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Our Mutual Friend: The Original 1865 Edition with Original Illustrations (A Classic Charles Dickens Novel)
Annotated Content
This fully annotated edition
“And O there are days in this life, worth life and worth death.” ― Charles Dickens, Our Mutual Friend
The last completed novel by Charles Dickens's is a magnificent satire spanning across all levels of Victorian society.
Our Mutual Friend was originally published in 1865. It is the last novel completed by Charles Dickens and is considered to be one of his most sophisticated works, combining savage satire with social analysis. This edition of Our Mutual Friend contains the original text and illustrations from the original 1865 edition, as well as some additional historical context for further reading.
Our Mutual Friend centres around an inheritance. One night, a riverman and his daughter discover a body in a river outside of London. The body is that of John Harmon, a young man who was supposed to return to England in order to claim his father’s inheritance. But now that the young man has been murdered, the money will now be given to a pair of old, naïve servants named Mr. and Mrs. Boffin. Right on cue, a whole bunch of shifty folks come out of the woodwork to see what they can get out of the Boffins.
Dickens depicts a dark, horrific London with the use of satire and through the lives of many different characters, such as Gaffer Hexam, who scavenges the river for corpses; the seductive, mercenary Bella Wilfer; the social-climbing Veneerings; and the unscrupulous street-trader Silas Wegg. This work is deeply metaphorical in its depiction of death and regeneration in a metropolis controlled by the fetid Thames and the corrupting power of money.
A Classic Literature Masterpiece Worth Reading!
This fully annotated edition
“And O there are days in this life, worth life and worth death.” ― Charles Dickens, Our Mutual Friend
The last completed novel by Charles Dickens's is a magnificent satire spanning across all levels of Victorian society.
Our Mutual Friend was originally published in 1865. It is the last novel completed by Charles Dickens and is considered to be one of his most sophisticated works, combining savage satire with social analysis. This edition of Our Mutual Friend contains the original text and illustrations from the original 1865 edition, as well as some additional historical context for further reading.
Our Mutual Friend centres around an inheritance. One night, a riverman and his daughter discover a body in a river outside of London. The body is that of John Harmon, a young man who was supposed to return to England in order to claim his father’s inheritance. But now that the young man has been murdered, the money will now be given to a pair of old, naïve servants named Mr. and Mrs. Boffin. Right on cue, a whole bunch of shifty folks come out of the woodwork to see what they can get out of the Boffins.
Dickens depicts a dark, horrific London with the use of satire and through the lives of many different characters, such as Gaffer Hexam, who scavenges the river for corpses; the seductive, mercenary Bella Wilfer; the social-climbing Veneerings; and the unscrupulous street-trader Silas Wegg. This work is deeply metaphorical in its depiction of death and regeneration in a metropolis controlled by the fetid Thames and the corrupting power of money.
A Classic Literature Masterpiece Worth Reading!
1188 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 5, 2023
About the author
Charles Dickens
13.4k books32.3k followersCharles John Huffam Dickens (1812-1870) was a writer and social critic who created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the twentieth century critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories enjoy lasting popularity.
Dickens left school to work in a factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors' prison. Despite his lack of formal education, he edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, education, and other social reforms.
Dickens was regarded as the literary colossus of his age. His 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. Oliver Twist and Great Expectations are also frequently adapted, and, like many of his novels, evoke images of early Victorian London. His 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Cities, set in London and Paris, is his best-known work of historical fiction. Dickens's creative genius has been praised by fellow writers—from Leo Tolstoy to George Orwell and G. K. Chesterton—for its realism, comedy, prose style, unique characterisations, and social criticism. On the other hand, Oscar Wilde, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf complained of a lack of psychological depth, loose writing, and a vein of saccharine sentimentalism. The term Dickensian is used to describe something that is reminiscent of Dickens and his writings, such as poor social conditions or comically repulsive characters.
On 8 June 1870, Dickens suffered another stroke at his home after a full day's work on Edwin Drood. He never regained consciousness, and the next day he died at Gad's Hill Place. Contrary to his wish to be buried at Rochester Cathedral "in an inexpensive, unostentatious, and strictly private manner," he was laid to rest in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey. A printed epitaph circulated at the time of the funeral reads: "To the Memory of Charles Dickens (England's most popular author) who died at his residence, Higham, near Rochester, Kent, 9 June 1870, aged 58 years. He was a sympathiser with the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; and by his death, one of England's greatest writers is lost to the world." His last words were: "On the ground", in response to his sister-in-law Georgina's request that he lie down.
(from Wikipedia)
Dickens left school to work in a factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors' prison. Despite his lack of formal education, he edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, education, and other social reforms.
Dickens was regarded as the literary colossus of his age. His 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. Oliver Twist and Great Expectations are also frequently adapted, and, like many of his novels, evoke images of early Victorian London. His 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Cities, set in London and Paris, is his best-known work of historical fiction. Dickens's creative genius has been praised by fellow writers—from Leo Tolstoy to George Orwell and G. K. Chesterton—for its realism, comedy, prose style, unique characterisations, and social criticism. On the other hand, Oscar Wilde, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf complained of a lack of psychological depth, loose writing, and a vein of saccharine sentimentalism. The term Dickensian is used to describe something that is reminiscent of Dickens and his writings, such as poor social conditions or comically repulsive characters.
On 8 June 1870, Dickens suffered another stroke at his home after a full day's work on Edwin Drood. He never regained consciousness, and the next day he died at Gad's Hill Place. Contrary to his wish to be buried at Rochester Cathedral "in an inexpensive, unostentatious, and strictly private manner," he was laid to rest in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey. A printed epitaph circulated at the time of the funeral reads: "To the Memory of Charles Dickens (England's most popular author) who died at his residence, Higham, near Rochester, Kent, 9 June 1870, aged 58 years. He was a sympathiser with the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; and by his death, one of England's greatest writers is lost to the world." His last words were: "On the ground", in response to his sister-in-law Georgina's request that he lie down.
(from Wikipedia)
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