Hard Times | Criticism

This literature criticism consists of approximately 4 pages of analysis & critique of Hard Times.
Related Topics

Hard Times | Criticism

This literature criticism consists of approximately 4 pages of analysis & critique of Hard Times.
This section contains 997 words
(approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page)
Buy the Critical Essay by Stephen Leacock

SOURCE: "Bleak House and Social Reform," in Charles Dickens: His Life and Work, 1934. Reprint by The Sun Dial Press, Inc., 1938, pp. 152-72.

A respected Canadian professor of economics, Leacock is best known as one of the leading humorists of the first half of the twentieth century. He is also the author of biographies of Twain and Dickens. In the excerpt from the latter which appears below, Leacock sketches the plot and details the "failure" of Hard Times.

The story Hard Times has no other interest in the history of letters than that of its failure. At the time, even enthusiastic lovers of Dickens found it hard to read. At present they do not even try to read it. A large part of the book is mere trash; hardly a chapter of it is worth reading today: not an incident or a character belonging to it survives or deserves...

(read more)

This section contains 997 words
(approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page)
Buy the Critical Essay by Stephen Leacock
Copyrights
Gale
Critical Essay by Stephen Leacock from Gale. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.