Audiobook · read by volunteers
Life And Adventures Of Nicholas Nickleby
Charles Dickens (1812–1870)
Read by Czechchris, TriciaG, James Christopher, Patti Brugman, Anna Roberts, Yazpistachio, nihilist00, Euan Bayliss, Simon Evers, Arielle Lipshaw · 66 chapters · 33 h 59
About the book
When his father dies and leaves the family ruined, young Nicholas Nickleby must make his own way in the world. He travels to Yorkshire as an assistant at a school where boys are starved and beaten, and what he finds there changes his life. From there, the story follows him through London, theatre companies, Devonshire and Portsmouth, as he tries to protect his mother and his sister Kate from their grasping uncle Ralph. Charles Dickens fills the book with some of his most vivid comic characters, from theatrical managers to scheming clerks, and mixes humour with sharp attack on cruelty and greed. It is a long, rich, exuberant novel, full of adventure and warmth, and a monumental listening experience.
Introduction
Charles Dickens (1812-1870) published The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby in monthly instalments in 1838 and 1839, and as a book in 1839. It followed Oliver Twist and was written when Dickens was still in his twenties and already famous. The novel is the work of a young writer at the height of his energy, rich in invention and overflowing with characters.
Part of the book's fame rests on its attack on the cheap Yorkshire boarding schools, where unwanted children were sent to be kept out of sight. Dickens had visited the region to investigate them, and the picture he drew in Dotheboys Hall helped to stir public feeling against such places. But the book is not only a campaign. It is also a comedy of manners, a stage-struck romp and a story of family loyalty, and it moves between farce and melodrama with great confidence.
Its structure, as in much of Dickens's early work, reflects its serial origins, with many episodes and a large cast, and with plots that gradually converge. It has been adapted for the stage and screen many times.
This LibriVox recording is divided into sixty-six parts, the author's preface followed by the sixty-five chapters of the novel, and runs for about thirty-four hours, read by volunteers. It is a long journey, and an immensely enjoyable one for those who wish to settle in for a season with one of the great Victorian novels. Those who know the story from the stage or screen will be glad to meet the full, unabridged novel, and newcomers will find it a generous and humane introduction to the pleasures of Dickens at length.
Public domain
Charles Dickens died in 1870: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text