Alma Books Pictures from Italy Диккенс Чарльз

'When Dickens has described something you see it for the rest of your life' George Orwell • In 1844, Charles Dickens took a break from novel writing to travel through Italy for almost a year, and Pictures from Italy is an illuminating account of his experiences there. He presents the country like a magic-lantern show, as vivid images ceaselessly appear before his - and his readers' - eyes. Italy's most famous sights are all to be found here - St Peter's in Rome, Naples with Vesuvius smouldering in the background, the fairytale buildings and canals of Venice - but Dickens's chronicle is not simply that of a tourist. Combining compelling travelogue with piercing social commentary, he portrays a nation of great contrasts: between grandiose buildings and squalid poverty, ancient monuments and everyday life, past and present

A rich and varied array of stories and vignettes, The Pickwick Papers is based around the investigations of the Corresponding Society of the Pickwick Club, consisting of its founder Mr Samuel Pickwick and Messrs Tracy Tupman, Augustus Snodgrass and Nathaniel Winkle, who travel around the country and then report back to the club concerning their extraordinary adventures and experiences • Dickens’s first novel, The Pickwick Papers was an immediate success and caught the public imagination in a manner that few debuts have ever matched. Replete with colourful characters, fantastical anecdotes and a farcical plot, it catapulted its twenty-four-year-old author to literary stardom, and is widely considered to be one of the great comic masterpieces of nineteenth-century literature

The Mudfog Papers, a collection of sketches by Dickens published in Bentley’s Miscellany between 1837 and 1838, describes the local politics of the fictional town of Mudfog – such as the delusions of grandeur of its mayor Nicholas Tulrumble and his disastrous attempts at putting on a public show – and the meetings of its Society for the Advancement of Everything, during which the town is overrun by illustrious scientists and professors conducting ostensibly pointless research • Written at the same time as Oliver Twist – indeed the serialized version of the novel referred to Mudfog as the protagonist’s home town – The Mudfog Papers lampoons all manner of journalistic and scientific writing of the time and showcases the young Dickens at his satirical best

Having moved into an abandoned haunted house, the narrator, undaunted by the warnings of the locals, invites a party of friends over; on Twelfth Night he and his guests gather together and relate the supernatural experiences they have had. The resulting ghost stories thrill, shock and amuse by turns • For this work, commissioned for his periodical All the Year Round, Dickens enlisted some of the era’s most famous writers, including Elizabeth Gaskell and Wilkie Collins, to collaborate with him on this Victorian supernatural classic • Contains: ‘The Mortals in the House’ by Charles Dickens, ‘The Ghost in the Clock Room’ by Heshb Stretton, ‘The Ghost in the Double Room’ by George Augustus Sala, ‘The Ghost in the Picture Room’ by Adelaide Anne Procter, ‘The Ghost in the Cupboard Room’ by Wilkie Collins, ‘The Ghost in Master B’s Room’ by Charles Dickens, ‘The Ghost in the Garden Room’ by Elizabeth Gaskell, ‘The Ghost in the Corner Room’ by Charles Dickens

From the transcendent beauty of nature observed on the Yorkshire moors to fierce and forceful confrontations of mortality, Emily Bronte’s poems are powerful and passionate works that eloquently elaborate upon her sister Charlotte’s description of her as “a solitude-loving raven, no gentle dove” • While only twenty-one of Emily Bronte’s poems were published in her lifetime, her poetic oeuvre is rich and varied, and not only includes visionary poems such as ‘No Coward Soul Is Mine’ and ‘Remembrance’, but also features the poems that describe the imagined realm of Gondal and its inhabitants, which she created with her sister Anne • Though Earth and moon were gone, • And suns and universes ceased to be, • And Thou wert left alone, • Every Existence would exist in Thee

In 1807, Charles Lamb and his sister Mary wrote a collection of stories retelling twenty of Shakespeare's plays for children. While making sure that the pieces were accessible for a younger audience, they took care to stay faithful to the language and vocabulary of the Bard as much as possible • Ranging from the high drama of Romeo and Juliet to the delightful fancy of A Midsummer Night's Dream and the humour of As You Like it, this collection of vivid adaptations - here presented in a lavish new edition - has been a much loved children's classic for more than two hundred years, offering budding readers an accessible route to Shakespeare's works

Bathsheba Everdene is a headstrong young woman who attracts the attentions of a succession of ill-matched suitors: a quiet sheep farmer, a handsome soldier and an older, wealthy landowner. As the men vie for her affections, she struggles to retain her independence of spirit in the face of their declarations • Introducing readers to the fictional county of Wessex, Thomas Hardy's fourth work of fiction was one of his greatest triumphs, both commercially and critically. Its tale of passion, jealousy and unrequited love is now regarded as one of the finest novels of the nineteenth century, and one of the greatest love stories of all time

John Harmon returns to England after years in exile to claim his inheritance: a great fortune and a beautiful young woman to whom he is betrothed, but has never met. When Harmon's body is pulled out of the Thames, all of London is fascinated by the mystery of the murdered man and his unclaimed riches. Scavengers, social-climbers, lawyers and teachers, a money-lender and a dolls-dressmaker, men and women both honest and villainous, will all become embroiled in this tale of love and obsession, death and rebirth

A Christmas Carol, first published in 1843, is Charles Dickens’s timeless festive tale of transformation and redemption. On Christmas Eve Ebenezer Scrooge, the uncharitable miser, is visited by the ghost of his dead business partner, Jacob Marley, who comes with a warning • Later that evening, Scrooge falls into a deep sleep and is called upon in the night by three more spectres, the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come. These apparitions bring strange visions and offer Scrooge the chance to absolve for his lifetime of avarice and greed

Ebenezer Scrooge despises Christmas. He has no time for festivities or goodwill toward his fellow men and is only interested in money • Then, on the night of Christmas Eve, his life is changed by a series of ghostly visitations that show him some bitter truths about his choices • Discover Dickens's most influential book and one of the world’s favourite Christmas reads

Серия книг «Зарубежная классика — читай в оригинале» — это бессмертные произведения великих мастеров пера, написанные ими на их родном языке и наречии. Книги из этой серии помогут читателю углубленно изучать иностранные языки, обогатят его внутренний мир и по-новому откроют произведения известных классиков

Чарльз Диккенс — один из самых известных английских романистов, прославленный создатель ярких комических характеров, искусный рассказчик и публицист, чье творчество является целой эпохой в развитии национальной культуры Англии. Принадлежащие его перу романы «Посмертные записки Пиквикского клуба», «Приключения Оливера Твиста», «Большие надежды», «Домби и сын», «Жизнь Дэвида Копперфилда, рассказанная им самим» по праву принадлежат к числу шедевров мировой литературы. В предлагаемом вниманию читателей томе, приуроченном к двухсотлетию со дня рождения великого писателя, представлены знаменитые романы Чарльза Диккенса «Приключения Оливера Твиста» и «Большие надежды», а также «Рождественские повести», ставшие настоящим воплощением духа этого волшебного праздника