Hard Times

by Charles Dickens

Book Overview

&&LIHard Times&&L/I, by &&LBCharles Dickens&&L/B, is part of the &&LIBarnes & Noble Classics&&L/I&&LI &&L/Iseries, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of &&LIBarnes & Noble Classics&&L/I: New introductions commissioned from today's top writers and scholars Biographies of the authors Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events Footnotes and endnotes Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work Comments by other famous authors Study questions to challenge the reader's viewpoints and expectations Bibliographies for further reading Indices & Glossaries, when appropriate All editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. &&LIBarnes & Noble Classics &&L/Ipulls together a constellation of influences--biographical, historical, and literary--to enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works.&&LP style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" &&L/P&&LP style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"Set amid smokestacks and factories, &&LBCharles Dickens&&L/B's &&LIHard Times&&L/I is a blistering portrait of Victorian England as it struggles with the massive economic turmoil brought on by the Industrial Revolution. &&L/P&&LPChampioning the mind-numbing materialism of the period is Thomas Gradgrind, one of Dickens's most vivid characters. He opens the novel by arguing that boys and girls should be taught "nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life." Forbidding the development of imagination, Gradgrind is ultimately forced to confront the results of his philosophy--his own daughter's terrible unhappiness. &&LPFull of suspense, humor, and tenderness, &&LIHard Times &&L/Iis a brilliant defense of art in an age of mechanism.&&L/P&&LP&&LBKaren Odden&&L/B received her Ph.D. from New York University, where she did her dissertation on Victorian literature. Most recently a lecturer at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, she is now a freelance writer and lives in Arizona.&&L/P

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1593081561
• ISBN13: 9781593081560
• Release Date: August 2004
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble Classics
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Dickens is awesome

I'm always checking out Charles Dickens from my library. But I finally have one of his books in my collection of books.

The despatch of 'Hard Times' byCharles Dickens

Thank you very much indeed for your excellent service - I received the novel within only a few days of my order. Bruce Berry (Dr.)

Good book

My son had to read this book for High School. This edition has some good supplemental information that might prove useful on those essay questions in English Literature class.

what a story

I love this book. An enthralling story line above a social commentary and, as always with Dickens, a reflection on human character.

Excellent Version of a Classic

These comments refer to the Norton Critical Editions version of Hard Times edited by Monod and Kaplan. Hard Times was originally published in instalments in Dickens' periodical Household Words in 1854. This well-known Dickens' satire criticises utilitarianism as advocated by the likes of Mills and Bentham. In part due to its publishing format, Hard Times is somewhat less verbose that other Dickens' work. I see this as a strength - opinions differ. From my perspective, what makes the Norton Critical Addition especially worthwhile is the contextual information supplied in the second part of the text regarding 19th century British political, philosophical and economic thought. I recommend the Norton Critical Addition to anyone looking for a good version of this classic.

"Be in all things regulated and governed by fact."

Always concerned with issues of class, social injustice, and employment, Dickens shows in Hard Times, written in 1854, a broader concern with the philosophies and economic movements which underlie those issues. Three parallel story lines reflect a broad cross-section of society and its thinking. Mr. Thomas Gradgrind runs a school founded upon the principles of rationalism, a belief in the importance of facts, the antithesis of romantic "fancy" and imagination. Basically a good man, he denies the importance of emotion--for himself, his children, and his students. Only Student #20, Sissy Jupe, the daughter of a circus clown, fails to conform to his notions, and in a hilarious, satiric scene at the beginning of the novel, Dickens shows the absurdity of Gradgrind's teachings. Gradgrind's friend, Mr. Bounderby, is a banker and factory owner, aged fifty, who claims to have risen from the gutter to his present lofty position through hard work. Bounderby treats the employees of his Coketown factory as machines, rather than as humans, and his eventual marriage to the teenaged Louisa Gradgrind is seen by both as a marriage of "tangible fact," having nothing to do with affection. The third story line involves Stephen Blackpool, a worker in Bounderby's factory, trapped in a marriage to an alcoholic who periodically appears and extorts money from him. Stephen is in love with Rachael, an adoring factory worker, but his appeal to Bounderby for help in ending his marriage is met with cold, rational pronouncements. Shortly after, Bounderby fires Stephen "for a novelty," forcing him to seek employment elsewhere. As the story lines overlap and intersect, often with consummate irony, Dickens keeps a light enough hand to prevent the story from becoming a polemic, though his criticism of hypocrisy, corruption, and "progress" at the expense of humanity is clear. His humor, often dark, keeps the plot moving, and several of his characters, which are often caricatures, do grow and change. Characteristically, Dickens uses names symbolically-Gradgrind grinds the emotions from his graduates, hires Mr. M'Choakumchild as a teacher, and lives at Stone Lodge. Mr. Bounderby proves to be a bounder. Some of the circus performers, like Sissy, live at Pegasus Arms. The dramatic conclusion, which involves the pursuit of an innocent character widely believed to have committed a robbery, draws all the themes together, showing the parallels, contrasts, and ironies which connect these characters, regardless of their social level. Less epic in plot than some of Dickens's other novels, Hard Times provides an intimate look at a changing economy and an important commentary on the philosophies of the times. Mary Whipple