Oliver TwistThe gaunt, pathetic figure of orphan Oliver being refused more gruel has become a literary and cultural icon, embedded in the national consciousness as a searing image of poverty and helplessness, dramatizing as it does the extent to which what is taken for granted at home is denied in the workhouse. Yet the novel, a powerful indictment of the workhouse, is also more than that, for even as Oliver escapes its callous grasp, he is snared by the criminal underworld of Fagin's gang. Oliver's struggle to be free of Fagin and Sikes, and his desperate search for a loving, nurturing home, express the theme that forms the real crux of the book; the poignant depiction of the evils of homelessness and its consequences. Full of vivid characterizations, biting irony and ghoulish humor, Oliver Twist is one of Dickens most enduringly popular works. The Toby Press edition of Oliver Twist is based on the Gadshill Edition of 1897, and includes Dickens's preface to the third edition. It also features an introductory essay and chronology by Professor H.M. Daleski, the former President of the International Dickens Society and formerly Chairman of the Department of English at Hebrew University. Book jacket. |
Contents
Preface to the Third Edition | 23 |
Relates how Oliver Twist was very | 38 |
Oliver being offered another place | 47 |
Copyright | |
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asked beadle Bedwin Bill Bill Sikes Blathers Bolter Brittles Brownlow Bumble Bumble's chair Charley Bates Chertsey child Chitling Claypole corner Crackit cried dark dear doctor Dodger door exclaimed eyes face Fang Giles girl glance Grimwig hand happy hastily head hear heard heart heerd inquired Jacob's Island John Dawkins laugh light looked Losberne ma'am Mann Master Bates matron Maylie mind minutes Monks morning Nancy never night Noah nodded old gentleman old lady Oliver Twist Oliver's once pocket poor porochial rejoined replied Fagin replied Oliver replied Sikes replied the Jew Rose Rose Maylie round Saffron Hill seemed smile smock-frock Sowerberry speak stopped street tears tell there's thing thought tion Toby took turned voice waistcoat walked What's whispered window woman words workhouse young lady young rascal