(Book Jacket Status: Not Jacketed)At The Center of Martin Chuzzlewit -- the novel Angus Wilson called "one of the most sheerly exciting of all Dickens stories" -- is Martin himself, very old, very rich, very much on his guard. What he suspects (with good reason) is that every one of Iris close and distant relations. now converging in droves on the country inn where they believe he is dying, will stop at nothing to become the inheritor of Iris great fortune.Having unjustly disinherited Iris grandson, young Martin, the old fellow now trusts no one but Mary Graham, the pretty girl hired as Iris companion. Though she has been made to understand she will not inherit a penny, she remains old Chuzzlewit's only ally. As the viperish relations and hangers-on close in on him, we meet some of Dickens's most marvelous characters -- among them Mr. Pecksniff (whose name has entered the language as a synonym for ultimate hypocrisy and self-importance); the fabulously evil Jonas Chuzzlewit; the strutting reptile Tigg Montague; and the ridiculous, terrible, comical Sairey Gamp.Reluctantly heading for America in search of opportunity, the penniless young Martin goes west, rides a riverboat, and is overtaken by bad company and mortal danger -- while the battle for his grandfather's gold reveals new depths of family treachery, cunning, and ruthlessness. And in scene after wonderful scene of conflict and suspense, of high excitement and fierce and hilarious satire, Dickens's huge saga of greed versus decency comes to its magnificent climax.

With his sublime parting words, "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done..." Sidney Carton joins that exhalted group of Dickensian characters who have earned a permanent place in the popular literary imagination. His dramatic story, set against the volcanic fury of the French Revolution and pervaded by the ominous rumble of the death carts trundling toward the guillotine, is the heart-stirring tale of a heroic soul in an age gone mad. A masterful pageant of idealism, love, and adventure -- in a Paris bursting with revolutionary frenzy, and a London alive with anxious anticipation -- A Tale of Two Cities is one of Dickens's most energetic and exciting works.

A Victorian guidebook which captures the atmosphere of London. The churches, railway stations, banks, theatres and sporting facilities are all detailed. Tips on social behaviour are also provided, including advice on hiring servants and how to cope with milk contaminated with diptheria and typhoid.

Con le incisioni originali del 1844, uno dei meno conosciuti tra i 'Racconti di Natale' di un autore classico della letteratura mondiale in una nuova traduzione di Marina Vaggi. 'Dickens incanta la nostra attenzione con figure che balenano evidentissime... tante sono le strade che conducono alla poesia' (Cesare Pavese).

Introduction by Lucy Hughes-Hallett Annotation. Dickens set this tale of a selfish, hard-hearted man, the son he favored, and the daughter he slighted, in an England almost prostrate before the storms of change we now call the Industrial Revolution. This is a superb example of Dicken's ability to combine the disparate qualities of a social historian, a theatrical artist, and a poet of the utmost tenderness and insight.A rich and pompous merchant is plagued by loneliness and misfortune

This fiercely comic tale stands in marked  contrast to its genial predecessor, The Pickwick  Papers. Set against London's seedy back  street slums, Oliver Twist is  the saga of a workhouse orphan captured and thrust  into a thieves' den, where some of Dickens's most  depraved villains preside: the incorrigible  Artful Dodger, the murderous bully Sikes, and the  terrible Fagin, that treacherous ringleader whose  grinning knavery threatens to send them all to the  'ghostly gallows.' Yet at the heart of this  drama is the orphan Oliver, whose unsullied  goodness leads him at last to salvation. In 1838 the  publication of Oliver Twist firmly established the  literary eminence of young Dickens. It was,  according to Edgar Johnson, 'a clarion peal  announcing to the world that in Charles Dickens the  rejected and forgotten and misused of the world had a  champion.'

In the marshy mists of a village churchyard, a  tiny orphan boy named Pip is suddenly terrified by a  shivering, limping convict on the run. Years  later, a supremely arrogant young Pip boards the coach  to London where, by the grace of a mysterious  benefactor, he will join the ranks of the idle rich  and 'become a gentleman.' Finally, in the  luminous mists of the village at evening, Pip the  man meets Estella, his dazzingly beautiful  tormentor, in a ruined garden--and lays to rest all the  heartaches and illusions that his 'great  expectations' have brought upon him. Dickens's  biographer, Edgar H. Johnson, has said that--except  for the author's last-minute tampering with his  original ending--Great Expectations  is 'the most perfectly constructed and  perfectly written of all Dickens's works.' In John  Irving's Introduction to this edition, the  novelist takes the view that Dickens's revised ending is  'far more that mirror of the quality of trust in  the novel as a whole.' Both versions of the  ending are printed here.

After John Harmon is murdered on his way to marry Bella Wilfer and receive a large inheritance, his father's assistant, Nicodemus Boffin, becomes the new heir and adopts Bella, who evokes an uncommon interest from Boffin's assistant.

Oliver Twist is a desperate orphan. A gang of thieves takes him in and teaches him to steal, but then he is caught. What will become of poor Oliver Twist? Kids can find out in this easy-to-read chapter book adaptation of the Dickens classic.

Of all Dickens's novels, David Copperfield most fervently embraces the comic delights, the tender warmth, the tragic horrors of childhood. It is our classic tale of growing up, an enchanting story of a gently orphan discovering life and love in an indifferent adult world. Persecuted by his wrathful stepfather, Mr. Murdstone; deceived by his boyhood idol, the callous, charming Steerforth; driven into mortal combat with the sniveling clerk Uriah Heep; and hurled, pell-mell, into a blizzard of infatuation with the adorably dim-witted Dora, he survives the worst—and the best—with inimitable style, his bafflement tuming to self-awareness and his unbridles young heart growing ever more disciplined and true.

Of this richly autobiographical novel Dickens himself wrote, 'like many fond parents, I have in my heart of hearts a favorite child. And his name is David Copperfield.'

'The Mudfog Papers' apparvero fra il 1837 e il 1839 sulla 'Bentley's Miscellany', rivista della quale Charles Dickens fu anche direttore. Se si pensa alla data, si può facilmente stabilire dunque una parentela con il più celebre 'Il Circolo Pickwick', la cui stesura del primo capitolo è immediatamente precedente. Anche gli altri due racconti che compongono il volume, 'La pantomima della vita' e 'Alcuni particolari riguardanti un leone', apparvero nel 1837 sulla 'Bentley's Miscellany', e le stesse edizioni inglesi dei 'Mudfog Papers' tendono ad includerli, in genere insieme ad un altro breve racconto, 'Mr. Robert Bolton', che venne attribuito a Dickens ma che in realtà non venne scritto da lui.

When his father suddenly dies, Nicholas Nickleby is sent by his uncle to Dotheboys Hall to work as a teacher, but when Nicholas discovers that the headmaster, Wackford Squeers, maliciously bullies the students, he must decide whether to stay, or leave and allow his uncle to cut off support for his family.

The editor has corrected printers' errors and annotated unfamiliarterms and allusions.

Three illustrations by George Cruikshank and a map of Oliver's Londonaccompany the text.

'Backgrounds and Sources' focuses on The Poor Law Amendment Act of1834, central both to Dickens and to the characters in Oliver Twist.The act's far-reaching implications are considered in source materialsthat include parlimentary debates on The Poor Laws, a harrowing accountof an 1835 Bedfordshire riot, and 'An Appeal to Fallen Women,' Dickens'1847 open letter to London's prostitutes urging them to turn theirbacks on 'debauchery and neglect.'

Ten letters on Oliver Twist, written between 1837 and 1864, arereprinted, including those to the novel's publisher, the novel'sillustrator, and John Forster, Dickens' close friend and futurebiographer.

In addition, readers can trace the evolution of the novel by examiningDickens' installment and chapter-division plans and enjoy 'Sikes andNancy,' the text of a public reading Dickens composed and performedoften to large audiences.

'Early Reviews' provides eight witty, insightful, and at timesimpassioned responses to the novel and to Oliver's plight by WilliamMakepeace Thackeray and John Forster (anonymously), among others.

'Criticism' includes twenty of the most significant interpretations ofOliver Twist published in this century. Included are essays by HenryJames, George Gissing, Graham Greene, J. Hillis Miller, Harry Stone,Philip Collins, John Bayley, Keith Hollingsworth, Steven Marcus, MonroeEngel, James R. Kincaid, Michael Slater, Dennis Walder, Burton M.Wheeler, Janet Larson, Fred Kaplan, Robert Tracy, David Miller, John O.Jordan, and Gary Wills.

A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are also included.

(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)

A Tale of Two Cities begins on a muddy English road in an atmosphere charged with mystery and drama, and it ends in the Paris of the French Revolution with one of the most famous acts of self-sacrifice in literature. In between lies one of Charles Dickens's most exciting books– a historical novel that, generation after generation, has given readers access to the profound human dramas that lie behind cataclysmic social and political events.

Famous for the character of Sydney Carton, who sacrifices himself upon the guillotine–“It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done”–the novel is also a powerful study of crowd psychology and the dark emotions aroused by the Revolution, and is illuminated by Dickens's lively comedy.

This edition reprints the original Everyman introduction by G. K. Chesterton and includes sixteen illustrations by Phiz.

Visitato in sogno dagli spiriti del Natale, Scrooge, uomo sordido e avaro, si pente del male compiuto e riscopre i valori della carità e dell'amore.