Hard Times: An Authoritative Text, Backgrounds, Sources, and Contemporary Reactions, Criticism (2nd Edition) by Charles Dickens, George Ford, Sylvere Monod (Editors); 1854/1966. Softcover. (CO)

"My satire is against those who see figures and averages, and nothing else," proclaimed Charles Dickens in explaining the theme of this classic novel. Published in 1854, the story concerns one Thomas Gradgrind, a "fanatic of the demonstrable fact," who raises his children, Tom and Louisa, in a stifling and arid atmosphere of grim practicality.

Without a moral compass to guide them, the children sink into lives of desperation and despair, played out against the grim background of Coketown, a wretched community shadowed by an industrial behemoth. Louisa falls into a loveless marriage with Josiah Bouderby, a vulgar banker, while the unscrupulous Tom, totally lacking in principle, becomes a thief who frames an innocent man for his crime. Witnessing the degradation and downfall of his children, Gradgrind realizes that his own misguided principles have ruined their lives.

Considered Dickens' harshest indictment of mid-19th-century industrial practices and their dehumanizing effects, this novel offers a fascinating tapestry of Victorian life, filled with the richness of detail, brilliant characterization, and passionate social concern that typify the novelist's finest creations.

For this edition the text has been considerably improved by the addition of new explanatory notes and marginal line numbers for easy reference. The textual notes and Dickens' working plans have also been revised. The backgrounds, sources and contemporary reactions section introduces two new pieces by Dickens, one on education and one on utilitarianism, and eight new essays are offered in the criticism section. These include an essay by David Lodge on the problems of structuralism in the novel, Roger Fowler's examination of the characters' speech patterns, Juliet McMaster's interpretation of Dickens' use of colour imagery and George Ford's essay on the problems of adapting the novel for television.