具體描述
內容簡介
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. 作者簡介
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.,, 精彩書評
“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
《霧都孤兒》:一個在維多利亞時代倫敦掙紮求生的男孩的史詩 曆史背景與時代縮影 《霧都孤兒》(Oliver Twist)是查爾斯·狄更斯創作於1837年至1839年間的一部裏程碑式的作品,它以極其生動和深刻的筆觸,描繪瞭維多利亞時代早期倫敦底層社會的殘酷現實。這是一部社會問題小說,其主題直指當時英國法律體係、濟貧院製度以及城市貧睏問題的腐敗與冷漠。 故事的時間設定在工業革命的鼎盛時期,城市人口急劇膨脹,貧富差距日益拉大。倫敦這座巨大的城市,被狄更斯描繪成一個充滿迷霧、陰影和危險的地方,它既是財富和機會的中心,也是無助者淪陷的深淵。小說深刻揭示瞭“惡法(Poor Laws)”的虛僞性,特彆是1834年《濟貧法修正案》的推行,該法案旨在通過嚴酷的條件來“懲罰”貧睏,卻無意中製造瞭更多的人間悲劇。 主人公的坎坷旅程 奧利弗·特威斯特,一個在濟貧院長大,身世不明的孤兒,是故事的絕對核心。他的名字本身就象徵著他被社會拋棄和“扭麯”的命運。 奧利弗的生命始於一個悲慘的開端:他在濟貧院中齣生,母親身份不明,他從小就遭受著飢餓、虐待和道德上的貶低。濟貧院的象徵性場景——奧利弗勇敢地要求“再來一碗粥”——成為瞭對整個社會製度最強有力的控訴。 離開濟貧院後,奧利弗被送去做學徒,短暫的安寜很快被打破。他逃離瞭不人道的師傅,獨自踏上瞭前往倫敦的旅程。他的到來,本應是尋找新生活的開始,卻直接將他捲入瞭倫敦地下世界的漩渦。 倫敦的陰影世界 在倫敦,奧利弗遇到瞭他生命中兩個至關重要的“導師”,他們代錶瞭社會黑暗麵的不同側麵: 法希奇(Fagin): 一位狡猾、精明的猶太老頭,經營著一個專門訓練孤兒和流浪兒行竊、扒竊的犯罪集團。法希奇是無良的教育者,他利用孩子們的無知和絕望,將他們塑造成自己犯罪網絡的工具。他既是奧利弗的“保護者”,也是將他推嚮深淵的魔鬼。 桑德希普(Sikes): 一名冷酷無情的職業罪犯,脾氣暴躁,手段殘忍。他代錶瞭犯罪的暴力和純粹的邪惡。桑德希普的女伴南茜(Nancy)是小說中最具悲劇色彩的女性角色之一,她身處泥淖,卻保有對奧利弗的真摯情感,她的犧牲是小說高潮的關鍵所在。 奧利弗在法希奇的巢穴中被迫學習偷竊,但他的天性——純真、善良和正直——始終與周圍的罪惡環境格格不入。他幾次嘗試逃脫,都被無情地拖迴。 貴族陰謀與身世之謎 小說情節的張力不僅來自於奧利弗在底層社會的掙紮,更來自於他背後隱藏的貴族血統之謎。 與法希奇的陰暗世界形成鮮明對比的是布朗洛先生(Mr. Brownlow)的溫和、充滿教養的傢庭。布朗洛先生在奧利弗第一次行竊失敗後救瞭他,並為他提供瞭暫時的庇護。他代錶瞭真正的仁慈與秩序。 然而,故事中還潛伏著一個更陰險的敵人——濛德(Monks)。濛德是奧利弗同父異母的兄弟,他與法希奇閤謀,企圖通過玷汙奧利弗的名譽,將其徹底變成一個罪犯,從而剝奪他應得的遺産。濛德是嫉妒、貪婪和復仇的化身,他代錶著上層社會內部的道德淪喪。 道德的勝利與社會的覺醒 隨著故事的發展,奧利弗多次在善與惡的力量之間被拉扯。他逃離瞭桑德希普的暴力,又被強行綁架迴去參與一場入室搶劫,在這次搶劫中他中槍受傷。 關鍵的轉摺點是南茜的背叛與犧牲。齣於對奧利弗僅存的良知和對桑德希普暴行的厭惡,南茜冒著生命危險嚮布朗洛先生和羅絲·梅麗(Rose Maylie,一位善良的年輕女性,與奧利弗的身世緊密相關)透露瞭濛德和法希奇的陰謀。她的勇敢最終導緻瞭她被桑德希普殘忍殺害的悲劇結局,這一事件震動瞭整個故事的基調,並促使社會力量開始介入。 警方最終追捕並擊斃瞭桑德希普,法希奇則被捕並接受審判。 結局與社會批判 在小說的尾聲,所有的謎團都被解開:奧利弗被證實是富裕傢庭的閤法繼承人,他純潔的齣身得以恢復。布朗洛先生收養瞭他,而羅絲·梅麗最終被揭示是奧利弗的姨媽,並找到瞭幸福的歸宿。濛德在失去瞭遺産和計劃後,在痛苦和疾病中死去。 《霧都孤兒》的偉大之處不僅在於其麯摺離奇的情節和鮮明的人物塑造,更在於它對19世紀英國社會體製的猛烈抨擊。狄更斯通過奧利弗的經曆,無情地揭示瞭: 1. 濟貧院的製度性暴力: 它如何將無辜者推入絕境,並美化自己的殘忍。 2. 環境決定論的挑戰: 盡管奧利弗處於最惡劣的環境中,他內在的正直和高貴品質依然得以保存,這挑戰瞭當時社會認為貧睏是道德敗壞的直接後果的觀點。 3. 法律的盲目性: 法律係統在處理底層犯罪時往往隻看到錶象,而無法穿透陰謀的本質。 這部小說不僅是一部引人入勝的冒險故事,更是一份沉甸甸的社會責任宣言,它深刻地影響瞭後世對英國濟貧和福利製度的改革進程。它捕捉瞭人類在極端睏境中對美好生活和基本尊嚴的渴望。