Dickens is the object of persecution. Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (1837)

(1812 - 1870) showed a vast canvas of life Victorian England. With his characteristic sense of humor, the writer masterfully ridiculed vices, ignorance and social inequality contemporary society. His works have become classics of world literature; they are read and reread with pleasure by millions of people even today.

We have selected 7 Dickens books that everyone should read.

Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club

« Posthumous notes The Pickwick Club is the first novel by Charles Dickens, first published by Chapman and Hall in 1836-1837. It was with this book (as well as its ruddy and plump protagonist) that the brilliant career writer.

The Adventures of Oliver Twist

"The Adventures of Oliver Twist" - the most famous novel the great Dickens. The second in his work and the first in English literature, where the main character is a child.

Good old England is not kind to orphans and poor children. The story of a boy left without parents and forced to wander through the dark slums of London. Twists of fate little hero, numerous meetings on his way and a happy ending difficult and dangerous adventures - all this arouses genuine interest among many readers around the world.

Big hopes

Novel " Big hopes"needs no introduction - great amount theatrical productions and film adaptations constantly keep him in the reader's field of view.

The hero of the novel "Great Expectations", a young man Philip Pirrip (or simply Pip), strives to become " a true gentleman"and achieve a position in society. But disappointments await him. Money stained with blood cannot bring happiness, and the “world of gentlemen” on which Philip had placed so many hopes turned out to be hostile and cruel.

Hard times

The action of the novel Hard times"takes place in the industrial city of Coketown, in which everything is impersonal: people are dressed the same, leave the house and return at the same hours, the soles of the same shoes click in the same way. The town has a philosophy of facts and figures, followed by the wealthy banker Bounderby. This is the system of education at Gradgrain's school - without love, warmth, imagination. The soulless world of facts is opposed by a traveling circus troupe and the little daughter of a circus performer - Sissy Jupe.

Bleak House

Bleak House was written in 1853 and is the ninth novel in Dickens's work, and also marks the beginning of the author's artistic maturity. This book provides a cross-section of all layers of British society in the Victorian era, from the highest aristocracy to the world of city gateways. A master of creating intrigue, the writer filled the work with secrets and confusion. plot moves, from which it is simply impossible to tear yourself away.

Christmas stories

A Christmas Carol was written by Dickens in the 40s years XIX century. In these stories, the main characters are fairies, elves, ghosts, spirits of the dead and... ordinary Englishmen. In them, fairy tales intertwine with reality, and horrors other world not inferior to the cruelty of the surrounding reality. Magical, scary and moderately moral and educational reading for all times.

The Life of David Copperfield as Told by Himself

"The Life of David Copperfield as Told by Himself" - pretty much autobiographical novel Charles Dickens, published in five parts in 1849 and as a separate book in 1850.

David's father died shortly before his son was born. At first, the boy grew up surrounded by the love of his mother and nanny, but with the appearance of his stepfather, a stubborn tyrant who considers the child his burden, he old life I had to forget. Another "mentor", the ignorant Mr. Creakle, former trader hops, who became the school director, continued to hammer into young hero their poor ideas of order. But these barbaric methods of education are interrupted by the outwardly stern Betsy Trotwood, who becomes the embodiment of goodness and justice for the boy.

Quote from the novel The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, 1836 - 1837, English writer(1812 - 1870), ch. 4:

"The pursuit of one's own hat is one of those rare tests, funny and sad at the same time, - which evokes little sympathy. Considerable composure and a considerable dose of prudence are required in the capture of a hat. You should not rush, otherwise you will overtake it; you should not go to the other extreme - otherwise you will lose her completely. The best way- run lightly, keeping up with the object of pursuit, be cautious and cautious, wait for an opportunity, gradually overtaking the hat, then quickly dive, grab it by the crown, pull it down on your head and smile benevolently all the time, as if it amuses you no less than everyone else.

A pleasant breeze was blowing, and Mr. Pickwick's hat was rolling merrily into the distance. The wind puffed, and Mr. Pickwick puffed, and the hat rolled and rolled briskly, like an agile dolphin on the waves of the surf, and it would have rolled far from Mr. Pickwick if, by the will of Providence, an obstacle had not appeared in its path just at the moment when this the gentleman was ready to leave her to the mercy of fate.

Mr. Pickwick was completely exhausted and was about to give up the chase when a gust of wind carried his hat to the wheel of one of the carriages standing in the very place to which he was rushing. Mr. Pickwick, appreciating the favorable moment, quickly rushed forward, took possession of his property, placed it on his head and stopped to catch his breath."

Translation into Russian by A.V. Krivtsova and Evgenia Lanna.

Text in English:

There are very few moments in a man’s existence when he experiences so much ludicrous distress, or meets with so little charitable commiseration, as when he is in pursuit of his own hat. A vast deal of coolness, and a peculiar degree of judgment, are requisite in catching a hat. A man must not be precipitate, or he runs over it; he must not rush into the opposite extreme, or he loses it altogether. The best way is to keep gently up with the object of pursuit, to be wary and cautious, to watch your opportunity well, get gradually before it, then make a rapid dive, seize it by the crown, and stick it firmly on your head; smiling pleasantly all the time, as if you thought it was good a joke as anybody else.

There was a fine gentle wind, and Mr. Pickwick's hat rolled sportively before it. The wind puffed, and Mr. Pickwick puffed and the hat rolled over and over as merrily as a lively porpoise in a strong tide: and on it might have rolled, far beyond Mr. Pickwick’s reach, had not its course been providentially stopped, just as that gentleman was at the point of resigning it to its fate.

Mr. Pickwick, we say, was completely exhausted, and about to give up the chase, when the hat was blown with some violence against the wheel of a carriage, which was drawn up in a line with half a dozen other vehicles on the spot to which his steps had been directed. Mr. Pickwick, perceiving his advantage, darted briskly forward, secured his property, planted it on his head, and paused to take breath.

Charles John Huffam Dickens - English writer, novelist, essayist
February 7 marks the 205th anniversary of the writer’s birth.

Charles Dickens
(1812-1870)
“A person cannot truly improve unless he helps others improve.”

Charles Dickens was born in 1812 in Landport. His parents were John and Elizabeth Dickens. Charles was the second child of eight children in the family. His father worked at a Royal Navy naval base, but was not a worker, but an official.

Little Dickens inherited from his father a rich imagination and ease of speech, apparently adding to this some seriousness in life inherited from his mother, on whose shoulders all the everyday worries of preserving the family’s well-being fell.

The boy’s rich abilities delighted his parents, and the artistically inclined father literally tormented his son, forcing him to act out different scenes, tell his impressions, improvise, read poetry, etc. Dickens turned into a little actor, full of narcissism and vanity.

However, Dickens's family was suddenly completely ruined. The father was abandoned long years to debtor's prison, the mother had to fight poverty. Pampered, fragile in health, full of imagination, a boy in love with himself found himself in difficult operating conditions at a blacking factory.

In his subsequent life, Dickens considered this ruin of his family and this wax of his to be the greatest insult to himself, an undeserved and humiliating blow. He did not like to talk about it, he even hid these facts, but here, from the bottom of poverty, Dickens drew his ardent love for the offended, for the needy, his understanding of their suffering, understanding of the cruelty that they meet from above, deep knowledge of the life of poverty and such horrifying social institutions, like the then schools for poor children and orphanages, like the exploitation of child labor in factories, like debtor's prisons, where he visited his father, etc.

Dickens also brought out from his adolescence a great, dark hatred of the rich, of the ruling classes. Colossal ambition possessed young Dickens. The dream of rising back into the ranks of people who enjoyed prosperity, the dream of outgrowing his original social place, winning wealth, pleasures, freedom for himself - that’s what worried this teenager with a shock of brown hair over a deathly pale face, with huge eyes burning with a healthy fire.

After his father's release from prison, Charles remained in his service at the insistence of his mother. He also began attending Wellington Academy, from which he graduated in 1827. In May of the same year, Charles Dickens got a job as a junior clerk in a law firm, and a year and a half later, having thoroughly mastered shorthand, he began working as a freelance reporter. In 1830 he was invited to the Morning Chronicle.

The public immediately accepted the aspiring reporter. His notes attracted the attention of many. In 1836, the writer's first literary experiments were published - the morally descriptive "Essays of Boz". He mainly wrote about the petty bourgeoisie, its interests and state of affairs, and drew literary portraits Londoners and psychological sketches. I must say that Charles Dickens, short biography which does not allow him to cover all the details of his life, and began publishing his novels in newspapers in separate chapters.

"Posthumous Notes of the Pickwick Club." The novel began to be published in 1836. The novel created an incredible sensation. Dogs immediately began to be named after heroes, given nicknames, and wore hats and umbrellas like Pickwick’s.

Charles Dickens, whose biography is known to every resident of Foggy Albion, made the whole of England laugh. But this helped him to solve more serious problems. His next work was the novel The Life and Adventures of Oliver Twist. It is difficult now to imagine a person who does not know the story of the orphan Oliver from the London slums. Charles Dickens portrayed a broad social picture in his novel, addressing the issue of workhouses and contrasting the lives of the wealthy bourgeoisie.

Dickens's fame grew rapidly. Both liberals saw him as their ally, because he defended freedom, and conservatives, because he pointed out the cruelty of new social relationships.
In 1843, A Christmas Carol was published, which became one of the most popular and readable stories about this magical holiday.

In 1848, the novel “Dombey and Son” was published, called the best in the writer’s work. His next work is "David Copperfield". To some extent, the novel is autobiographical. Dickens brings into the work a spirit of protest against capitalist England and the old principles of morality.
The novel "Our Mutual Friend" attracts with its versatility; in it the writer takes a break from social topics. And this is where his writing style changes. It continues to transform in the author’s subsequent works, which, unfortunately, are not finished.

In the 1850s. Dickens reached the zenith of his fame. He was the darling of fate - a famous writer, master of thoughts and a rich man - in a word, a person for whom fate did not skimp on gifts.

But Dickens's needs were broader than his income. His disorderly, purely bohemian nature did not allow him to bring any kind of order into his affairs. He not only tormented his rich and fertile brain by over-working it creatively, but being an extraordinarily brilliant reader, he endeavored to earn enormous fees by lecturing and reading excerpts from his novels. The impression from this purely acting reading was always colossal. Apparently, Dickens was one of the greatest reading virtuosos. But on his trips he fell into the hands of some entrepreneurs and, while earning a lot, at the same time time brought himself to the point of exhaustion.

His family life it turned out hard. Disagreements with his wife, some complex and dark relationships with her entire family, fear for sick children made Dickens from his family rather a source of constant worries and torment.

June 9, 1870, fifty-eight-year-old Dickens, not old for years, but exhausted by colossal work, a rather chaotic life and a lot of all sorts of troubles, he dies in Gadeshill from a stroke.

Do you know that

∙ Charles Dickens always slept with his head facing north. Also, when I wrote my works, I sat facing this direction.

∙ One of Charles Dickens' favorite pastimes was going to the Paris morgue, where he could spend whole days captivated by the sight of unidentified remains.

∙ From the very beginning of the relationship, Charles Dickens told Catherine Hogarth, his future wife that her main purpose is to give birth to children and do what he tells her. Over the years life together she gave birth to ten children, and all this time she unquestioningly followed any instructions from her husband. However, over the years, he simply began to despise her.

∙ Dickens was very superstitious person: he touched everything three times - for good luck, considered Friday his lucky day, and on the day the last part was released another novel definitely left London.

∙ Dickens assured that he sees and hears the characters in his works. They, in turn, constantly get in the way and do not want the writer to do anything other than them.

∙ Charles very often fell into a trance, which his comrades noticed more than once. He was constantly haunted by a feeling of déjà vu.

Internet resources:

Dickens Charles. All books by the same author[Electronic resource] / Charles Dickens / / RoyalLib.Com: digital library. – Access mode: http://royallib.com/author/dikkens_charlz.html

Dickens Charles. All books by the author[Electronic resource] / Charles Dickens / / Read books online: electronic library. – Access mode: http://www.bookol.ru/author.php?author=%D0%A7%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%B7%20%D0%94 %D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%BA%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%81

Charles Dickens. Collected works[Electronic resource] / Charles Dickens // Lib.Ru: Maxim Moshkov’s library. – Access mode: http://lib.ru/INPROZ/DIKKENS/

Charles Dickens: biography[Electronic resource] // Litra.ru. – Access mode: http://www.litra.ru/biography/get/wrid/00286561224697217406/

Charles Dickens. Articles. Speeches. Letters[Electronic resource] // Librarian. Ru.: electronic library of non-fiction literature. - Access mode: http://www.bibliotekar.ru/dikkens/

Aphorisms and quotes:

Our world is a world of disappointments, and often disappointments in those hopes that we most cherish, and in hopes that do great honor to our nature.

Tears cleanse the lungs, wash the face, strengthen vision and calm the nerves - so cry well!

There are books where the best thing is the spine and cover.

Women know how to explain everything in a nutshell, unless they start to fume.

I decided that if my world cannot be yours, I will make your world mine.

There is no repentance more cruel than useless repentance.

In this world, anyone who lightens the burden of another person benefits.

What ranks is not always high high position. And what occupies a low position is not always low.

Printing is the greatest discovery in the world of art, culture and all technical inventions.

Why was life given to us? So that we defend her bravely until our last breath.

Perseverance will reach the top of any hill.

What is braver than the truth?

The key to your prosperity is hard work.

By helping others learn and develop, we improve ourselves.

Children feel injustice more keenly and more subtly than adults.

A dead person is not as scary as a living but mindless person.

A lie is always a lie, whether you say it or hide it.

Tears are rain that washes away the earthly dust that covers our hardened hearts.

Any wonderful goal can be achieved by honest means. And if you can’t, then this goal is bad.

A question about a fragment from the work of the English writer Charles Dickens evened the score in the game show with a team of experts.

Elena Yakimova from the city of Mikhailovsk Stavropol Territory with an original question she evened the score in the fourth game of the spring series “What? Where? When?". The compatriot’s question sounded as follows: “Considerable composure and a considerable dose of prudence are required when capturing her. You should not rush, otherwise you will overtake her; you should not go to the other extreme, otherwise you will completely lose her. The best way is to run lightly, keeping up with the object of pursuit ", wait for an opportunity, quickly grab it and smile benevolently all the time, as if it amuses you as much as everyone else. What object of persecution did Charles Dickens write about?"

The team captain, Alena Povysheva, decided to answer. After listening to the question twice, the expert assumed that Dickens wrote about a butterfly, but answered that we're talking about about luck.

However, neither the answer nor the assumptions made by other team members during the discussion turned out to be correct. It turned out that it was about a hat. Photographer Elena Yakimova won 90 thousand rubles. The Stavropol player's question evened the score - 5:5. Next came the Super Blitz, which was lost by Alexey Samulev. The game ended with a score of 6:5 in favor of television viewers.

Residents of Stavropol region willingly take part in intellectual game. So, a resident of Georgievsk received 90 thousand rubles per winter game"What? Where? When?".

News on Notepad-Stavropol

The hat helped the Stavropol resident win 90 thousand rubles. Photographer from Mikhailovsk Elena Yakimova defeated the experts of the “What? Where? When?” club, who were unable to correctly answer the question of our fellow countrywoman.

The riddle from a resident of the Stavropol Territory was uttered in the 10th round of the program, when the experts beat the viewers with a minimal advantage.

Considerable composure and a considerable dose of prudence are required when capturing her. You should not rush, otherwise you will overtake it. You should not go to the other extreme, otherwise you will completely lose it. The best way is to run lightly, keeping up with the object of pursuit, wait for an opportunity, quickly grab it and smile benevolently all the time, as if it amuses you no less than everyone else. Attention, question: what object of persecution did Charles Dickens write about? - the presenter announced the task.

This seemingly simple and at the same time very confusing question was asked by our fellow countrywoman to the experts.

Luck! - almost without hesitation, suggested one of the experts.

Photographer... - another doubted this, thinking that the answer should be related to the profession of a TV viewer.

Butterfly? - another team member put forward her version.

A lot of options immediately arose, experts put forward assumptions, immediately rejected many and continued to reason.

It seems to me that this is something inanimate! We weren’t told about some kind of object we are talking about,” another team member thought.

Meanwhile, one of the players listed the signs of the “object of persecution” that were heard in anticipation of the question asked.

Let’s start with a simple one: a butterfly,” the only girl on the team suggested again.

Then it’s more likely a snake,” another participant objected.

Fortune? - asked the third question.

In the stream of assumptions it was difficult to even hear everything.

Maybe this is love if we are talking about a girl?

And the muse? Badly?

Muse, I don’t understand why...

Because if a writer has a bad muse...

Then those gathered for round table began to remember what they knew about Dickens, about the problems of his works. And again assumptions about family, muse, wealth, victory, luck began to arise. Experts were most inclined towards the latter option.

Before announcing the team's decision, the participant asked the presenter to repeat the question.

After listening to the task again, she thought about it and took a long pause.

I really want to answer that it is a butterfly, but I don’t believe in it. Let’s assume it’s luck,” the girl replied.

The gong sounded.

And now, attention, the correct answer. Alena, please tell me,” the presenter turned to the respondent, “why “smile complacently, as if it amuses you no less than everyone else”? That is, everyone around you laughs when you do this...

The hat, of course... - the representative of the team of experts answered upset, while the other player dejectedly tapped his forehead.

Dickens described the chase for the hat, the presenter confirmed.

Having won this round, Elena Yakimova received 90 thousand rubles.

BY THE WAY

Stavropol residents have repeatedly won against experts in “What? Where? When?” For example, a resident of the regional center received 30 thousand rubles back in 2009, and an electrician from Georgievsk