Our Mutual Friend

Przednia okładka
Wordsworth Editions, 1997 - 832

With an Introduction and Notes by Deborah Wynne, Chester College. Illustrated by Marcus Stone.

Our Mutual Friend, Dickens' last complete novel, gives one of his most comprehensive and penetrating accounts of Victorian society. Its vision of a culture stifled by materialistic values emerges not just through its central narratives, but through its apparently incidental characters and scenes.

The chief of its several plots centres on John Harmon who returns to England as his father's heir. He is believed drowned under suspicious circumstances - a situation convenient to his wish for anonymity until he can evaluate Bella Wilfer whom he must marry to secure his inheritance.

The story is filled with colourful characters and incidents - the faded aristocrats and parvenus gathered at the Veneering's dinner table, Betty Higden and her terror of the workhouse and the greedy plottings of Silas Wegg.

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Spis treści

BOOK ONE I On the Lookout 37
3
The Man from Somewhere
7
Another Man
17
The R Wilfer Family
30
Boffins Bower
41
Cut Adrift
56
Mr Wegg Looks After Himself
72
Mr Boffin in Consultation
81
The Golden Dustman Falls into Bad Company
436
Bibliomania of the Golden Dustman
443
The Golden Dustman Falls into Worse Company
450
The Friendly Move Takes up a Strong Position
465
The evil genius of the house of Boffin
475
The End of a Long Journey
476
Somebody Becomes the Subject of a Prediction
488
Scouts Out
503

Mr and Mrs Boffin in Consultation
93
A Marriage Contract
107
Podsnappery
120
Podsnappery
125
The Sweat of an Honest Mans Brow
135
Tracking the Bird of Prey
150
The Bird of Prey Brought Down
160
Two New Servants
168
Minders and Reminders
181
A Dismal Swamp
196
BOOK TWO I Of an Educational Character
201
Still Educational
219
A Piece of Work
229
Cupid Prompted
239
A Riddle Without an Answer
266
In Which a Friendly Move is Originated
279
In Which an Innocent Elopement Occurs
289
In Which the Orphan Makes his Will
304
A Successor
313
Some Affairs of the Heart
319
More Birds of Prey
330
A Solo and a Duet
344
Strong of Purpose
358
The Whole Case So Far
369
An Anniversary Occasion
386
BOOK THREE I Lodgers in Queer Street
397
A Respected Friend in a New Aspect
408
The Same Respected Friend in More Aspects than One
418
A Happy Return of the Day
425
In the Dark
516
Meaning Mischief
525
Give a Dog a Bad Name and Hang Him
534
Mr Wegg Prepares a Grindstone for Mr Boffins Nose
543
The Golden Dustman at his Worst
555
The Feast of the Three Hobgoblins
570
The lovely woman has her fortune told
583
A Social Chorus
584
BOOK FOUR 1 Setting Traps
596
The Golden Dustman Rises a Little
606
The Golden Dustman Sinks Again
616
A Runaway Match
626
Concerning the Mendicants Bride
636
A Cry for Help
651
Better to be Abel than Cain
664
A Few Grains of Pepper
674
Better to be Abel than Cain
675
Two Places Vacated
685
The Dolls Dressmaker Discovers a Word
696
Effect is Given to the Dolls Dressmakers Discovery
704
The Passing Shadow
714
Showing How the Golden Dustman Helped to Scatter Dust
728
Checkmate to the Friendly Move
738
What was Caught in the Traps that were Set
749
Persons and Things in General
760
THE LAST The Voice of Society
770
POSTSCRIPT In Lieu of Preface
776
NOTES
783
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Informacje o autorze (1997)

Charles Dickens, perhaps the best British novelist of the Victorian era, was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England on February 7, 1812. His happy early childhood was interrupted when his father was sent to debtors' prison, and young Dickens had to go to work in a factory at age twelve. Later, he took jobs as an office boy and journalist before publishing essays and stories in the 1830s. His first novel, The Pickwick Papers, made him a famous and popular author at the age of twenty-five. Subsequent works were published serially in periodicals and cemented his reputation as a master of colorful characterization, and as a harsh critic of social evils and corrupt institutions. His many books include Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Bleak House, Great Expectations, Little Dorrit, A Christmas Carol, and A Tale of Two Cities. Dickens married Catherine Hogarth in 1836, and the couple had nine children before separating in 1858 when he began a long affair with Ellen Ternan, a young actress. Despite the scandal, Dickens remained a public figure, appearing often to read his fiction. He died in 1870, leaving his final novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, unfinished.

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