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First published in 1854, Hard Times is a profoundly moving, articulate and searing indictment of the life-reducing effects of the industrial revolution, and certain aspects of enlightenment thinking. Set in the fictional midlands mill-town of Coketown, the narrative centers on the industrialist, Mr Thomas Gradgrind, whose belief in scientific utilitarianism skews his world view and is a motive force, carrying the narrative towards farce
...Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol under financial duress, but it became one of his most popular and enduring stories. The old miser Ebenezer Scrooge cares nothing for family, friends, love or Christmas. All he cares about is money. Then one Christmas Eve he is visited by three ghosts: Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Yet To Come. These encounters leave Scrooge deeply moved and forever changed. Historians believe that A Christmas
...9) The Chimes
The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit is, according to Dickens, a novel about selfishness. And every member of the Chuzzlewit family is given the chance to display their own brand thereof, among them the infamous villain Jonas Chuzzlewit. After sales of the first few serial installments were poor, Dickens moved the action to America, which he satirized as a vast wilderness peopled by likewise selfish characters.
The Pickwick Papers was Dickens' first published novel and the first ever publishing phenomenon with illegal copies, theatrical performances and merchandise. It follows the travels of Mr Pickwick and the Pickwick Club through the English countryside, and is made up of Dickens' usual array of exaggerated, comic characters. The various adventures and encounters are loosely related, suiting the serial format in which the novel was first published.
...The last major story that Dickens completed before his death, "George Silverman's Explanation" is something of a departure for the famed master of Victorian fiction. One of the rare tales Dickens wrote in the first person, the story is a narrative account of one man's horrific start in life, the ripples of which seem to fan out and negatively impact everything else that happens to him.
17) Little Dorrit
Over the course of his career, Charles Dickens wrote a series of Christmas-themed short stories that were serialized in popular magazines of the era. The Holly Tree Inn, like many of these tales, reflects on the deeper meaning of the holiday, using the loneliness of the solitary traveler as a lens through which to examine society.
Although he is now revered as the author of such long-form masterworks as Great Expectations, Charles Dickens' short stories ranked among his most popular creative endeavors during his lifetime. Like many of his Christmas-themed stories, The Seven Poor Travellers was originally serialized in a magazine. This heartwarming tale is a must-read during the holiday season, or anytime your spirit could use a boost.
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