Charles Dickens, página 31 de 122

'Please, Mr Murdstone! Don't beat me! I've tried to learn my lessons, really I have, sir!' sobs David. Although he is only eight years old, Mr Murdstone does beat him, and David is so frightened that he bites his cruel stepfather's hand. For that, he is kept locked in his room for five days and nights, and nobody is allowed to speak to him. As David grows up, he learns that life is full of trouble and misery and cruelty. But he also finds laughter and kindness, trust and friendship ...and love.

In his shorter fiction, Dickens felt free to investigate themes and experiment with narrative techniques in ways denied him by the constraints of novel-writing. In this selection, a literary master is brilliantly indulging the very essence of his art. His exuberant sense of comedy is allowed free rein and his exploration of the secret workings of the human psyche often surpasses anything in his longer work. Divided into three sections - Tales of the Supernatural, Impressionistic Sketches and Dramatic Monologues - this volume reveals Dickens's recurring concerns and places them clearly in the context of related elements in his novels.

La aparición en entregas mensuales de PAPELES PÓSTUMOS DEL CLUB PICKWICK a partir de marzo de 1836 significó para CHARLES DICKENS (1812-1870) su consagración como escritor y su salto a la fama. La jocosa vision de Mr. Pickwick y la narracion de sus divertidas peripecias constituyen a la vez una despedida de la superficie amable de la sociedad preindustrial y un ingreso subrepticio en la ruidosa, prepotente y contradictoria sociedad victoriana que por entonces vivia sus albores. La invencion de personajes que con el paso del tiempo habrian de convertirse en arquetipos para describir comportamientos cotidianos y la descripcion de escenarios y ambientes, a la vez retrato de una realidad historica y modelo de transfiguracion artistica, son los mayores logros de esta celebre novela de Dickens, repartida en la presente edicion en tres volumenes (L 5605, L 5606 y L 5607).

Esta pequeña novela presenta la distorsión a la que puede llegar el ser humano por una excesiva concentración en sí mismo, distorsión encarnada en el protagonista, Ebenezer Scrooge, para quien el frío, el invierno y la oscuridad son su medio natural, y los lleva dondequiera que vaya. Esto le pone en la posicion contraria al caracter calido, luminoso y acogedor de la Navidad. En la vispera de este dia, recibe la visita del fantasma de Jacob Marley, su socio en vida, quien le anuncia de la llegada de tres espiritus, cuya tarea va a ser ayudarle a desmontar su amargura... Cancion de Navidad nos quiere recordar que avaricia y generosidad, miseria y fiesta, oscuridad y luz, frio y calidez acogedora... en definitiva muerte y vida pugnan en una tension paradojica que todos llevamos dentro.

Traducida al castellano por Manuel Ortega y Gasset en 1922 y reeditada ahora en tres volúmenes, Papeles póstumos del club Pickwick es una de las grandes novelas de la historia de la literatura universal. La jocosa vision de Mr. Pickwick -cuya fe en la bondad humana no se ve afectada por los tropiezos que acarrea la puesta en practica de sus principios- y la narracion de sus divertidas peripecias, constituyen una despedida de la superficie amable que encubre las miserias de la sociedad victoriana.

PROL. DE LUIS MATEO DIEZ

Charles Dickens Picture Reader Adapted by Derek Sellen Human interest Pip, a poor young boy, receives amazing news. Someone has given him a vast amount of money and wants to make him a gentleman. Who is his mysterious benefactor? Is it Miss Havisham, the strange lady who lives in an old house with the beautiful Estella? Life is full of surprises... Dossiers: Ladies and Getlemen Transportation to Australia

La col·lecció Tramoia vol fer créixer entre els joves el cuquet del teatre. El teatre és literatura en tres dimensions. És un joc de simulació, un assaig sobre els comportaments i les circumstàncies que envolten les vivències d´infants, dones i homes. És penetrar en l´ànima de la condició humana. Fer teatre és, a més, aprendre a treballar en equip des d´una activitat lúdica altament gratificant

Penguin Student Editions are complete unabridged texts of Penguin Classics, Modern Classics and some more recent titles, packaged with reading help for the student in the form of: - accessible yet authoritative introductions - glossary of cultural references and unfamiliar words - stimulating activities and discussion points, including activities needed to prepare for essays and examinations - chapter-by-chapter summaries - plot and character outlines - chronology of the historical events of the time - overview of the ways famous critics have read the books A student-friendly approach to literature - the way students want to read. When the orphan Pip unexpectedly comes into a fortune he is eager to forget his humble background. As Pip becomes a gentleman, his past returns to haunt him in the form of his mysterious benefactor. Alongside Pip, the novel contains some of Dickens's most memorable characters: the jilted bride, Miss Havisham, her cold, beautiful niece, Estella and the terrifying convict, Magwitch.

The story of the orphan Oliver, who runs away from the workhouse only to be taken in by a den of thieves, shocked readers when it was first published. Dickenss tale of childhood innocence beset by evil depicts the dark criminal underworld of a London peopled by vivid and memorable characters the arch-villain Fagin, the artful Dodger, the menacing Bill Sikes and the prostitute Nancy. Combining elements of Gothic Romance, the Newgate Novel and popular melodrama, in Oliver Twist Dickens created an entirely new kind of fiction, scathing in its indictment of a cruel society, and pervaded by an unforgettable sense of threat and mystery.

El mensajero le miró en la cara y retrocedió unos pasos compo si hubiera recibido un golpe. Pero avanzó hacia la ventana y vió...¡Oh, sombra del hogar! ¡Oh, grillo juicioso! ¡Oh, mujer pérfida!