具体描述
编辑推荐
适读人群 :NA--NA
Founded in 1906 by J.M. Dent, the Everyman Library has always tried to make the best books ever written available to the greatest number of people at the lowest possible price. Unique editorial features that help Everyman Paperback Classics stand out from the crowd include: a leading scholar or literary critic's introduction to the text, a biography of the author, a chronology of her or his life and times, a historical selection of criticism, and a concise plot summary. All books published since 1993 have also been completely restyled: all type has been reset, to offer a clarity and ease of reading unique among editions of the classics; a vibrant, full-color cover design now complements these great texts with beautiful contemporary works of art. But the best feature must be Everyman's uniquely low price. Each Everyman title offers these extensive materials at a price that competes with the most inexpensive editions on the market-but Everyman Paperbacks have durable binding, quality paper, and the highest editorial and scholarly standards.
In The Pickwick Papers (1837), members of the eponymous club recreate the ludicrous follies of nineteenth century England. Yet beneath the grotesqueries they chronicle runs a counterpoint of debtors' prisons, corruption and unreformed elections. With characteristic compassion and caustic satire, Dickens confronts the darker side of these charming anecdotes, in the novel that vaulted him from journalistic obscurity to literary pre-eminence. 内容简介
The high-spirited work of a young Dickens, The Pickwick Papers is the remarkable first novel that made its author famous and that has remained one of the best-known books in the world. In it the inimitable Samuel Pickwick, his well-fed body and unsinkable good spirits clad in tights and gaiters, sallies forth through the noisy streets of London and into the colorful country inns of rural England for a series of sparkling encounters with love and misadventure. From the wit of cockney bootblack Sam Weller to the unforgettable Fat Boy and rascals like the amorous Mr. Jingle and the unscrupulous lawyers Dodson and Fogg, The Pickwick Papers reels with joyous fantasy, infectious good humor, and a touch of the macabre—a classic work that G. K. Chesterton called "the great example of everything that made Dickens great… supreme masterpiece." 作者简介
Charles Dickens was born in 1812 near Portsmouth where his father was a clerk in the navy pay office. The family moved to London in 1823, but their fortunes were severely impaired. Dickens was sent to work in a blacking-warehouse when his father was imprisoned for debt. Both experiences deeply affected the future novelist. In 1833 he began contributing stories to newspapers and magazines, and in 1836 started the serial publication of Pickwick Papers. Thereafter, Dickens published his major novels over the course of the next twenty years, from Nicholas Nickleby to Little Dorrit. He also edited the journals Household Words and All the Year Round. Dickens died in June 1870.
查尔斯·狄更斯(Charles Dickens,1812~1870),1812年生于英国的朴次茅斯。父亲过着没有节制的生活,负债累累。年幼的狄更斯被迫被送进一家皮鞋油店当学徒,饱尝了艰辛。狄更斯16岁时,父亲因债务被关进监狱。从此,他们的生活更为悲惨。工业革命一方面带来了19世纪前期英国大都市的繁荣,另一方面又带来了庶民社会的极端贫困和对童工的残酷剥削。尖锐的社会矛盾和不公正的社会制度使狄更斯决心改变自己的生活。15岁时,狄更斯在一家律师事务所当抄写员并学习速记,此后,又在报社任新闻记者。在《记事晨报》任记者时,狄更斯开始发表一些具有讽刺和幽默内容的短剧,主要反映伦敦的生活,逐渐有了名气。他了解城市底层人民的生活和风土人情,这些都体现在他热情洋溢的笔端。此后,他在不同的杂志社任编辑、主编和发行人,其间发表了几十部长篇和短篇小说,主要作品有《雾都孤儿》、《圣诞颂歌》、《大卫·科波菲尔》和《远大前程》等。
狄更斯的作品大多取材于与自己的亲身经历或所见所闻相关联的事件。他在书中揭露了济贫院骇人听闻的生活制度,揭开了英国社会底层的可怕秘密,淋漓尽致地描写了社会的黑暗和罪恶。本书起笔便描写了主人公奥利弗生下来便成为孤儿,以及在济贫院度过的悲惨生活。后来,他被迫到殡仪馆做学徒,又因不堪忍受虐待而离家出走。孤身一人来到伦敦后,又落入了窃贼的手中。狄更斯在其作品中大量描写了黑暗的社会现实,对平民阶层寄予了深切的向情,并无情地批判了当时的社会制度。他在小说描写的现实性和人物的个性化方面成绩是突出的。他成为继莎士比亚之后,塑造作品人物数量最多的一个作家。 精彩书摘
Chaoter I
The Pickwickians.
The first ray of light which illumines the gloom, and converts into a dazzling brilliancy that obscurity in which the earlier history of the public career of the immortal Pickwick would appear to be involved, is derived from the perusal of the following entry in the Transactions of the Pickwick Club, which the editor of these papers feels the highest pleasure in laying before his readers, as a proof of the careful attention, indefatigable assiduity, and nice discrimination, with which his search among the multifarious documents confided to him has been conducted.
"May 12, 1827. Joseph Smiggers, Esq., P.V.P.M.P.C.,* presiding. The following resolutions unanimously agreed to:
"That this Association has heard read, with feelings of unmingled satisfaction, and unqualified approval, the paper communicated by Samuel Pickwick, Esq., G.C.M.P.C.,Y entitled 'Speculations on the Source of the Hampstead Ponds, with some Observations on the Theory of Tittlebats;' and that this Association does hereby return its warmest thanks to the said Samuel Pickwick, Esq., G.C.M.P.C., for the same.
"That while this Association is deeply sensible of the advantages which must accrue to the cause of science from the production to which they have just adverted,-no less than from the unwearied researches of Samuel Pickwick, Esq., G.C.M.P.C., in Hornsey, Highgate, Brixton, and Camberwell,-they cannot but entertain a lively sense of the inestimable benefits which must inevitably result from carrying the speculations of that learned man into a wider field, from extending his travels, and consequently enlarging his sphere of observation, to the advancement of knowledge, and the diffusion of learning.
"That, with the view just mentioned, this Association has taken into its serious consideration a proposal, emanating from the aforesaid Samuel Pickwick, Esq., G.C.M.P.C., and three other Pickwickians hereinafter named, for forming a new branch of United Pickwickians, under the title of The Corresponding Society of the Pickwick Club.
"That the said proposal has received the sanction and approval of this Association.
"That the Corresponding Society of the Pickwick Club is therefore hereby constituted; and that Samuel Pickwick, Esq., G.C.M.P.C., Tracy Tupman, Esq., M.P.C., Augustus Snodgrass, Esq., M.P.C., and Nathaniel Winkle, Esq., M.P.C., are hereby nominated and appointed members of the same; and that they be requested to forward, from time to time, authenticated accounts of their journeys and investigations, of their observations of character and manners, and of the whole of their adventures, together with all tales and papers to which local scenery or associations may give rise, to the Pickwick Club, stationed in London.
"That this Association cordially recognises the principle of every member of the Corresponding Society defraying his own travelling expenses; and that it sees no objection whatever to the members of the said society pursuing their inquiries for any length of time they please, upon the same terms.
"That the members of the aforesaid Corresponding Society be, and are, hereby informed, that their proposal to pay the postage of their letters, and the carriage of their parcels, has been deliberated upon by this Association: that this Association considers such proposal worthy of the great minds from which it emanated, and that it hereby signifies its perfect acquiescence therein."
A casual observer, adds the secretary, to whose notes we are indebted for the following account-a casual observer might possibly have remarked nothing extraordinary in the bald head, and circular spectacles, which were intently turned towards his (the secretary's) face, during the reading of the above resolutions: to those who knew that the gigantic brain of Pickwick was working beneath that forehead, and that the beaming eyes of Pickwick were twinkling behind those glasses, the sight was indeed an interesting one. There sat the man who had traced to their source the mighty ponds of Hampstead, and agitated the scientific world with his Theory of Tittlebats, as calm and unmoved as the deep waters of the one on a frosty day, or as a solitary specimen of the other in the inmost recesses of an earthen jar. And how much more interesting did the spectacle become, when, starting into full life and animation, as a simultaneous call for "Pickwick" burst from his followers, that illustrious man slowly mounted into the Windsor chair, on which he had been previously seated, and addressed the club himself had founded. What a study for an artist did that exciting scene present! The eloquent Pickwick, with one hand gracefully concealed behind his coat tails, and the other waving in air, to assist his glowing declamation; his elevated position revealing those tights and gaiters,4 which, had they clothed an ordinary man, might have passed without observation, but which, when Pickwick clothed them-if we may use the expression-inspired voluntary awe and respect; surrounded by the men who had volunteered to share the perils of his travels, and who were destined to participate in the glories of his discoveries. On his right hand sat Mr. Tracy Tupman-the too susceptible Tupman, who to the wisdom and experience of maturer years superadded the enthusiasm and ardour of a boy, in the most interesting and pardonable of human weaknesses-love. Time and feeding had expanded that once romantic form; the black silk waistcoat had become more and more developed; inch by inch had the gold watch-chain beneath it disappeared from within the range of Tupman's vision; and gradually had the capacious chin encroached upon the borders of the white cravat, but the soul of Tupman had known no change-admiration of the fair sex was still its ruling passion. On the left of his great leader sat the poetic Snodgrass, and near him again the sporting Winkle, the former poetically enveloped in a mysterious blue cloak with a canine-skin collar, and the latter communicating additional lustre to a new green shooting coat, plaid neckerchief, and closely-fitted drabs.
Mr. Pickwick's oration upon this occasion, together with the debate thereon, is entered on the Transactions of the Club. Both bear a strong affinity to the discussions of other celebrated bodies; and, as it is always interesting to trace a resemblance between the proceedings of great men, we transfer the entry to these pages.
"Mr. Pickwick observed (says the Secretary) that fame was dear to the heart of every man. Poetic fame was dear to the heart of his friend Snodgrass; the fame of conquest was equally dear to his friend Tupman; and the desire of earning fame in the sports of the field, the air, and the water, was uppermost in the breast of his friend Winkle. He (Mr. Pickwick) would not deny that he was influenced by human passions, and human feelings (cheers)-possibly by human weaknesses-(loud cries of 'No'); but this he would say, that if ever the fire of self-importance broke out in his bosom, the desire to benefit the human race in preference effectually quenched it. The praise of mankind was his Swing; philanthropy was his insurance office. (Vehement cheering.) He had felt some pride-he acknowledged it freely, and let his enemies make the most of it-he had felt some pride when he presented his Tittlebatian Theory to the world; it might be celebrated or it might not. (A cry of 'It is,' and great cheering.) He would take the assertion of that honourable Pickwickian whose voice he had just heard-it was celebrated; but if the fame of that treatise were to extend to the furthest confines of the known world, the pride with which he should reflect on the authorship of that production would be as nothing compared with the pride with which he looked around him, on this, the proudest moment of his existence. (Cheers.) He was a humble individual. (No, no.) Still he could not but feel that they had selected him for a service of great honour, and of some danger. Travelling was in a troubled state, and the minds of coachmen were unsettled. Let them look abroad, and contemplate the scenes which were enacting around them. Stage coaches were upsetting in all directions, horses were bolting, boats were overturning, and boilers were bursting. (Cheers-a voice 'No.') No! (Cheers.) Let that honourable Pickwickian who cried 'No' so loudly come forward and deny it, if he could. (Cheers.) Who was it that cried 'No?' (Enthusiastic cheering.) Was it some vain and disappointed man-he would not say haberdasher-(loud cheers)-who, jealous of the praise which had been-perhaps undeservedly-bestowed on his (Mr. Pickwick's) researches, and smarting under the censure which had been heaped upon his own feeble attempts at rivalry, now took this vile and calumnious mode of--
"Mr. Blotton (of Aldgate) rose to order. Did the honourable Pickwickian allude to him? (Cries of 'Order,' 'Chair,' "'Yes,' 'No,' 'Go on,' 'Leave off,' &c.;)
"Mr. Pickwick would not put up to be put down by clamour. He had alluded to the honourable gentleman. (Great excitement.)
"Mr. Blotton would only say then, that he repelled the hon. gent.'s false and scurrilous accusation, with profound contempt. (Great cheering.) The hon. gent. was a humbug. (Immense confusion, and loud cries of 'Chair' and 'Order.')
"Mr. A. Snodgrass rose to order. He threw himself upon the chair. (Hear.) He wished to know whether this disgraceful contest between two members of that club should be allowed to continue. (Hear, hear.)
"The Chairman was quite sure the hon. Pickwickian would withdraw the expression he had just made use of.
"Mr. Blotton, with all possible respect for the chair, was quite sure he would not.
"The Chairman felt it his imperative duty to demand of the honourable gentleman, whether he had used the expression which had just escaped him in a common sense.
"Mr. Blotton had no hesitation in saying that he had not-he had used the word in its Pickwickian sense...
经典文学瑰宝:维多利亚时代英国社会风情画卷 书名:《雾锁白教堂》 作者:塞缪尔·霍姆斯 比尔 出版信息:[平装] [英国文学经典再版系列] 页码/篇幅:约850页 --- 导言:探寻十九世纪伦敦的脉搏 《雾锁白教堂》并非一部轻松的消遣之作,它是一部深刻、错综复杂、充满了维多利亚时代初期伦敦社会阴影与光明的史诗。本书将带领读者,穿越浓密的泰晤士河雾气,深入到那个既有宏伟的工业进步,又饱受贫困、阶级固化和道德困境折磨的时代心脏地带。 本书的叙事焦点集中在伦敦东区(East End)的白教堂(Whitechapel)地区,这是一个被上流社会遗忘、却充满生命力的角落。故事以一群身份迥异的人物为核心,通过他们相互交织的命运,构建起一幅细致入微、令人震撼的社会风情画。 第一部分:迷雾中的契约与继承 故事的开篇,我们遇到了主人公,阿奇博尔德·芬奇——一位来自新兴中产阶级的年轻律师。芬奇先生以其过度的谨慎和对法律条文的近乎痴迷而闻名,他继承了一笔数目可观但背景可疑的遗产,这笔遗产的附带条件是,他必须在伦敦东区居住满五年,并“了解并改善”他所负责的区域内至少三户贫困家庭的生活状况。 芬奇最初的行动是机械和充满傲慢的。他将慈善视为一种业务,试图用精密的表格和枯燥的规定去“管理”人性。然而,他很快就被卷入了一桩复杂的房产纠纷中——这纠纷牵扯到当地一个世代经营的船坞家族,奥斯汀家族。老奥斯汀船长是一位固执、正直但却日益衰落的海洋工匠,他的船坞面临着被投机商吞并的危险。 通过调查这桩房产案,芬奇不得不开始与他过去鄙视的底层民众进行直接接触。他发现,法律条文的冰冷远不如人情世故的温暖和复杂。 第二部分:白教堂的众生相与道德困境 本书的魅力在于其丰富的人物群像。在白教堂的阴暗小巷中,芬奇遇到了形形色色的人物: 艾米莉亚·斯通(Emilia Stone):一位受过良好教育的年轻女子,却被迫在一家低劣的织布作坊工作以维持她生病的弟弟的生计。她代表了维多利亚时代受压迫女性知识分子的一群。艾米莉亚不仅是受助者,她通过自己对识字率的坚持和对工人权利的默默倡导,成为了芬奇的启蒙者。 “老鼠”杰克(Jack the Rat):一个游走于法律边缘的“信息掮客”。他深谙伦敦下水道和地下世界的运作规律。杰克并非传统意义上的罪犯,而是一个生存大师。他为芬奇提供了关键的线索,揭露了投机商操纵市场、利用童工的肮脏内幕。 哈里斯牧师(Reverend Harris):一位富有激情但方法过时的教区牧师。他坚信道德救赎高于物质救济,常常与主张社会改革的实干家们产生冲突。他的挣扎反映了当时教会面对工业化带来的巨大社会冲击时的迷茫。 随着故事的深入,芬奇被卷入了一场关于“社会责任”的大辩论中。他需要决定,究竟是遵循他继承的财富所附带的、基于“布施”的冷漠义务,还是采取更激进、更具有革命性的社会改革行动。 第三部分:船坞的抗争与真相的浮现 核心冲突集中在奥斯汀船坞的命运上。投机商的幕后势力试图通过伪造文件和恐吓手段,迫使奥斯汀家族低价出售。芬奇和艾米莉亚联手,利用他律师的专业知识和她对社区的了解,开始着手搜集证据。 这段情节详细描绘了维多利亚时代工人阶级的抗争。当船坞工人面临失业的威胁时,他们组织了非正式的罢工,展示了底层民众在绝境中的团结与韧性。小说细致刻画了警方和地方法院如何偏袒有权势的一方,以及那些试图寻求正义的普通人所付出的代价。 高潮部分,在一场暴风雨夜的法庭审理中,芬奇利用“老鼠”杰克提供的关键证词,揭露了投机商利用船坞工人失业的恐慌,故意破坏船只以制造恐慌性抛售的阴谋。 结局:从规则到人性的转变 最终,奥斯汀家族保住了船坞,但代价是巨大的。芬奇也经历了彻底的蜕变。他不再是那个只相信书本上规则的年轻律师。他学会了在灰色地带工作,理解了有时打破僵化的法律程序,是为了捍卫更高的道德和正义。他选择将自己的遗产大部分投入到建立一个由社区主导的工人互助基金中,而不是简单地捐赠给教堂或慈善机构。 艺术特色与主题 《雾锁白教堂》的叙事风格继承了十九世纪现实主义的传统,其语言典雅而富有层次感。作者对比鲜明地运用了“雾”这一意象:上流社会的迷雾象征着道德的模糊与政治的腐败;而白教堂的浓雾则代表了物理环境的恶劣和底层人民的被遮蔽。 本书探讨的核心主题包括: 1. 阶级鸿沟与社会流动性:探讨了财富和出身在维多利亚时代社会结构中的决定性作用。 2. 慈善的本质:区分了高高在上的“布施”与基于平等和尊重的“互助”之间的根本差异。 3. 法律与正义的悖论:展现了法律工具如何可能被用来维护不公,以及真正的正义往往需要超越文本的勇气。 本书不仅是一部引人入胜的小说,更是一份关于工业革命时期英国社会结构、经济压力与人性挣扎的百科全书式的记录。它邀请每一位读者,去直面那些被历史的宏大叙事所掩盖的、真实的伦敦故事。