Hard Times

Hard Times is perhaps the archetypal Dickens novel, full as it is with family difficulties, estrangement, rotten values and unhappiness. It was published in 1854 and it is the story of the family of Thomas Gradgrind, and occurs in the imaginary Coketown, an industrial city inspired by Preston. Gradgrind is a man obsessed with misguided 'Utilitarian' values that make him trust facts, statistics and practicality more than emotion and is based upon James Mill (the Utilitarian leader). He directs his own children, Louisa and Tom, in this same way: enforcing an artless existence upon them. Contemporary critics such as Macaulay savaged the book for its supposed 'sullen socialism' but it has become well thought-of since the favour of George Bernard Shaw.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Author:Charles Dickens - Чарльз Диккенс

Publisher:Collector's Library

Language:English

Publication Date:2008

Number of pages:412 pst

Format:Hardcover

Width:100 mm / 3,9'

Height:155 mm / 6,1'

Weight:200 g

ISBN:9781905716388