Sketches by Boz (Penguin Classics)

Sketches by Boz (Penguin Classics)

Charles Dickens's first book, complete with all the pathos and comic invention of his later masterpieces

Published under the pen-name 'Boz', Charles Dickens's first book Sketches by Boz (1836) heralded an exciting new voice in English literature. This richly varied collection of observation, fancy and fiction shows the London he knew so intimately at its best and worst - its streets, theatres, inns, pawnshops, law courts, prisons, omnibuses and the river Thames - in honest and visionary descriptions of everyday life and people. Through pen portraits that often anticipate characters from his great novels, we see the condemned man in his prison cell, garrulous matrons, vulgar young clerks and Scrooge-like bachelors, while Dickens's powers for social critique are never far from the surface, in unflinching depictions of the vast metropolis's forgotten citizens, from child workers to prostitutes. A startling mixture of humour and pathos, these Sketches reveal London as wonderful terrain for an extraordinary young writer. In his introduction, Dennis Walder discusses Dickens's social commentary, his view of London and his imaginative mixing of genres, and places the Sketches in the tradition of eighteenth and nineteenth-century reportage. This edition also includes the original illustrations by George Cruickshank, a chronology, further reading, appendices and notes.Â

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700Â titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust theÂ series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-dateÂ translations by award-winning translators.
Country USA
Brand Penguin
Manufacturer Penguin Classics
Binding Paperback
ItemPartNumber 9780140433456
Model 9780140433456
Color Black
ReleaseDate 1996-05-01
UnitCount 1
Format Illustrated
EANs 9780140433456

Country	USA
Brand	Penguin
Manufacturer	Penguin Classics
Binding	Paperback
ItemPartNumber	9780140433456
Model	9780140433456
Color	Black
ReleaseDate	1996-05-01
UnitCount	1
Format	Illustrated
EANs	9780140433456

Sketches by Boz (Penguin Classics)

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