Dickens: Public Life and Private Passion by Peter Ackroyd (2002-05-16) - Hardcover

Ackroyd, Peter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0563534737 ISBN 13: 9780563534730

Publisher: Bbc Book Pub, 2002

Synopsis

Charles Dickens's life is a story of rags to riches, complete with bankruptcy, prison, forced child labour, and fame and fortune overshadowed by guilt and secrecy - rather like the plot of one of his novels. Indeed, Dickens drew strongly on his own experiences as the source for much of his fiction. Here the author offers a fresh view of Dickens's remarkable life story. Dickens's novels brim with references: they are located in the places he lived in and visited, peopled with characters he knew, and inspired by the preoccupations that haunted his mind. Ackroyd highlights the reality of Victorian life, warts and all, and the issues that sparked Dickens's fervent calls for social reform; and he also charts the influential landmarks of that era, such as the coming of the railways, the effects upon society of the industrial revolution and the expansion of the British Empire. Dickens was a complex personality. He apparently had everything - fame, success, wealth - but he died harbouring the

About this title

From the Back Cover:

“Ackroyd’s magnificent biography sets the seal on Dickens’ acknowledged supremacy in the English novel... I can do no more than praise, recommend, insist that you buy and read this book... it supersedes all other Dickens biographies.” – Anthony Burgess, Independent

“I couldn’t stop reading it; it’s absolutely marvellous... This is an absolutely essential book for anyone who has ever loved or read Dickens.” – P.D. James

“A breathtaking feat of scholarship.” – The Times

“As scholarly as it is imaginative... fully worthy of its subject.” – John Gross, Sunday Telegraph

“The best biography of Charles Dickens which I have ever read... a thoroughly professional job... Ackroyd soars above his predecessors in Dickens-study.” – Robert Nye, Scotsman

From the Inside Flap:

Dickens was a landmark biography when first published in 1990. This specially edited shorter edition takes the reader into the life of one of the world?s greatest writers. It is published to tie-in with a 3-part BBC-TV series on Dickens with Peter Ackroyd, part drama (based on Ackroyd?s Simon Callow play), part documentary, part biography.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bbc Book Pub
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0563534737
• ISBN 13: 9780563534730
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 160