The Wicked Wit of Charles Dickens

By Shelley Klein and Charles Dickens

Book Overview

Admired by his contemporaries, and a hugely celebrated writer of his day, Charles Dickens is now remembered as one of the greatest English novelists and an influential spokesman for the conscience of Victorian England. His work has inspired, enthralled and entertained millions across the globe, and his social commentary remains as relevant in the modern day as ever. The Wicked Wit Of Charles Dickens explores and reveals aspects of the author's personal and professional life, whilst celebrating his flair for witty and satirical observations about society and human nature. Containing lengthy extracts from scenes of great amusement in his novels, as well as pithy remarks uttered by his unique characters, this is a wonderful collection which can be enjoyed by Dickens' legions of fans, as well as those readers who are new to his writing. Also available in the series are collections from Shakespeare, To Be or Not To Be, and Oscar Wilde, I Can Resist Everything Except Temptation.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1843175681
• ISBN13: 9781843175681
• Release Date: September 2011
• Publisher: Michael O'Mara Books
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

Passages from Dickens

This book is attractively presented with short introductory passages before each chapter.In the course of this Dickens' life- story is concisely told. But what surprised me was that the Dickens' texts themselves were not brief aphoristic or humorous 'lines' but rather true excerpts of paragraph length or more. And that many of these were at least in my reading of them not that humorous or witty at all. However the long passages produced do truly give a sense of what Dickens writing was all about. And thus this volume serves as a kind of small introductory guide to the work of Dickens. Here is a brief sample, one of the most famous of Dickens' passages. 'Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure ninetten six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery. The blossom is blighted, the leaf is withered, the God of day goes down upon the dreary scene, and- and in short you are for ever floored. As Iam !' ( Mr. Micawber. 'David Copperfield.'