Charles Dickens
81) Bleak House
Series
Pub. Date
[2005?]
Physical Desc
1 videodisc (418 min.) : sound, color ; 4 3/4 in.
Language
English
Description
"At the court of Chancery, the Jarndyce and Jarndyce case grinds on for years with no end in sight. Entangled in the lawsuit are a growing number of innocent victims: Ada Clare and Richard Carstone, whose inheritance is gradually being devoured by legal costs; Esther Summerson, a child with mysterious parentage; and even Jo, the destitute little crossing-sweeper. As the case staggers onward, yet more people become embroiled in the furious legal battle,...
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
Mr. Samuel Pickwick, retired business man and confirmed bachelor, is determined that after a quite 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?
Author
Language
English
Description
Martin Chuzzlewit is the story of two Chuzzlewits, Martin and Jonas, who have inherited the characteristic Chuzzlewit selfishness. It contrasts their diverse fates of moral redemption and worldly success for one, with increasingly desperate crime for the other. This powerful black comedy involves hypocrisy, greed and blackmail, as well as the most famous of Dickens's grotesques, Mrs Gamp.
Author
Series
Pub. Date
1987.
Physical Desc
xviii, 877 pages : illustrations ; 19 cm.
Language
English
Description
A boy grows to maturity in the affairs of the world and of the heart, surrounded by some of the author's most memorable characters. However, will David find happiness with the faithful Agnes Wickfield, whom he has known since childhood? Threatened by Uriah Heep, her father's clerk, the security of her own future is in question.
91) Hard times
Pub. Date
2005.
Physical Desc
1 videodisc (approximately 104 min.) : sound, color ; 4 3/4 in.
Language
English
Description
Local MP and schoolmaster Thomas Gradgrind raises his children, Louisa and Tom, in the utilitarian fashion, stressing reason and fact and dismissing imagination and emotion. Under his influence, Louisa grows cold while Tom turns to a secret life of drinking and gambling. To be nearer her brother, Louisa accepts an offer of marriage from his boss, the self-mad, self-important banker Josiah Bounderby, though she does not love him. But soon finds herself...
Author
Series
Pub. Date
1987.
Physical Desc
xviii, 299 pages : illustrations ; 19 cm.
Language
English
Description
In this novel, Dickens creates the Victorian industrial city of Coketown, in northern England, and its unforgettable citizens, such as the unwavering utilitarian Thomas Gradgrind and the factory owner Josiah Bounderby. The result is this famous critique of capitalist philosophy, the exploitative force that Dickens believed was destroying human creativity and joy. This edition includes new notes to the text.
Author
Pub. Date
[2012]
Physical Desc
5 sound discs (approximately 330 min.) : digital ; 4 3/4 in. + 1 videodisc (4 3/4 in.)
Language
English
Description
Dickens tells Oliver's story of being born in a workhouse and raised on a child farm until he is given work as a coffin maker's apprentice. Oliver is mistreated by the coffin maker's wife, and he escapes to London where he meets the Artful Dodger and Fagin, who are pickpockets.
99) Oliver Twist
Series
Pub. Date
2005.
Physical Desc
1 videodisc (approximately 352 min.) : sound, color ; 4 3/4 in.
Language
English
Description
Born into a miserable workhouse orphanage, Oliver eventually flees to London, where the cheerful Artful Dodger immediately befriends him and introduces him to the villainous Fagin and his gang of thieves. Temporarily rescued from the prospect of a life of crime by the kindly Mr. Brownlow, Oliver finds himself pursued by savage thief Bill Sikes and the enigmatic Monks.