Bibliograph

Nicholas Nickleby, Charles Dickens ; edited with notes by Mark Ford ; introduction by Douglas McGrath ; original illustrations by Hablot K. Browne ('PHIZ')

Type

Label

Nicholas Nickleby, Charles Dickens ; edited with notes by Mark Ford ; introduction by Douglas McGrath ; original illustrations by Hablot K. Browne ('PHIZ')

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references (p. 779-799)

Illustrations

illustrations

Index

no index present

Literary Form

fiction

Main title

Nicholas Nickleby

Nature of contents

bibliography

Responsibility statement

Charles Dickens ; edited with notes by Mark Ford ; introduction by Douglas McGrath ; original illustrations by Hablot K. Browne ('PHIZ')

Summary

When Nicholas Nickleby is left penniless after his father's death, he appeals to his wealthy uncle to help him find work and to protect his mother and sister. But Ralph Nickleby proves both hard-hearted and unscrupulous, and Nicholas finds himself forced to make his own way in the world. His adventures gave Dickens the opportunity to portray an extraordinary gallery of rogues and eccentrics: Wackford Squeers, the tyrannical headmaster of Dotheboys Hall, a school for unwanted boys, the slow-witted orphan Smike, rescued by Nicholas, the pretentious Mantalinis and the gloriously theatrical Mr and Mrs Crummels and their daughter, the 'infant phenomenon'. Like many of Dickens's novels, Nicholas Nickleby is characterised by his outrage at cruelty and social injustice, but it is also a flamboyantly exuberant work, whose loose, haphazard progress harks back to the picaresque novels of Tobias Smollett and Henry Fielding.-- penguin.com

Classification