Pikeville Chronicle -- New Century Chinese Language Curriculum Required Reading

Author: Charles Dickens
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2003-07-01
Features: Dickens was a writer who was deeply concerned with politics and major social issues. Every one of his works was written with serious objectives in mind. The Pickwick Papers was by no means a collection of humorous stories or light reading material. In the author's own words, it was filled with "great questions" and "very serious issues" concerning "pitiful laws," "elections," "prisons," "officials," "property," "the church," "schools," "poverty," and "wealth," all of which were highly serious matters. The Pickwick Papers is Dickens' long, one of his outstanding masterpieces. This work reflects an extremely broad spectrum of life and realistically depicts British society in the early 19th century. The plot summary is as follows: Mr. Pickwick, a single elderly gentleman, was a "distinguished figure," a "scholar," and the founder of a club named after his surname ("Pickwick Club"). He took a group of "Pickwickians" on a journey, encountering various humorous and absurd people and events along the way. After about two years, both his followers and he themselves felt that the journey had gone on long enough, and the "Pickwick Club" was dissolved. Mr. Pickwick retired from public life, and the story came to an end.