The Pickwick Papers: Introduction by Peter Washington -- Charles Dickens

<p>In this classic social commentary from Dickens, Mr. Samuel Pickwick, retired business man and confirmed bachelor, is determined that after a quiet life of enterprise the time has come to go out into the world. Together with the other members of the Pickwick Club: Tracy Tupman, Augustus Snodgrass and Nathaniel Winkle, the portly innocent embarks on a series of hilariously comic adventures. But can Pickwick retain his good will towards his fellow humans once he discovers the evils of the world? <p/>Charles Dickens's satirical masterpiece, <i>The Pickwick Papers</i>, catapulted the young writer into literary fame when it was first serialized in 1836-37. It recounts the rollicking adventures of the members of the Pickwick Club as they travel about England getting into all sorts of mischief. <p/>Laugh-out-loud funny and endlessly entertaining, the book also reveals Dickens's burgeoning interest in the parliamentary system, lawyers, the Poor Laws, and the ills of debtors' prisons. <p/>As G. K. Chesterton noted, "Before Dickens] wrote a single real story, he had a kind of vision . . . a map full of fantastic towns, thundering coaches, clamorous market-places, uproarious inns, strange and swaggering figures. That vision was Pickwick."</p><br><br><b>Author:</b> Charles Dickens<br><b>Publisher:</b> Everyman's Library<br><b>Published:</b> 03/02/1999<br><b>Pages:</b> 976<br><b>Binding Type:</b> Hardcover<br><b>Weight:</b> 1.75lbs<br><b>Size:</b> 8.20h x 5.00w x 1.70d<br><b>ISBN:</b>