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Nicholas Nickleby
England, 1838 is the time of our story. Over one hundred years ago when coaches rumbled over the post roads rollicking along to the merry notes of the coachmen's horns. Gentlemen wore high hats and spats; ladies wore bonnets, and young men wrote sonnets. A merry time indeed! Or so it seemed . But the truth is that despite its merriment, England had more than its share of knavish villainy.
Charles Dickens was determined through this story to expose to the public gaze the sordid, brutal schools for boys which then existed in the Yorkshire district and to show them for what they were - actually torture houses manned by ignorant, avaricious school masters who were nothing more or less than pious frauds.
And lest we forget, it was scarcely one hundred years ago in England that men and women and children could be thrown into prison for not paying their debts, and, in this story, Dickens shows us the strange case of a father, imprisoned for debt, who brought his daughter to live with him in the debtor's prison.
Charles Dickens was determined through this story to expose to the public gaze the sordid, brutal schools for boys which then existed in the Yorkshire district and to show them for what they were - actually torture houses manned by ignorant, avaricious school masters who were nothing more or less than pious frauds.
And lest we forget, it was scarcely one hundred years ago in England that men and women and children could be thrown into prison for not paying their debts, and, in this story, Dickens shows us the strange case of a father, imprisoned for debt, who brought his daughter to live with him in the debtor's prison.
50 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
About the author
Dick Davis
87 books41 followersDick Davis is an English-American poet, university professor, and translator of verse, who is affiliated with the literary movement known as New Formalism in American poetry.
Born into a working class family in Portsmouth shortly before the end of World War II, Davis grew up in the Yorkshire fishing village of Withernsea during the 1950s, where an experimental school made it possible for Davis to become the first member of his family to attend university.
Shortly before graduating from Cambridge University, Davis was left heartbroken by the suicide of his schizophrenic brother and decided to begin living and teaching abroad.
After teaching in Greece and Italy, in 1970 Davis fell in love with an Iranian woman, Afkham Darbandi, and decided to live permanently in Tehran during the reign of the last Shah. As a result, he taught English at the University of Tehran, and married Afkham Darbandi, about whom he has since written and published many love poems, in 1974.
After the Islamic Revolution turned Dick and Afkham Davis into refugees, first in the United Kingdom and then in the United States, Davis decided to begin translating many of the greatest masterpieces of both ancient and modern Persian poetry into English. Davis is a vocal opponent of the ruling Shia clergy of Iran and has used his talents as a scholar and literary translator to give a voice to critics and foes of Islamic fundamentalism and Sharia Law from throughout the history of Iranian literature. Despite expressing a fondness for Christian music, Davis has said that his experiences during the Iranian Revolution have made him into an Atheist and that he believes that religion does more harm than good.
Davis is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and has been called, by The Times Literary Supplement, "our finest translator from Persian." Davis' original poetry has been just as highly praised.
Born into a working class family in Portsmouth shortly before the end of World War II, Davis grew up in the Yorkshire fishing village of Withernsea during the 1950s, where an experimental school made it possible for Davis to become the first member of his family to attend university.
Shortly before graduating from Cambridge University, Davis was left heartbroken by the suicide of his schizophrenic brother and decided to begin living and teaching abroad.
After teaching in Greece and Italy, in 1970 Davis fell in love with an Iranian woman, Afkham Darbandi, and decided to live permanently in Tehran during the reign of the last Shah. As a result, he taught English at the University of Tehran, and married Afkham Darbandi, about whom he has since written and published many love poems, in 1974.
After the Islamic Revolution turned Dick and Afkham Davis into refugees, first in the United Kingdom and then in the United States, Davis decided to begin translating many of the greatest masterpieces of both ancient and modern Persian poetry into English. Davis is a vocal opponent of the ruling Shia clergy of Iran and has used his talents as a scholar and literary translator to give a voice to critics and foes of Islamic fundamentalism and Sharia Law from throughout the history of Iranian literature. Despite expressing a fondness for Christian music, Davis has said that his experiences during the Iranian Revolution have made him into an Atheist and that he believes that religion does more harm than good.
Davis is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and has been called, by The Times Literary Supplement, "our finest translator from Persian." Davis' original poetry has been just as highly praised.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 15, 2023
Despite, presumably for reasons of space in this graphic novel, some minor characters being omitted from this adaptation, it is a superb recreation of Dickens' novel, capturing all the social indiscretions that Dickens wanted to highlight excellently.
Nicholas arrives at the home of wealthy financier, his uncle Ralph Nickleby, following the death of his father, Ralph's brother. Uncle is not pleased to see him and ships him off to a school in Yorkshire run by Wackford Squeers. Once there Nicholas receives a letter from Newton Noggs assuring him of his eternal assistance should it be needed and he befriends Smike, who is continually mistreated by Squeers.
Smike runs away, is captured and eventually departs in acrimonious circumstances with Nicholas to start a new life in London., where Nicholas' mother and his sister Kate live. Nicholas and Smike then get engaged by the Crummles Acting Company but quickly depart when Nicholas learns that his sister is being ill treated by her uncle. He returns to try to sort the problems out.
He berates Ralph and then applies for a job at the Cheeryble Brothers financial institution, where he encounters a Miss Madelaine Bray who he takes an immediate attraction to. This relationship leads to intrigue as he finds himself at a debtor's prison where Madelaine's father is imprisoned. And then he fights with uncle Ralph and a character called Arthur Gride who are schemng to arrange a marriage between Gride and Madelaine.
It all gets very nasty as all the protagonists come together but eventually things turn out right for all concerned in a novel which demonstrates all Dickens' skill in character presentation and social circumstances.
To top it all off there is an entertaining critical and historical essay on Nicholas Nickleby by William B Jones Jr and a history of Nickleby on film and in the series of 'Classics Illustrated'.
Nicholas arrives at the home of wealthy financier, his uncle Ralph Nickleby, following the death of his father, Ralph's brother. Uncle is not pleased to see him and ships him off to a school in Yorkshire run by Wackford Squeers. Once there Nicholas receives a letter from Newton Noggs assuring him of his eternal assistance should it be needed and he befriends Smike, who is continually mistreated by Squeers.
Smike runs away, is captured and eventually departs in acrimonious circumstances with Nicholas to start a new life in London., where Nicholas' mother and his sister Kate live. Nicholas and Smike then get engaged by the Crummles Acting Company but quickly depart when Nicholas learns that his sister is being ill treated by her uncle. He returns to try to sort the problems out.
He berates Ralph and then applies for a job at the Cheeryble Brothers financial institution, where he encounters a Miss Madelaine Bray who he takes an immediate attraction to. This relationship leads to intrigue as he finds himself at a debtor's prison where Madelaine's father is imprisoned. And then he fights with uncle Ralph and a character called Arthur Gride who are schemng to arrange a marriage between Gride and Madelaine.
It all gets very nasty as all the protagonists come together but eventually things turn out right for all concerned in a novel which demonstrates all Dickens' skill in character presentation and social circumstances.
To top it all off there is an entertaining critical and historical essay on Nicholas Nickleby by William B Jones Jr and a history of Nickleby on film and in the series of 'Classics Illustrated'.
Displaying 1 of 1 review