Barnaby Rudge (Everyman's Library CLASSICS)

Barnaby Rudge (Everyman's Library CLASSICS)

by Charles Dickens (Author), Charles Dickens (Author), George Cattermole And Hablot K. Browne ('phiz') (Designer), Peter Ackroyd (Introduction), Charles Dickens (Author), Charles Dickens (Author)

Synopsis

The first of Dickens's historical novels, Barnaby Rudge, written in 1841, is set at the time of the anti-Catholic riots of 1780, with the real Lord George Gordon, leader of the riots, appearing in the book. The characters are caught up in the resulting mob lawlessness which climaxes in the destruction of Newgate prison, an actual event brought to life in the novel. The plot turns on the relationship between Catholic Emma and Protestant Edward, further complicated by the earlier murder of Reuben Haredale, supposedly by Barnaby though actually by his evil father; but the real focus of the book, as so often in Dickens, is London itself. This is a nightmarishly vivid picture ofa capital city's subterranean life. In A Tale of Two CitiesDickens was to recapture his vision of the mob in all its moods, but he never surpassed the sense of pulsating energy and dangerevoked in thecrowd scenes of Barnaby Rudge. Nor did he often rival the touching relationship between Barnaby and his pet raven, Grip, who embodies the mystical powerof innocence. Although Barnaby Rudge is one of Dickens's lesser known novels, the bond between boy and bird makes it one of his most touching.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 872
Edition: New e.
Publisher: Everyman
Published: 06 Oct 2005

ISBN 10: 1857152964
ISBN 13: 9781857152968

Author Bio
Peter Ackroyd lives in London. He is the author of biographies of Dickens, Blake and Thomas More and of the bestselling London: The biography. A number of his lectures (such as The Englishness of English Literature) and of his novels (such as English Music) have explored the theme of What is Englishness? He has won the Whitbread Biography Award, the Royal Society of Literature's William Heinemann Award, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the Guardian Fiction Prize, the Somerset Maugham Award and the South Bank Prize for Literature. His most recent book is Albion. Charles Dickens Rewritten by Narinder Dhami