This fiercely comic tale stands in
markedcontrast to its genial predecessor, The
PickwickPapers. Set against London''s seedy
backstreet slums, Oliver Twist isthe
saga of a workhouse orphan captured and thrustinto a
thieves'' den, where some of Dickens''s mostdepraved
villains preside: the incorrigibleArtful Dodger, the
murderous bully Sikes, and theterrible Fagin, that
treacherous ringleader whosegrinning knavery threatens
to send them all to the"ghostly gallows." Yet at the
heart of thisdrama is the orphan Oliver, whose
unsulliedgoodness leads him at last to salvation. In
1838 thepublication of Oliver Twist firmly
established theliterary eminence of young Dickens. It
was,according to Edgar Johnson, "a clarion
pealannouncing to the world that in Charles Dickens
therejected and forgotten and misused of the world had
achampion."
關於作者:
Charles Dickens was born in Portsea, England in 1812.
With The Pickwick Papers, he achieved immediate fame; in a
few years, he was the most popular and respected author of his
time. Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, and The Old
Curiosity Shop were all huge successes for Dickens. A
Christmas Carol, Bleak House, and Hard Times reveal his
deepening concern for the injustices of British society, while A
Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations complete his
major works. --This text refers to an out of print or
unavailable edition of this title.