \u003cem\u003eCornhill Magazine\u003c\/em\u003e (August 1860)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ol\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAppendix D: On Industrialization: Fiction\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHarriet Martineau, \u003cem\u003eA Manchester Strike (Illustrations of Political Economy\u003c\/em\u003e No. 7) (1832)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFrances Trollope, \u003cem\u003eLife and Adventures of Michael Armstrong\u003c\/em\u003e (1840)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e“Charlotte Elizabeth,” \u003cem\u003eHelen Fleetwood\u003c\/em\u003e (1841)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eElizabeth Stone, \u003cem\u003eWilliam Langshawe, the Cotton Lord\u003c\/em\u003e (1842)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBenjamin Disraeli\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eConingsby\u003c\/em\u003e (1844) (i)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eConingsby\u003c\/em\u003e (1844) (ii)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eSybil\u003c\/em\u003e (1845)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ol\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eElizabeth Gaskell\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eMary Barton\u003c\/em\u003e (1848) (i)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eMary Barton\u003c\/em\u003e (1848) (ii)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eNorth and South\u003c\/em\u003e (1855)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ol\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCharlotte Bronte, \u003cem\u003eShirley\u003c\/em\u003e (1849)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCharles Kingsley\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eYeast\u003c\/em\u003e (1850)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eAlton Locke\u003c\/em\u003e (1850)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ol\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFanny Mayne, \u003cem\u003eJane Rutherford, or The Miners’ Strike\u003c\/em\u003e (1854)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ol\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eExplanatory Notes\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Broadview Press Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51041301758295,"sku":"9781551110752","price":16.1,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781551110752.jpg?v=1750949724","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/hard-times-9781551110752","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}