Nicholas Nickleby

Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.4

Word count: 1.8M words
Chapters: 185

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Nicholas Nickleby by Charles DickensAuthor: Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Apr 27, 2006

Editor's review

Nicholas Nickleby is one of the most readable of Dickens's early social-critical novels. The story follows the fate of young Nicholas, linking the cruelty of a boarding school, the hypocrisy of London high society, the cold scheming of his uncle Ralph, and the warm farce of a theater troupe. In this book Dickens combines satire and emotional tension with considerable maturity: the portrayal of the schoolmaster Squiers and his family is both exaggerated and chilling, while the Crummles troupe is infused with the theatrical passion he himself loved. As a public-domain ebook, this edition is complete in text and easy to obtain, suitable as supplementary reading for English literature courses or for self-study of the original. Readers might attend to how Dickens uses comedy to handle serious social issues, and to the ironic wit in his character names and dialogue.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English literature enthusiasts who want to read Dickens's novels systematically
Readers interested in nineteenth-century British society, education, and class
Advanced learners who wish to train their reading of long English sentences through original texts
Literature students who need to understand the tradition of the social-critical novel

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer short, fast-paced, or highly compact narratives
Those still at a beginner level in English reading and intolerant of long sentences and archaic expressions
Beginners who only want to read Dickens's most famous representative works

Reading tips

Read the first few chapters to grasp the character relationships, then proceed chapter by chapter; don't try to rush through
Read the boarding-school passages against the theater passages to appreciate Dickens's technique of contrasting tragedy and comedy
When encountering long sentences, first mark the subject and predicate, then look back at the inserted elements, building a feel for English sentence patterns
After finishing, compare with Dickens's other social-critical works to see how his targets of satire change

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book easier to read than Dickens's other works?

Its plot lines are clear, its characters vivid, and its dramatic quality strong, making it relatively readable among Dickens's long novels. But it is still long, and the sentences have a nineteenth-century style, requiring some stamina in English reading; it is suitable as an advanced choice after one has entered into reading long novels.

Do I need to understand the Victorian background first to read this book?

Systematic preparation is not necessary. Knowing the basic background of boarding schools, the gentry class, and the wealth gap in metropolitan London is enough. If you want to go deeper, you can look up the educational system and class terminology in the notes as you read, which will make your understanding more solid.

Is the electronic edition suitable for classroom or book-club materials?

Yes. The public-domain electronic text is easy to search and quote, and can be discussed in thematic groups, such as educational violence, family responsibility, and money relationships. It is recommended to assign participants in advance to mark character lines, so that discussions can focus more easily.

Comments

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About the author

Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870 Author

Charles Dickens (Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870) is one of the most influential novelists in the history of English literature. The library holds 115 of his works, including novels, novellas and short stories; representative titles include The Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist, David Copperfield and A Christmas Carol. He was known for serialized fiction, with plot twists and vivid characters, and he used humor and satire to portray Victorian society, paying particular attention to poor children, the lower classes and education, and his works often convey warmth and moral concern. In the library his works are often classified under "inspirational growth," and many of his novels have been adapted for stage and screen and are widely circulated. Public information about the details of his life is limited, so no speculation is offered here.