|
The Old Curiosity Shop
''The Old Curiosity Shop'' is the fourth novel by English author Charles Dickens; being one of his two novels (the other being ''Barnaby Rudge'') published along with short stories in his weekly serial ''Master Humphrey's Clock'', from 1840 to 1841. It was so popular that New York readers reputedly stormed the wharf when the ship bearing the final instalment arrived in 1841. ''The Old Curiosity Shop'' was printed in book form in 1841. Queen Victoria read the novel that year and found it "very interesting and cleverly written". The plot follows the journey of Nell Trent and her grandfather, both residents of The Old Curiosity Shop in London, whose lives are thrown into disarray and destitution due to the machinations of an evil moneylender and the grandfather's addiction to gambling. Synopsis ''The Old Curiosity Shop'' tells the story of Nell Trent, a beautiful and virtuous young girl of "not quite fourteen". An orphan, she lives with her maternal grandfather (whose name is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Master Humphrey's Clock
''Master Humphrey's Clock'' was a weekly periodical edited and written entirely by Charles Dickens and published from 4 April 1840 to 4 December 1841. It began with a frame story in which Master Humphrey tells about himself and his small circle of friends (which includes Samuel Pickwick, Mr. Pickwick), and their penchant for telling stories. Several short stories were included, followed by the novels ''The Old Curiosity Shop'' and ''Barnaby Rudge''. It is generally thought that Dickens originally intended ''The Old Curiosity Shop'' as a short story like the others that had appeared in ''Master Humphrey's Clock'', but after a few chapters decided to extend it into a novel. Master Humphrey appears as the first-person narrator in the first three chapters of ''The Old Curiosity Shop'' but then disappears, stating, "And now that I have carried this history so far in my own character and introduced these personages to the reader, I shall for the convenience of the narrative detach mys ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sampson Brass
Sampson Brass is a fictional character in the 1841 novel ''The Old Curiosity Shop'' by Charles Dickens. He is a corrupt attorney who affects feeling for his clients, whom he then cheats. Among his clients is the villainous Daniel Quilp, the novel's antagonist. From Bevis Marks in the city of London, he assists Quilp in fraudulently gaining possession of Nell's grandfather's house, plots against Kit Nubbles, and hires and then dismisses Dick Swiveller. In the novel Dickens describes him: He had a cringing manner, but a very harsh voice; and his blandest smiles were so extremely forbidding, that to have had his company under the least repulsive circumstances, one would have wished him to be out of temper that he might only scowl. In Chapter 12 Dickens writes that Brass was “the ugliest piece of goods in all the stock”, implying that he is an item for sale, like any other at The Old Curiosity Shop. He is assisted in his scheming by his sister Sally Brass, who also acts a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sinclair-Stevenson
Sinclair-Stevenson Ltd was a British publisher founded in 1989 by Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson. Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson became an editor at Hamish Hamilton Hamish Hamilton Limited is a publishing imprint and originally a British publishing house, founded in 1931 eponymously by the half- Scot half- American Jamie Hamilton (''Hamish'' is the vocative form of the Gaelic Seumas eaning James ''Jame ... in 1961. Thirteen years later in 1974 he became managing director, establishing "a close-knit and successful team", he "developed an unrivalled reputation for looking after his authors". Then in 1989 he resigned and set up his own company, Sinclair-Stevenson Ltd, and took a number of staff and authors with him. Sinclair-Stevenson Ltd was subsumed into the Random House Group in February 1997 with the purchase of the Reed Consumer Trade Division. References External links * Publishing companies established in 1989 Book publishing companies based in London Compani ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Ackroyd
Peter Ackroyd (born 5 October 1949) is an English biographer, novelist and critic with a specialist interest in the history and culture of London. For his novels about English history and culture and his biographies of, among others, William Blake, Charles Dickens, T. S. Eliot, Charlie Chaplin and Sir Thomas More, he won the Somerset Maugham Award and two Whitbread Awards. He is noted for the volume of work he has produced, the range of styles therein, his skill at assuming different voices, and the depth of his research. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1984 and appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2003. Early life and education Ackroyd was born in London and raised on a council estate in East Acton, in what he has described as a "strict" Roman Catholic household by his mother and grandmother, after his father disappeared from the family home. He first knew that he was gay when he was seven. He was educated at St Benedict' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frederick Dickens
Frederick William Dickens (4 July 1820 – 20 October 1868) was the son of John and Elizabeth Dickens and was Charles Dickens's younger brother, who lived with Charles when he moved on to Furnival's Inn in 1834. He was the inspiration for two different Freds in his brother's books: the jovial nephew of Ebenezer Scrooge in ''A Christmas Carol'' and the dissolute brother of Little Nell in '' The Old Curiosity Shop''. Biography While Fred was a child and a youth, Charles Dickens often described him as his favourite brother, showing great concern for his welfare. As a boy, Fred attended a school in Hampstead with his brother Alfred for two years, until their father, John Dickens, could no longer afford the fees. At the end of the school day, the boys would be collected by their older brother, Charles. On 20 February 1824, John Dickens was imprisoned in the Marshalsea Debtors' Prison for debt under the Insolvent Debtors Act 1813, because he owed a baker, James Kerr, £40 and 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seine
The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre (and Honfleur on the left bank). It is navigable by ocean-going vessels as far as Rouen, from the sea. Over 60 percent of its length, as far as Burgundy (region), Burgundy, is negotiable by large barges and most tour boats, and nearly its whole length is available for recreational boating; Bateaux Mouches, excursion boats offer sightseeing tours of the river banks in the capital city, Paris. There are 37 List of bridges in Paris#Seine, bridges in Paris across the Seine (the most famous of which are the Pont Alexandre III and the Pont Neuf) and dozens List of crossings of the River Seine, more outside the city. A notable bridge, which is also the last along the course of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dick Swiveller
Richard "Dick" Swiveller is a fictional character in the 1841 novel ''The Old Curiosity Shop'' by Charles Dickens. Initially a comical accessory to the antagonists in the novel, he undergoes a transformation, becoming a key helpmate bridging the depiction of the main characters that are either mostly villainous or goodly in nature. Character Initially, Swiveller is the easily-manipulated friend of Frederick Trent (the wastrel elder brother of Nell Trent), the clerk of Sampson Brass until he is dismissed, and the guardian and eventual husband of the Marchioness. He delights in quoting and adapting literature to describe his experiences. Laidback in character, he seems to have few worries despite owing money to just about everybody. Frederick Trent wants Swiveller to marry his sister, Nell, so he'll have the supposed fortune of their grandfather. They have to wait, since Nell is too young to marry. When the destitute Nell and her grandfather leave London, Swiveller is befriended by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quilp By Kyd 1889
Daniel Quilp is one of the main antagonists in the novel ''The Old Curiosity Shop'' by Charles Dickens, written in 1840. Quilp is a vicious, ill-tempered and grotesque dwarf and is the villain of the story. Quilp is as near as Dickens ever came to creating a monster. Actors who have portrayed him include Hay Petrie, Anthony Newley, Patrick Troughton, Trevor Peacock, and Toby Jones. Description Dickens describes Quilp as "so low in stature as to be quite a dwarf, though his head and face were large enough for a giant. His black eyes were restless, sly and cunning, his mouth and chin, bristly with the stubble of a coarse hard beard; and his complexion was one of that kind which never looks clean or wholesome. But what added most to the grotesque expression of his face, was a ghastly smile, which appearing to be the mere result of habit and to have no connection with any mirthful or complacent feeling, constantly revealed the few discoloured fangs that were yet scattered in his mouth, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Old Curiosity Shop At Rest
''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with nouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of the archaic pronoun ''thee' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Retroactive Continuity
Retroactive continuity, or retcon for short, is a literary device in fictional story telling whereby facts and events established through the narrative itself are adjusted, ignored, supplemented, or contradicted by a subsequently published work that recontextualizes or breaks continuity with the former. There are various motivations for applying retroactive continuity, including: * To accommodate desired aspects of sequels or derivative works which would otherwise be ruled out. * To respond to negative fan reception of previous stories. * To correct and overcome errors or problems identified in the prior work since its publication. * To change or clarify how the prior work should be interpreted. * To match reality, when assumptions or projections of the future are later proven wrong. Retcons are used by authors to increase their creative freedom, on the assumption that the changes are unimportant to the audience compared to the new story which can be told. Retcons can be die ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Master Humphrey
Master Humphrey is the narrator and main character in Dickens's serial, ''Master Humphrey's Clock''. He is also the unnamed narrator of the first three chapters of Dickens's 1841 novel ''The Old Curiosity Shop ''The Old Curiosity Shop'' is the fourth novel by English author Charles Dickens; being one of his two novels (the other being ''Barnaby Rudge'') published along with short stories in his weekly serial ''Master Humphrey's Clock'', from 1840 t ...'', which was originally published in that serial. It is revealed in the portion of ''Master Humphrey's Clock'' which follows ''The Old Curiosity Shop'' that he is also in fact the unnamed 'single gentleman' who appears in the second half of that novel. References Humphrey, Master The Old Curiosity Shop Charles Dickens characters Male characters in literature {{novel-char-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frame Story
A frame story (also known as a frame tale, frame narrative, sandwich narrative, or intercalation) is a literary technique that serves as a companion piece to a story within a story, where an introductory or main narrative sets the stage either for a more emphasized second narrative or for a set of shorter stories. The frame story leads readers from a first story into one or more other stories within it. The frame story may also be used to inform readers about aspects of the secondary narrative(s) that may otherwise be hard to understand. This should not be confused with narrative structure. Notable examples are the ''1001 Nights'' and ''The Decameron''. Origins Some of the earliest frame stories are from ancient Egypt, including one in the Papyrus Westcar, the ''Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor'', and ''The Eloquent Peasant''. Other early examples are from Indian literature, including the Indian epic poetry, Sanskrit epics ''Mahabharata'', ''Ramayana'', ''Panchatantra'', Syntipas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
