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Hard times

Front Cover
9 Reviews
Courier Dover Publications, Aug 22, 2001 - Fiction - 223 pages
Classic 1845 novel offers a powerful indictment of the dehumanizing effects of mid-19th-century industrialization. Thomas Gradgrind raises his children, Tom and Louisa, in a sterile atmosphere of strict practicality. With no guiding principles, the young Gradgrinds sink into lives of desperation and despair, played out against the grim backdrop of Coketown, a wretched industrial community.
  

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Review: Hard Times

User Review  - Kerri - Goodreads

Charles Dickens somehow manages to make this book completely distressing but extremely hopeful all at once. I guess that's what he does in most of his books, if not all, but it just seemed more potent in this one I guess. Read full review

Review: Hard Times

User Review  - Durdles - Goodreads

I have had this book on my shelf since my wife studied it at college in 1979. I had avoided reading it (although I've enjoyed every Dickens Book I've read). I suppose I associated Hard Times with Hard ... Read full review

All 8 reviews »

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Selected pages

Contents

SOWING
1
Murdering the Innocents
2
A Loophole
6
Mr Bounderby
10
The Keynote
16
Slearys Horsemanship
20
Mrs Sparsit
31
Never Wonder
36
Men and Brothers
103
Men and Masters
109
Fading Away
114
Gunpowder
124
Explosion
134
Hearing the Last of It
144
Mrs Sparsits Staircase
150
Lower and Lower
154

Sissys Progress
41
Stephen Blackpool
47
No Way Out
51
The Old Woman
57
Rachael
61
The Great Manufacturer
67
Father and Daughter
71
Husband and Wife
77
REAPING
82
Mr James Harthouse
93
The Whelp
99
Down
160
GARNERING
165
Very Ridiculous
170
Very Decided
177
Lost
184
Found
191
The Starlight
198
Whelphunting
205
Philosophical
214
Final
219
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Hard Times for These Times
Hard Times for These Times, Volume 1
Charles Dickens
Full view - 1870
Hard times for these times
Hard times for these times, Volume 2
Charles Dickens
Full view - 1870
Hard Times
Hard Times
Charles Dickens
Limited preview - 2007
View all »

Common terms and phrases

agen Anton Chekhov asked Bank believe better Bitzer Bounderby of Coketown Bounderby's brother Childers considered coom cried dark daughter door Eugene O'Neill eyes face fact father fellow Fyodor Dostoyevsky gentleman girl gone hand head hear heard heart Henrik Ibsen honour hope horse hour James Harthouse Jane Austen Josiah Bounderby Jupe Kidderminster knew lady lived looked Louisa Luigi Pirandello M'Choakumchild ma'am manner married mind Miss Gradgrind muddle never nine oils old Bounderby old woman Pegler poor Rachael retumed returned round seemed seen Sissy sister Slackbridge Sleary Sparsit Stephen Blackpool Stone Lodge stood stopped STORIES street sure tears tell thee there's thing Thomas Gradgrind thou thought Thquire took town tumed United Kingdom voice wait walk wath whelp William Shakespeare wonder word young

References to this book

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References from web pages

Hard Times - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hard Times- For These Times. is a novel by Charles Dickens, first published in 1854. The book is a state-of-the-nation novel, which aimed to highlight the ...
en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Hard_Times

Hard Times
In Hard Times Dickens uses the character of Sleary, proprietor of Sleary's ... During the conception of Hard Times Dickens visited the industrial town of ...
www.fidnet.com/ ~dap1955/ dickens/ hardtimes.html

sparknotes: Hard Times
Home : English : Literature Study Guides : Hard Times. Hard Times. - Navigate Here -, Context, Plot Overview ... Hard Times · Victorian Literature ...
www.sparknotes.com/ lit/ hardtimes/

Charles Dickens's Hard Times for These Times as an Industrial Novel
Hard Times was serialised from 1 April to 12 August, 1854, the mythical Coketown based in part on Preston, which he had visited in January of that year. ...
www.victorianweb.org/ authors/ dickens/ hardtimes/ pva27.html

Hard Times by Charles Dickens. Search, Read, Study, Discuss.
Hard Times by Charles Dickens. Searchable etext. Discuss with other readers.
www.online-literature.com/ dickens/ hardtimes/

§13. "Hard Times". X. Dickens. Vol. 13. The Victorian Age, Part ...
But Hard Times, the other fruit of that year, cannot be passed over quite so lightly. The book has had its admirers; and for at least one thing that it ...
www.bartleby.com/ 223/ 1013.html

Discovering Dickens - A Community Reading Project
Hard Times, Issue 1, Chapters 1-5, Issue 2, Chapters 6-8, Issue 3, Chapters 9-12, Issue 4, Chapters 13-16, Issue 5, Chapters 17-19, Issue 6, Chapters 20-22 ...
dickens.stanford.edu/ hard/ times.html

Charles Dickens’ Hard Times
In Hard Times, Charles Dickens gives us a close-up look into what appears to be the ivory tower of the bourgeoisie of his day, yet these middle-class ...
www.pillowrock.com/ ronnie/ hardtimes.htm

Characterization in Dickens' Hard Times
The characters in Hard Times have both the simplistic characteristics of a character developed for allegorical purposes, as well as the intricate qualities ...
bryan.myweb.uga.edu/ papers/ hardtime.html

Free Dickens Hard Times Essays
Free Dickens Hard Times papers, essays, and research papers.
www.123helpme.com/ search.asp?text=Dickens+Hard+Times

About the author (2001)

Charles Dickens, perhaps the best British novelist of the Victorian era, was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England in 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, 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.

Bibliographic information

QR code for Hard times
TitleHard times
Dover Pictorial Archives
Dover Thrift Editions
AuthorCharles Dickens
Editionunabridged, reprint
PublisherCourier Dover Publications, 2001
ISBN0486115100, 9780486115108
Length223 pages
Subjects › 

Fiction / Classics
Fiction / Historical
  
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