Search results for ""author ,charles dickens""

The editor has made necessary typographical corrections and carefully introduced and annotated the text for the student reader. Dickens’ number plans for David Copperfield, which reveal his practice both as a serial writer and as a craftsman, are also included. "Backgrounds" focuses on Dickens’ personal involvement with and response to the novel’s publication. Included are passages from his letters relating to David Copperfield, an autobiographical fragment, his preface to the 1869 edition of the novel, and a relevant excerpt from Little Dorrit. "Criticism" is comprised of twelve essays by distinguished Dickensians representing a wide range of judgment and analysis. John Forster, Matthew Arnold, E. K. Brown, Gwendolyn B. Needham, Monroe Engel, J. Hillis Miller, Mark Spilka, Harry Stone, Bert G. Hornback, Garrett Stewart, Robert L. Patten, and Alexander Walsh provide a variety of perspectives. A Chronology of Dickens’ Life and Works and a Selected Bibliography are also included.

Read more less

Introduction and Notes by Dr T.C.B. Cook Illustrations by Hablot K. Browne (Phiz). Following the success of Pickwick Papers and Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby was hailed as a comic triumph and firmly established Dickens as a 'literary gentleman'. It has a full supporting cast of delectable characters that range from the iniquitous Wackford Squeers and his family, to the delightful Mrs Nickleby, taking in the eccentric Crummles and his travelling players, the Mantalinis, the Kenwigs and many more. Combining these with typically Dickensian elements of burlesque and farce, the novel is eminently suited to dramatic adaptation. So great was the impact as it left Dickens' pen that many pirated versions appeared in print before the original was even finished. Often neglected by critics, Nicholas Nickleby has never ceased to delight readers and is widely regarded as one of the greatest comic masterpieces of nineteenth-centure literature.

Read more less

Esther, at fourteen, has never known love. Determined to live well, earn some love and overcome the shadow of her birth, she takes her first steps into an unknown world. A family curse, a manipulating lawyer, poverty and secrets threaten to destroy Esther’s world. Are the walls of Bleak House strong enough to protect her and her new friends from such powerful forces? The reader will be caught up in an unfolding mystery, full of surprises. Perhaps the biggest mystery of all is: Who is Nemo?

Read more less

Miserable old miser Ebenezer Scrooge hates Christmas. Can somebody so selfish, so harsh and so horribly lonely ever change his ways? In one terrifying night, poor Scrooge is haunted by four ghosts. Why do they show him visions of his past? Why do they show him other people enjoying Christmas? Why do they show him the deaths of a young boy and of a miserable old miser? Weep and laugh as you read this much-loved Christmas story. Will Scrooge always think that Christmas is ‘Humbug’, or will he learn to shout ‘Merry Christmas, one and all’?

Read more less

Pride, humility, love, loyalty and shame compete for Pip’s emotions. Will his quest to become a gentleman enable him to melt the cold heart of the beautiful Estella, or will it destroy his happiness? Pip’s tale is full of mystery and surprises. What is the nature of Miss Havisham’s interest in him? Why does Estella want to break his heart? Why does the dangerous convict return? Most importantly, who has given Pip his great expectations?

Read more less

Exam board: AQA B, Cambridge Assessment International EducationLevel & Subject: AS and A Level English LiteratureFirst teaching: September 2015Next exams: 2024 This edition of Oliver Twist provides depth and context for A Level students, with the complete novel in an easy to read format, and a detailed introduction and bespoke glossary written by an experienced A Level teacher with academic expertise in the area. · Affordable high quality complete text of Charles Dickens Oliver Twist· Perfectly pitched introductions provide the depth and demand required by AS and A Level English· Explore the contemporary context, Charles Dickens’ writing, the novel’s critical reception and subsequent interpretations for a deeper reading of the text· Expand your further reading with a list of key articles and critical and theoretical texts· Improve your understanding of the novel with unfamiliar concepts and culturally-specific terms defined in the glossary

Read more less

Sydney Carton is a lawyer who has wasted his abilities and his life. Now he has to make a difficult choice about what is really important to him, which could be a matter of life or death. The French Revolution is running its violent course; lives are ruined as a new France is created. How did the gentle Doctor Manette and his daughter Lucie become caught up in France’s struggles? What is the real identity of the handsome Charles Darnay, who wins Lucie’s hand in marriage? And why does the shadow of La Bastille Prison hang over them all? The best of times and the worst of times. London and Paris. Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay. A story of contrasts and chaos. Can peace ever be restored in France? Can it ever be restored in the hearts of the people involved?

Read more less

In the dark, dangerous streets of Victorian London Oliver enters the world of people so poor and desperate that they will take any risk and know no mercy. Relentlessly pursued by the menacing criminal world, who should Oliver trust? Are his true friends strong enough to resist the determined plotting of desperate villains? In this gripping tale of kidnapping, shooting and murder, Charles Dickens shows the threats to a vulnerable boy’s existence and asks the eternal question: which is more powerful, good or evil?

Read more less

Bah, humbug! Ebenezer Scrooge is a mean-spirited, miserly old man with no friends. One cold Christmas Eve, he is visited by the ghosts of past, present and future, who will show him the error of his ways. Will the bitter Scrooge be able to change for the better?

Read more less

In the dark, dangerous streets of Victorian London Oliver enters the world of people so poor and desperate that they will take any risk and know no mercy. Relentlessly pursued by the menacing criminal world, who should Oliver trust? Are his true friends strong enough to resist the determined plotting of desperate villains? In this gripping tale of kidnapping, shooting and murder, Charles Dickens shows the threats to a vulnerable boy’s existence and asks the eternal question: which is more powerful, good or evil?

Read more less

Exam board: AQA, Edexcel, OCRLevel & Subject: GCSE English LiteratureFirst teaching: September 2015Next exam: June 2024 This edition of Great Expectations is perfect for GCSE-level students: it comes complete with the novel, plus an introduction providing context, and a glossary explaining key terms. ‘Hold your noise!’ cried a terrible voice, as a man started up from among the graves at the side of the church porch. ‘Keep still, you little devil, or I’ll cut your throat!’ So begins Charles Dickens’s 1861 bildungsroman, the story of the orphan Pip who is catapulted from the desolate Kent marshes of his childhood to become a young gentleman in London. Who is Pip’s mysterious benefactor? And what role will the troubling figures of escaped convict Magwitch, decaying bride Miss Havisham and the beautiful but aloof Estella play in his prospects? Told through the first-person voice of the older Pip, this story of great expectations suggests gains always come at a price. Dickens depicts both the horrors of the early nineteenth-century penal system and the rapid rise and fall of fortunes that Victorian society permitted.

Read more less

Exam board: AQA, Edexcel, Eduqas, WJECLevel & Subject: GCSE English LiteratureFirst teaching: September 2015Next exam: June 2024 This edition of A Christmas Carol is perfect for GCSE-level students: it comes complete with the novel, plus an introduction providing context, and a glossary explaining key terms. ‘If I could work my will,’ said Scrooge, indignantly, ‘every idiot who goes about with “Merry Christmas” on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart.’ Miser and misanthropist Ebenezer Scrooge hates the festive season. Can the visitations of his dead business partner Jacob Marley and the spirits of Christmas past, present and yet to come shake him from his habits, to show him the true value of Christmas? Dickens’s 1843 story was written in response to the plight of the poor, the hungry, the exploited and the uneducated in Victorian society, suggesting that the true test of a society is the way it treats its children.

Read more less

A disappearing father, an unhappy marriage, a handsome suitor and a bank robbery all bring challenges to Louisa’s life. Will she be able to control her powerful emotions, or will they lead her to ruin? Set amongst the noisy, dangerous factories of a northern industrial town, where the workers struggle to survive, Hard Times explores the power that people can have over others, and the suffering that is caused when human emotions are ignored.

Read more less

Miserable old miser Ebenezer Scrooge hates Christmas. Can somebody so selfish, so harsh and so horribly lonely ever change his ways? In one terrifying night, poor Scrooge is haunted by four ghosts. Why do they show him visions of his past? Why do they show him other people enjoying Christmas? Why do they show him the deaths of a young boy and of a miserable old miser? Weep and laugh as you read this much-loved Christmas story. Will Scrooge always think that Christmas is ‘Humbug’, or will he learn to shout ‘Merry Christmas, one and all’?

Read more less

'In Little Dorrit, Dickens attacked English institutions with a ferocity that has never since been approached' George OrwellA masterly evocation of the state and psychology of imprisonment, Little Dorrit is one of the supreme works of Dickens's maturity. It follows Arthur Clennam who, returning to England after many years abroad, takes a kindly interest in Amy Dorrit, his mother's seamstress, who was born and raised in the Marshalsea where her father has long been imprisoned for debt. As Arthur soon discovers, the dark shadow of the prison stretches far beyond its walls to affect the lives of many, from the kindly Mr Pancks, the reluctant rent-collector of Bleeding Heart Yard, to the bureaucratic Barnacles in the Circumlocution Office and Merdle, an unscrupulous financier. Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Stephen Wall and Helen Small

Read more less

Part of Penguin's beautiful hardback Clothbound Classics series, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith, these delectable and collectible editions are bound in high-quality colourful, tactile cloth with foil stamped into the design. Pip doesn't expect much from life...His sister makes it clear that her orphaned little brother is nothing but a burden on her. But suddenly things begin to change. Pip's narrow existence is blown apart when he finds an escaped criminal, is summoned to visit a mysterious old woman and meets the icy beauty Estella. Most astoundingly of all, an anonymous person gives him money to begin a new life in London.Are these events as random as they seem? Or does Pip's fate hang on a series of coincidences he could never have expected?

Read more less

'His characters are marvellous, his insights wonderful ... You don't expect reality but you get something bigger and better' Ruth RendellThe Old Curiosity Shop was an instant bestseller that, even while it was criticized for its sentimentality, captured the hearts of the nation with its portrayal of little Nell Trent, who is thrown into a terrifying world when her beloved grandfather is unable to pay his debts to the loathsome Quilp. Alongside the pathos of the innocent, tragic Nell are some of Dickens's greatest characters: the ne'er-do'well Dick Swiveller, the mannish lawyer Sally Brass, the half-starved 'Marchioness' and the lustful Quilp himself, a creation of demonic power and cruelty. Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Norman Page

Read more less

A disappearing father, an unhappy marriage, a handsome suitor and a bank robbery all bring challenges to Louisa’s life. Will she be able to control her powerful emotions, or will they lead her to ruin? Set amongst the noisy, dangerous factories of a northern industrial town, where the workers struggle to survive, Hard Times explores the power that people can have over others, and the suffering that is caused when human emotions are ignored.

Read more less

Dickens' timeless novel transports young readers to a colorful Victorian England filled with mistreated orphans, grim workhouses and gangs of thieving children. The hero finds himself in dire circumstances but escapes to London, where he becomes involved with criminals...and finally finds a real home. Abridged for easier reading and carefully rewritten, with "Classic Starts[trademark]", young readers can experience the wonder of timeless stories from an early age.

Read more less

Exam board: AQA B, Edexcel, CXCLevel & Subject: AS and A Level English Literature, CAPE LiteratureFirst teaching: September 2015Next exams: 2024

Read more less

Original by Charles Dickens Adapted for the stage by Charles Way Dominated by Gradgrind and Bounderby, Coketown's prosperity is built on the cotton mills where thousands of men and women slave away for long hours and little pay. Gradgrind's obsession with material progress damages his children Louisa and Tom, leading to scandal and disaster. Hard Times celebrates the importance of the human heart in an age obsessed with materialism. Circus, music, and dark comedy all go into the rich mix of this truly Dickensian theatrical tale.

Read more less

Introduction and Notes by Dinny Thorold, University of Westminster. Illustrated by F. Walker and Maurice Greiffenhagen. Unusually for Dickens, Hard Times is set, not in London, but in the imaginary mid-Victorian Northern industrial town of Coketown with its blackened factories, downtrodden workers and polluted environment. This is the soulless domain of the strict utilitarian Thomas Gradgrind and the heartless factory owner Josiah Bounderby. However human joy is not excluded thanks to 'Mr Sleary's Horse-Riding' circus, a gin-soaked and hilarious troupe of open-hearted and affectionate people who act as an antidote to all the drudgery and misery endured by the ordinary citizens of Coketown. Macaulay attacked Hard Times for its ‘sullen socialism’, but 20th-century critics such as George Bernard Shaw and F.R. Leavis have praised this book in the highest terms, while readers the world over have found inspiration and enjoyment from what is both Dickens’ shortest completed novel and also one of his important statements on Victorian society.

Read more less

Thrilling full-cast radio dramatisations of three of Charles Dickens' classic novels. Charles Dickens is one of the most renowned novelists of all time, and this second volume of the dramatised canon of his work includes the gripping historical novel Barnaby Rudge, picaresque comedy Martin Chuzzlewit and bittersweet tale of family relationships Dombey and Son. Barnaby Rudge Against the background of the anti-Catholic riots of the 1780s, young Barnaby Rudge becomes entangled with the fanatical George Gordon and his campaign for 'No Popery'. But mob violence, the burning of Newgate Prison and the shadow of murder put his life in danger... Martin Chuzzlewit Disinherited by his wealthy grandfather because of his love for the beautiful Mary, Martin Chuzzlewit sets sail for America to seek his fortune. Dombey and Son Wealthy Paul Dombey is desperate for a male heir to continue the family business, and neglects his six-year-old daughter Florence. Then, at last, the longed-for son is born – but Dombey's hopes for him go unfulfilled... With a star cast including Simon Cadell, Bill Nighy, Alex Jennings, Robert Glenister, Geraldine James and Pam Ferris, these BBC radio adaptations bring out all the suspense, adventure, satire and social realism of Dickens' three classic masterpieces. Duration: 19 hours approx.

Read more less

The new Oxford World's Classics edition of Oliver Twist is based on the authoritative Clarendon edition, which uses Dickens's revised text of 1846. It includes his preface of 1841 in which he defended himself against hostile criticism, and includes all 24 original illustrations by George Cruikshank. Stephen Gill's groundbreaking Introduction gives a fascinating new account of the novel. He also provides appendices on Dickens and Cruikshank, on Dickens's Preface and the Newgate Novel Controversy, on Oliver Twist and the New Poor Law and on thieves' slang. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Read more less

David Copperfield tells of the life of the unlucky David Copperfield. When his mother marries the cruel Mr Murdstone, David is sent away to boarding school. As he grows up, David meets many people - but who are his true friends and will his fortunes ever change? Exciting and powerful classic stories to enrich and extend your children's reading experiences. TreeTops Classics are carefully adapted versions of must-read stories which introduce your readers to significant authors, powerful plots and characters that have stood the test of time. These abridged versions of classics have been sensitively adapted by top children's authors to ensure that language and content is appropriate, but remain faithful to the original. These enchanting stories will appeal to all your junior readers and introduce them to a rich literary heritage. Each book includes author biographies and notes to help with historical and social context and any challenging vocabulary, ensuring the books are easily accessible. Books contain inside cover notes to support children in their reading. Help with children's reading development also available at www.oxfordowl.co.uk. The books are finely levelled, making it easy to match every child to the right book.

Read more less

Project X Origins Graphic Texts can help children to reach higher standards in comprehension. This graphic retelling of Oliver Twist brings a fresh look to a well-loved classic. Victorian England is not a kind place for a poor orphan like Oliver. After running away from an undertaker's where he's been forced to work, he hopes he'll have better luck in London. However, after he meets the Artful Dodger, he soon learns life in the big city can be very dangerous indeed. Can Oliver ever escape the murky world he finds himself in? This book also contains notes on the inside front and back covers with advice on supporting older children with their reading, ideas for follow-up activities and higher-level comprehension questions.

Read more less

'Sets out the London of the 1830s before you, streets, people, pleasures, low life, prisons' Claire TomalinCharles Dickens's first published book, Sketches by Boz is a funny and touching collection of observation, fancy and fiction showing the London he knew in all its complexity - its streets, theatres, inns, pawnshops, law courts, prisons and, of course, the river Thames. His descriptions of everyday life and people seem to anticipate characters from his great novels - garrulous matrons, vulgar young clerks, Scrooge-like bachelors - while his powers of social critique shine in his unflinching depictions of the city's forgotten citizens, from child workers to prostitutes. This edition includes the original illustrations by George Cruikshank.Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Dennis Walder

Read more less

A thrilling, fast-paced adaptation of the classic novel, considered by Dickens 'the best story I have ever written'. An epic story of love, sacrifice and redemption, interweaving one family's intensely personal drama with the terror and chaos of the French Revolution. This version of A Tale of Two Cities premiered at Royal & Derngate, Northampton, in February 2014, featuring a large community ensemble alongside the main cast. Mike Poulton's adaptation is ideal for any amateur theatre companies, schools or youth theatres looking to stage a bold and dramatic version of Dickens' classic.

Read more less

One of Dickens's best-loved and most autobiographical stories, brilliantly and faithfully dramatised by Alastair Cording. All Dickens's marvellous creations are here: Mr Micawber, Uriah Heep, Mrs Peggotty, Murdstone, Steerforth and Betsey Trotwood. Weaving through the colourful maze of the storyline is David's hopeless infatuation with Emily – and eventual salvation in the arms of the long-suffering Agnes. Alastair Cording's stage adaptation of Dickens's David Copperfield was first performed by Eastern Angles in 1995. It skilfully concentrates on the essentials of the story while maintaining the colour, humour and drama of the book. Most notable is its fluidity, with each scene flowing into the next without the need for cumbersome scene changes – or much scenery at all. Performable by a cast of eight, if necessary, but equally offering good roles to thirty or more.

Read more less

Every Christmas, the Morgan Library & Museum in Manhattan displays one of the crown jewels of its extraordinary collection: the original manuscript of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol with its detailed emendations, deletions and insertions in Dickens’ hand. Here, for the first time in a beautiful trade edition, is a facsimile of that invaluable manuscript, along with a typeset version of the story, a fascinating introduction by the Morgan’s chief literary curator on the history of the story and a new foreword by Colm Tóibín celebrating its timeless appeal.

Read more less

"The most consistent of all series in terms of language control, length, and quality of story." David R. Hill, Director of the Edinburgh Project on Extensive Reading.

Read more less

Carefully controlled information, structure and vocabulary Glossary at the back of the book explains some of the difficult words and phrases The book has around 1600 basic words for Intermediate-level students Points for Understanding section Free resources including worksheets, tests and author data sheets

Read more less

Part of Penguin's beautiful hardback Clothbound Classics series, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith, these delectable and collectible editions are bound in high-quality colourful, tactile cloth with foil stamped into the design. After eighteen years as a political prisoner in the Bastille the aging Dr Manette is finally released and reunited with his daughter in England. There two very different men, Charles Darnay, an exiled French aristocrat, and Sydney Carton, a disreputable but brilliant English lawyer, become enmeshed through their love for Lucie Manette. From the tranquil lanes of London, they are all drawn against their will to the vengeful, bloodstained streets of Paris at the height of the Reign of Terror and soon fall under the lethal shadow of La Guillotine.

Read more less

Share the spirit of Christmas with Dickens A Christmas Carol as an illustrated chapter storybook made for young readers! This timeless tale will have beginner readers drawn into the memorable story of Ebenezer Scrooge.Humbug! On a cobblestone street in London, on a cold Christmas Eve, the wealthy, greedy Ebenezer Scrooge is staying late at work at his “counting-house,” keeping his clerk, poor Bob Cratchit, busy and cold and away from his family. But little does Scrooge know that his old business partner, Jacob Marley—dead for seven years—is about to pay him a ghostly visit! His intention: to warn Scrooge that three spirits, the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future, will be soon coming to see him, in order to convince him to change his ways before it’s too late! As Scrooge comes to see the mistakes he’s made, as only the three spirits can show him, he realizes that nothing is better than being loved by his family and his fellow people.In this gorgeously illustrated hardcover classic, the true meaning of Christmas is brought to life! Kid Classics: A Christmas Carol gives kids a chance to read Dickens’s classic short novel at their reading level—and come away with a greater appreciation for the spirit of Christmas! With page after page of captivating illustrations, this magical hardcover will be the fought over favorite in your home and schoolroom!This just-for-kids retelling of Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol: Is an abridged, child-friendly retelling of original novel Is a beautiful illustrated hardcover with illustrations in each chapter Is perfect for homeschooling, school reading challenges, and beginning readers Makes a great holiday gift or stocking stuffer for Advent or Christmas

Read more less