Product Description

The PICKWICK PAPERS is a remarkable story about a man (Pickwick) who is dealt an injustice with the law.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21099 in Books
• Published on: 1992-05-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 760 pages

Synopsis
This book contains an introduction and notes by David Ellis, University of Kent at Canterbury and Illustrations by R Seymour, R W Buss and Hablot K Browne (Phiz). "The Pickwick Papers" is Dickens first novel and widely regarded as one of the major classics of comic writing in English. Originally serialised in monthly instalments, it quickly became a huge popular success with sales reaching 40,000 by the final number. In the century and a half since its first appearance, the characters of Mr Pickwick, Sam Weller and the whole of the Pickwickian crew have entered the consciousness of all who love English literature in general, and the works of Dickens in particular.

About the Author
Michael Slater is Professor of Victorian Literature at Birkbeck College in the University of London. He was editor of The Dickensian (1968-77) and President of the International Dickens Fellowship (1988-90). He has published many books and articles on Dickens.

Customer Reviews

Entertaining and Comic
Lets be clear - this is a comic novel played for laughs with little of Dickens renowned social commentary.
The characters are larger than life, exaggerated for comic effect, read the novel at that level and it is a highly enjoyable and amusing romp.

Improves on re-reading (and it was entertaining before)
I read the Pickwick Papers a long time ago, followed by quite a few other of Dickens' novels and then moved on to other things. Then an accident with a blocked drain, a high pressure hose and an internal drain cover led to my entire collection of Dickens novels being rendered aromatic and unreadable. Casting around for something to read recently I decided it was time to start rebuilding my collection, and thought Pickwick would be a good place to start.

I was not wrong. In many ways I appreciate Dickens' humour far more nowadays, and the illustrations of the collection of grotesques that people this epic work really emphasise it. I particularly love the picture of Mr Tupman dressed as a brigand to attend a fancy-dress dejeune (which costume Mr Pickwick considered him to be too old and too fat to wear). Some of the embedded tales I find a bit intrusive (and play to the Victorian love of melodrama - "he fell back - dead!" type of things) but one forgives Dickens that since he was, after all, writing a part-work and needed to keep the punters coming back by giving them both something complete in each edition, and a continuing narrative. It's amazing, in fact, that it hangs together as a novel, given its origins - but it does, and a very funny one at that. You can clearly see Dickens' narrative skills coming together that come into full flower in his later novels that were written as novels.

Consummately written by the great young (24) writer
A light hearted romp through middle England with all its foibles and idiocynrasies written with real insight by the young Dickens, clearly having a ball while developing his craft. A big book, but quite easy to read, the man's gift for characterisation and colloquial dialogue is truly astonishing. And you can't really go wrong with an Oxford Classic publication, these are great editions.