具体描述
内容简介
Intimately rooted in the author's own biography and written as a first-person narrative, this work charts a young man's progress through a difficult childhood in Victorian England to ultimate success as a novelist, finding true love along the way. 作者简介
Charles Dickens was born in a little house in Landport, Portsea, England, on February 7, 1812. The second of eight children, he grew up in a family frequently beset by financial insecurity. At age eleven, Dickens was taken out of school and sent to work in London backing warehouse, where his job was to paste labels on bottles for six shillings a week. His father John Dickens, was a warmhearted but improvident man. When he was condemned the Marshela Prison for unpaid debts, he unwisely agreed that Charles should stay in lodgings and continue working while the rest of the family joined him in jail. This three-month separation caused Charles much pain; his experiences as a child alone in a huge city–cold, isolated with barely enough to eat–haunted him for the rest of his life.
When the family fortunes improved, Charles went back to school, after which he became an office boy, a freelance reporter and finally an author. With Pickwick Papers (1836-7) he achieved immediate fame; in a few years he was easily the post popular and respected writer of his time. It has been estimated that one out of every ten persons in Victorian England was a Dickens reader. Oliver Twist (1837), Nicholas Nickleby (1838-9) and The Old Curiosity Shop (1840-41) were huge successes. Martin Chuzzlewit (1843-4) was less so, but Dickens followed it with his unforgettable, A Christmas Carol (1843), Bleak House (1852-3), Hard Times (1854) and Little Dorrit (1855-7) reveal his deepening concern for the injustices of British Society. A Tale of Two Cities (1859), Great Expectations (1860-1) and Our Mutual Friend (1864-5) complete his major works.
Dickens’s marriage to Catherine Hoggarth produced ten children but ended in separation in 1858. In that year he began a series of exhausting public readings; his health gradually declined. After putting in a full day’s work at his home at Gads Hill, Kent on June 8, 1870, Dickens suffered a stroke, and he died the following day.
From the Paperback edition.,, 精彩书评
“David Copperfield [is] the most poetic of all Dickens’ novels . . . Not only was he revealing to his readers in the earlier chapters his ‘hard experiences in boyhood’ and his scorching first experience of passionate love, he was also sharing with them his own understanding of the roots of the art that had taken them by storm and to which they were in thrall even as they read about it.” –From the Introduction by Michael Slater
《雾都孤儿》:一个在维多利亚时代伦敦挣扎求生的男孩的史诗 历史背景与时代缩影 《雾都孤儿》(Oliver Twist)是查尔斯·狄更斯创作于1837年至1839年间的一部里程碑式的作品,它以极其生动和深刻的笔触,描绘了维多利亚时代早期伦敦底层社会的残酷现实。这是一部社会问题小说,其主题直指当时英国法律体系、济贫院制度以及城市贫困问题的腐败与冷漠。 故事的时间设定在工业革命的鼎盛时期,城市人口急剧膨胀,贫富差距日益拉大。伦敦这座巨大的城市,被狄更斯描绘成一个充满迷雾、阴影和危险的地方,它既是财富和机会的中心,也是无助者沦陷的深渊。小说深刻揭示了“恶法(Poor Laws)”的虚伪性,特别是1834年《济贫法修正案》的推行,该法案旨在通过严酷的条件来“惩罚”贫困,却无意中制造了更多的人间悲剧。 主人公的坎坷旅程 奥利弗·特威斯特,一个在济贫院长大,身世不明的孤儿,是故事的绝对核心。他的名字本身就象征着他被社会抛弃和“扭曲”的命运。 奥利弗的生命始于一个悲惨的开端:他在济贫院中出生,母亲身份不明,他从小就遭受着饥饿、虐待和道德上的贬低。济贫院的象征性场景——奥利弗勇敢地要求“再来一碗粥”——成为了对整个社会制度最强有力的控诉。 离开济贫院后,奥利弗被送去做学徒,短暂的安宁很快被打破。他逃离了不人道的师傅,独自踏上了前往伦敦的旅程。他的到来,本应是寻找新生活的开始,却直接将他卷入了伦敦地下世界的漩涡。 伦敦的阴影世界 在伦敦,奥利弗遇到了他生命中两个至关重要的“导师”,他们代表了社会黑暗面的不同侧面: 法希奇(Fagin): 一位狡猾、精明的犹太老头,经营着一个专门训练孤儿和流浪儿行窃、扒窃的犯罪集团。法希奇是无良的教育者,他利用孩子们的无知和绝望,将他们塑造成自己犯罪网络的工具。他既是奥利弗的“保护者”,也是将他推向深渊的魔鬼。 桑德希普(Sikes): 一名冷酷无情的职业罪犯,脾气暴躁,手段残忍。他代表了犯罪的暴力和纯粹的邪恶。桑德希普的女伴南茜(Nancy)是小说中最具悲剧色彩的女性角色之一,她身处泥淖,却保有对奥利弗的真挚情感,她的牺牲是小说高潮的关键所在。 奥利弗在法希奇的巢穴中被迫学习偷窃,但他的天性——纯真、善良和正直——始终与周围的罪恶环境格格不入。他几次尝试逃脱,都被无情地拖回。 贵族阴谋与身世之谜 小说情节的张力不仅来自于奥利弗在底层社会的挣扎,更来自于他背后隐藏的贵族血统之谜。 与法希奇的阴暗世界形成鲜明对比的是布朗洛先生(Mr. Brownlow)的温和、充满教养的家庭。布朗洛先生在奥利弗第一次行窃失败后救了他,并为他提供了暂时的庇护。他代表了真正的仁慈与秩序。 然而,故事中还潜伏着一个更阴险的敌人——蒙德(Monks)。蒙德是奥利弗同父异母的兄弟,他与法希奇合谋,企图通过玷污奥利弗的名誉,将其彻底变成一个罪犯,从而剥夺他应得的遗产。蒙德是嫉妒、贪婪和复仇的化身,他代表着上层社会内部的道德沦丧。 道德的胜利与社会的觉醒 随着故事的发展,奥利弗多次在善与恶的力量之间被拉扯。他逃离了桑德希普的暴力,又被强行绑架回去参与一场入室抢劫,在这次抢劫中他中枪受伤。 关键的转折点是南茜的背叛与牺牲。出于对奥利弗仅存的良知和对桑德希普暴行的厌恶,南茜冒着生命危险向布朗洛先生和罗丝·梅丽(Rose Maylie,一位善良的年轻女性,与奥利弗的身世紧密相关)透露了蒙德和法希奇的阴谋。她的勇敢最终导致了她被桑德希普残忍杀害的悲剧结局,这一事件震动了整个故事的基调,并促使社会力量开始介入。 警方最终追捕并击毙了桑德希普,法希奇则被捕并接受审判。 结局与社会批判 在小说的尾声,所有的谜团都被解开:奥利弗被证实是富裕家庭的合法继承人,他纯洁的出身得以恢复。布朗洛先生收养了他,而罗丝·梅丽最终被揭示是奥利弗的姨妈,并找到了幸福的归宿。蒙德在失去了遗产和计划后,在痛苦和疾病中死去。 《雾都孤儿》的伟大之处不仅在于其曲折离奇的情节和鲜明的人物塑造,更在于它对19世纪英国社会体制的猛烈抨击。狄更斯通过奥利弗的经历,无情地揭示了: 1. 济贫院的制度性暴力: 它如何将无辜者推入绝境,并美化自己的残忍。 2. 环境决定论的挑战: 尽管奥利弗处于最恶劣的环境中,他内在的正直和高贵品质依然得以保存,这挑战了当时社会认为贫困是道德败坏的直接后果的观点。 3. 法律的盲目性: 法律系统在处理底层犯罪时往往只看到表象,而无法穿透阴谋的本质。 这部小说不仅是一部引人入胜的冒险故事,更是一份沉甸甸的社会责任宣言,它深刻地影响了后世对英国济贫和福利制度的改革进程。它捕捉了人类在极端困境中对美好生活和基本尊严的渴望。