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Nicholas Nickleby

by Charles Dickens, Mark Ford (Annotations)

3.85 of 5 stars 3.85 · rating details · 15,054 ratings · 593 reviews

'I shall never regret doing as I have—never, if I starve or beg in consequence'

When Nicholas Nickleby is left penniless after his father's death, he appeals to his wealthy uncle to help him find work and to protect his mother and sister. But Ralph Nickleby proves both hard-hearted and unscrupulous, and Nicholas finds himself forced to make his own way in the world. His adv...more

Paperback, 817 pages

Published September 25th 2003 by Penguin Classics (first published 1839)

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Jun 27, 2007 Brad rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: novel

When the name of the cruel schoolmaster is Wackford Squeers you just know it's going to be good. Nicholas himself can sometimes be a bit prissy but this serves well as a foil for the many extreme characters that surround him (and he's a lot more feisty than the relatively milquetoast David Copperfield). This is classic Dickens at the height of his powers.

My generic comment about Charles Dickens:
First of all, although I am a partisan of Dickens' writing and have read and relished most his works,...more

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Apr 24, 2013 TD rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

-spoilers-

Ackroyd states that Dickens’s concentration on ‘Nicholas Nickleby’ suffered because of the author’s concurrent concern with the launching of a new journal. I’m not sure how accurate the following conjecture is, but I’d put money on Chapter 35 being the moment when distraction kicked in.

‘Nicholas Nickleby’ is the worst I’ve read of Dickens. In it, Dickens attempts to capitalise on the picaresque tropes which stood him in good stead in ‘The Pickwick Papers’, and relies on the power of h...more

-spoilers-

Ackroyd states that Dickens’s concentration on ‘Nicholas Nickleby’ suffered because of the author’s concurrent concern with the launching of a new journal. I’m not sure how accurate the following conjecture is, but I’d put money on Chapter 35 being the moment when distraction kicked in.

‘Nicholas Nickleby’ is the worst I’ve read of Dickens. In it, Dickens attempts to capitalise on the picaresque tropes which stood him in good stead in ‘The Pickwick Papers’, and relies on the power of his inventiveness to meet the conflicting demands of serialisation and plotting. And for the first half of ‘Nicholas Nickleby’, he does pull it off; Dotheboys Hall is horrific and hilarious, the grotesques are everything you can ask for, and the scenes in the Portsmouth theatre-company with the Crummles are great, as is Mr. Lillyvick and the Kenwigs. What’s more, as always with Dickens, there is that undergirding vision of materialism gone mad and the Shakespearean recognition that ‘nothingness’ is a far weightier proposition than it would seem – these being the observations picked upon by the likes of Beckett, and what can make Dickens appear more modern than he is. But, at least in ‘Nicholas Nickleby’, there is an important distinction to be made: Dickens’s writing does not privilege an individual, limited perspective – his is an outward looking art connected to the literature of the previous century and the likes of Smollet and Fielding, authors whose concerns over-reach the individual and who use that vision to structure their novels. As such, accusations of non-realistic plotting seem to me to be completely missing the point, and for the first half of this novel, the narrative fairly trots along.

However, the second half is a bit of a mess – even though, as ever, glorious moments abound (Mrs. Nickleby’s meandering speeches are fantastic). The book effectively ends at its mid-point upon the appearance of the fairy-Godmother-like Brothers Cheeryble, whose rescue of Nicholas and family from penury results in Dickens having effectively written his first ever Romantic protagonist out of the plot-line. This is dangerous stuff because Dickens’s characters are so one-dimensional (in his better novels, this is their strength); if they are no longer to be implicated in plot, they don’t have the weight to stand alone. This also means that, rather than infusing a narrative with sub-plot, Dickens needs to fish around for hooks to keep the book rolling on: Ralph Nickleby and Arthur Grides’s scheme for Madeleine’s marriage is preposterous, Mrs. Nickleby’s dalliance with the mad neighbour, besides being badly rendered farce, is wholly superfluous, and even Mulberry’s dissolute world of libertine avarice and sleaze is rather naff. The effect is of having clunky plot-device after clunky plot-device heaped one on top of the other in an increasingly untenable push to get to the conclusion, an end which of course includes the villain’s demise – Dickens has never been great on rendering individual motivations, and this closing episode is no exception.

But hey, for all its faults, there is still Dickens’s linguistic Catherine wheel to marvel at (no pun intended!).
(less)

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Jun 21, 2009 Ayu Palar rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Sherien Sabbah, Boof, Sandybanks

Shelves: classics, dickens

The first Dickens I read. I wanted to read Nicholas Nickleby so much since I love the adaptation starring the ever so gorgeous Charlie Hunnam as Nicholas. Compared to other Dickens that I have read, Nicholas Nickleby is lighter. Basically, it tells Nicholas’ journey to reach success. Not only that, he also reveals some dark secrets of his family. I enjoyed this a lot, due to the fact that when reading it, I always imagined Mr. Hunnam’s face *ehm*.

The characters are also remarkable. Our hero Nic...more

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Jun 03, 2012 MJ Nicholls rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: novels, pre-1900s, sassysassenachs, voluminous, oxford-classics

I have a titular affinity with this novel since it incorporates many common misspellings of my surname: Nicols, Nichols, Nickles, Nicholas, Nicolls and (once) Amber Juliana Swami. Dickens’s third novel unites the comedic episodes of The Pickwick Papers with the melodramatic realism of Oliver Twist in a brilliant 832-page (OWC edition) adventure filled with more manipulative drama than Lot 45 on Hollywood Studios (known as the Robin Williams Crap Mound). Unlike the aforesaid former comic actor’s...more

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Jun 03, 2012 Paul rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: novels

This is one of the ~~crap~~ dodgily picaresque (= not really got a plot) very early Dickens which have no merit at all except being complete fun and a joy to read. But they have no purpose. Just joy and fun. So you can probably skip this.

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Jan 28, 2012 Craig rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books-to-read-before-you-die, favorites

Wackford Squeers and Ralph Nickelby, together make Bill Sikes look very common in his (Sikes) evil ways. I thought I had experienced an extreme Dickens character in Bill Sikes from Twist, but the sheer pseudo-intellectualism coupled with brute dishonesty of Squeers and the cold, calculating avarice of Ralph push Sikes into a byword of bad deeds. Again, Dickens crafts wonderfully rich and diverse character, though mostly male(which male characters are developed in more detail). Understanding that...more

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Aug 04, 2008 Margaret rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When I first went to the UK and was doing my version of A Tour Round the Whole Island of Great Britain, which involved many hours alone on British Rail and in B&Bs, this was the only book I took with me - and it was the only one I needed. Because of their length, you could probably say the same about any of Dickens' novels, but somehow this story of two young people going out for the first time to travel through the world on their own (albeit by necessity and not by choice) and meeting all k...more

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May 11, 2008 Paul rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: victorian

Wow, what a trial. I loved Great Expectations, I tolerated Oliver Twist, but Nicholas Nickleby was a bear to get through. I bought the book years ago in error, thinking it was on a college course reading list. This book sat on my shelf until I finally decided to take a crack at it last fall. After about 200 pages, I put it down and it just kind of sat there. Then I decided to download a pdf copy from google books in an effort to read a little bit each day at work on my lunch break. Didn’t enjoy...more

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Apr 08, 2010 Silvana rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, used-to-own

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. *minor spoilers alert*

I have read at least five novels by Dickens and only two of them with a rather different formula compared with the others, namely “Great Expectations” and “The Christmas Books”. Nicholas Nickleby, unfortunately, is included in the "standard" category.

Similarities with “David Copperfield” can be felt, although of course Nicholas Nickleby is not an extensive bildungsroman. However, again it's about the life struggle of a young lad in facing the hard life in London during the...more *minor spoilers alert*

I have read at least five novels by Dickens and only two of them with a rather different formula compared with the others, namely “Great Expectations” and “The Christmas Books”. Nicholas Nickleby, unfortunately, is included in the "standard" category.

Similarities with “David Copperfield” can be felt, although of course Nicholas Nickleby is not an extensive bildungsroman. However, again it's about the life struggle of a young lad in facing the hard life in London during the 19th century. Unlike David, Nicholas was luckier, since although he was poor and with no father, he still had his mom and a sister.

Nicholas' story was started when his father died and his family were forced to asked for help from their uncle, Ralph Nickleby. Ralph was a successful businessmen known for his hard attitude and a bit an antisocial. He was not softened when he met his nephew & niece. In fact, his first encounter with Nicholas made them sworn enemies.

In urgent need for money, Nicholas received his uncle's offer to work as a headmaster's assistant in a school for boys in Yorkshire. Kate, his sister, received the offer to work in a clothing store owned by the Mantalinis. Both jobs ended in disaster. The Dotheboys school turned out to be a tormenting place for its pupils, and Nicholas finally ran away after a fight with the evil and greedy headmaster, Mr. Squeers.

Meanwhile, Kate was depressed not only because of her job, but also because her uncle was involved in a sinister scheme to marry her with Sir Mulberry Hawk, a rude and vulgar nobleman. Poor Kate, her naive and ignorant (and stupid) mother did not understand that her daughter was in a severe misery and she even pushed Kate to receive the marriage proposal.

Back to Nicholas. In his journey, he met with a bunch of theater actors led by the eccentric Crummles family. Desperate in finding jobs, he decided to join the group and tried his luck in becoming an actor...and succeeded. However, since he heard from the his uncle's weird yet kindhearted servant, Mr. Noggs, that Kate was in a deep trouble, he bade the theater farewell and rushed to London to rescue her sister. What I love about Nicholas is that he had the courage to face the evil people and he did not hesitate to use force without losing his gentleman attitude.

Anyway, the lives of Nicholas and Kate were getting better, especially when Nicholas found a new job as a clerk in a company owned by the Cheeryble twins. Nevertheless, Nicholas faced another problem, this time in his love life. A girl he fell in love to at the first sight (yikes), Madeline Bray, was going to be forced into a marriage with an old slimy sneaky man. The marriage was arranged by none other than...*drums rolled* Ralph Nickleby. Surprise surprise. Although Ralph did not aware that the girl had a connection with Nicholas, still I became more irritated with so many coincidences in this novel. There's always an event when a character happened to be involved with another character, and that happens repeatedly. How could the vast area of London & Yorkshire held a plot in which all the characters were connected? Almost unlikely if not impossible.

Dickens, I think, was sometimes too generic in making his plot. His main and foremost strength is with the characters. Not the leading characters of course, but the supporting cast. In this novel for instance, the characters of Mr. Noggs, Mr. Crummles, Miss La Creevy, are more interesting than the titular character. The same thing applies to "David Copperfield", where I found that Mr. Micawber, Steerforth and Mrs. Trotwood to be more appealing.

So, am I satisfied after reading this novel? Well, between yes and no. No because the coincidence factor and rather forced plot. Yes because of a reason which is hard to explain, hahaha....Er, maybe because of Dickens' storytelling finesse could make me kept on reading and imagine how the characters interacted. Or maybe because I've always loved reading classics novels like this one. I will not hesitate to read other Dickens' works. Bleak House, Martin Chuzzlewit, The Old Curiosity Shop, The Pickwick Papers, Hard Times…Bloody hell, there are still so many of them!(less)

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Jun 08, 2008 Maurine rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What a book. I had no idea what infinite charms 19th-century literature holds for me. I have never read Dickens strictly for pleasure before, but this is the book to do it. Nicholas Nickleby is not a wimp! That's what I loved about it. He stands up for himself in a way that I always longed for in, say, Great Expectations. He is quite an admirable character. Also, what an awesome villain. It's the same inexplicable hatred for our hero as in Othello. And, of course, the ending is satisfying and ti...more

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Dec 12, 2011 Brown.carolyn rated it 4 of 5 stars

I was reading this novel on my own using Kurzweil Classic Literature -- this is a program that reads the text aloud to me while the actual word is highlighted, so you get both visual and audio stimulation at the same time -- I actually liked this setup, and found that it made me pay closer attention to the different writing styles of different authors. This novel came into circulation about the same time as Hardys', but Dickens' novels were much more popular and universal. They were widely read...more I was reading this novel on my own using Kurzweil Classic Literature -- this is a program that reads the text aloud to me while the actual word is highlighted, so you get both visual and audio stimulation at the same time -- I actually liked this setup, and found that it made me pay closer attention to the different writing styles of different authors. This novel came into circulation about the same time as Hardys', but Dickens' novels were much more popular and universal. They were widely read by boys and girls alike. This particular novel was no exception! It is the epic tale of one boy, and the struggles he must endure throughout his life in order to achieve happiness.
There are so many great characters in this novel. Dickens is a master when it comes to character development. Mrs. Nickleby is so hilarious, and when you read some of the stupid things she says, you just want to roll your eyes at her naivety. She is so oblivious, and thinks everybody is madly in love with her, including the crazy old man who keeps throwing vegetables over the fence. They are offerings to his beloved, and it is this huge conspiracy to say that he is crazy, because after all, these accusations are only made by greedy relatives who want to inherit all of his money. And the suitors hitting on her beautiful daughter are really interested in the mother because they look more like sisters than mother and daughter. This whole tale is full of wonderful characters that help Nicholas through many obstacles, so in a way, I could relate to this story.

I loved the Yorkshireman, and Mr. Squeers, the phenomenon, Spike, and of course, we cannot forget the villain, Mr. Nickleby. This novel had everything from humor to injustice to tragedy and the eventual happy ending where love conquers all, and good overcomes evil.
Outstanding book! I really was not impressed at all by the movie, but at least it inspired me to read the book, because "the movie had great potential to be an amazing book!" So at least the movie got me to read a great book!(less)

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Jan 14, 2013 Joff rated it 4 of 5 stars

Say What You Like, this Nick's a Dick

Dickens was only 26 when he started writing Nicholas Nickelby - and it bloody shows.

After the knockabout good-natured comedy of The Pickwick Papers and the rage-driven sucker-punch of Oliver Twist, the prolific young writer had built up a head of hyperactive steam and really had the bit between his teeth for this one. He hadn't even finished Oliver Twist before he launched into writing this. It's a rags-to-riches story of a young middle-class gent and his mis...more Say What You Like, this Nick's a Dick

Dickens was only 26 when he started writing Nicholas Nickelby - and it bloody shows.

After the knockabout good-natured comedy of The Pickwick Papers and the rage-driven sucker-punch of Oliver Twist, the prolific young writer had built up a head of hyperactive steam and really had the bit between his teeth for this one. He hadn't even finished Oliver Twist before he launched into writing this. It's a rags-to-riches story of a young middle-class gent and his misadventures on the way back to financial security after his father dies and leaves him, his sister and his mother getting pitying looks from church mice and such.

It's full of the kind of scary, lairy characters you associate with Dickens. All good so far. But the problem here is with the hero. He's an arse. He's been given a good education and frankly resents having to spend time with the 'low' characters that end up giving him a leg up in life. So what? Well, the problem isn't so much that Nick is a prig; it's that Dickens as writing him doesn't see him that way. Dickens sees him, it seems, as pretty much the epitome of the young gentleman - raw and impetuous, but not the annoying git that we might take him as now. Later on, Dickens was to argue he meant for Nickelby to be a bit stand-offish, it was one of his faults - but I don't believe a word of it. It's a portrait of the artist as an idiot, and it seriously impeded my enjoyment of the whole book.

But one of the things I love about Dickens is how he really, truly makes it up as he goes along. Writing to a strict deadline and being unable to edit previous episodes meant that Charlie D was flying by the seat of his pants with every word. You can see it from episode to episode. Some characters start out as comedy skits and end up with heartbreakingly believable inner lives, like Newman Noggs. Others seem like rogues until Dickens needs a sympathetic character for the plot, like Miss La Creevy. Some burst in to great effect and never pop up again, like Tix and Scaley, the reprehensible repossession men in chapter 21 (probably, I'd guess, because they were too similar to lackeys Pluck and Pyke).

Peter Ackroyd called this the funniest book in the English language. Ackroyd's a modern genius, but he couldn't tell a good gag from a cold kebab. Smack me if I'm wrong!(less)

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Oct 25, 2012 Sandy Michalka rated it 5 of 5 stars

Have you experienced joblessness? Have you ever been among the ranks of the unemployed with an eye to every "help wanted" ad? You have talents, energy, virtue, and desire. Well, then Nicholas Nickleby is someone you need to meet!! And what a delight he is. He overflows with all the above traits in addition to being witty, adventurous, good-looking, and fun-to-be-with. But please, do not touch him on a point of honor (his or his friends) because you'll find yourself with a bloody nose.
It matters...more

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Oct 08, 2012 FrankH rated it 4 of 5 stars

Club Read

Loved this book in college, but found myself mildly annoyed this time round by extended segments that seemed neither to enrich character, further the plot or provide any interesting detail on life in Victorian London. Fairly early, the presentation of Mrs. Nickleby nattering and circumlocution became too tedious, grossly exceeding any reasonable word-count for detailing her often mis-directed verbosity. Likewise, the interplay of the Mantalinis seemed overdone, a comic trope of the you...more Club Read

Loved this book in college, but found myself mildly annoyed this time round by extended segments that seemed neither to enrich character, further the plot or provide any interesting detail on life in Victorian London. Fairly early, the presentation of Mrs. Nickleby nattering and circumlocution became too tedious, grossly exceeding any reasonable word-count for detailing her often mis-directed verbosity. Likewise, the interplay of the Mantalinis seemed overdone, a comic trope of the younger man playing second fiddle to his older abused wife and later to an equally abused washer woman, indicative of his reduced circumstances. Dickens says at the opening that handsome Alfred Muntle changed his name to Mantalini for the sake of his wife's fashionable haberdashery, but are we meant to understand that his character has also comically changed from the British type to the more operatic, Continental model? There is a satirical impulse at work here, but I'm not sure about its target.

Dickens' fans like me come to Dickens today , I think, realizing that idealized, underdrawn heros and heroines, the occasional cloying sentimentality, and the baroque plotting resolved by hidden deeds and histories may all be part of a package deal. The author states in the introduction that the angelic Cheerbyles were nevertheless based on the real owners of a counting house and that he had no intention of constructing Nicholas, despite the demands of his readers, without the usual qualities of youth -- 'impetuous temper and little experience'. Today's artistic shortcomings, it seems, originate with yesterday's demands in the marketplace. For me, the value of Dickens' body of work resides in comic characterizations, the superb rendering of villains like Squeers, Gride and Ralph, and, of course, the language in the service of storytelling (In my book, the opening of Bleak House is unmatched as introductory fictional prose and foreshadowing). In the early chapters, Squeers still maintains a modicum of personal dignity as 'schoolmaster', even as his exploitation of his boys is exceeded only by his public declamations that his methods are in their best interest. By the time we see him tricking Peg to give up the property deed belonging to Madeline, he has foresaken any pretense that self-interest can lead to worthy ends. With Ralph, Dickens perfectly captures the psychology of avarice and usury taken to its logical conclusion . If not for the suicide and the revelation of criminality at the end, Ralph's earlier, ambivalent feelings towards Kate and her situation suggest a potential interest in rendering this dark character in the more complex mold of an Ebeneezer Scrooge, torn between love and his business affairs. It was not to be at this stage in Dickens' development. (Interestingly, Dickens does have Sir Frederick change from roue to champion of female virtue (Kate), only to kill him off -- strangely -- in a duel with Hawk. I wonder if other readers are unable to recall the plot detail surrounding the outcome of Hawk's plans for Nicholas the next day)

Several comments on language and style: Dickens often contrives to have his less-personable characters express themselves passionately, then follow archly with commentary on some incidental quality of the outburst, totally detached and objective, that still manages to lay bare the character flaw. Brings a grin to my face almost every time. When Mrs. Squeers complains to her husband of Nicholas, the 'proud, haughty, consequential turned-up-nosed peacock', the omniscient author retorts: 'Mrs. Squeers, when excited, was accustomed to use strong language, and moreover, to make use of a plurality of epithets, some of which were of a figurative kind, as the word peacock and furthermore the allusion to Nicholas' nose, which was not intended to be taken in the literal sense, but rather to bear a latitutde of construction according to the fancy of the hearers. Neither were they meant to bear reference to each other, so much as the object on whom they were bestowed...a peacock with a turned-up nose being a novelty in ornithology and a thing not commonly seen'. ('Not intended to be taken' and 'latitude of construction' has some bearing seemingly on the presidential debates of late.) Equally enjoyable is the manner in which Dicken's takes up a conceit or reference and uses it as a way to color our understanding of a scene or episode by what has gone before. Such is the case of Ninetta Crummles, usually referred to by both the author and the characters as the 'infant phenomenon' or simply the 'phenomenon'. The expression acts as a mnemonic to the episodes containing Vincent Crummles loving if deluded declaration of her precocious theatrical qualities, the grumbling of the troup members that must perform with her, and Nick's wise request to forego a joint appearance -- all narrative detail encapsulating the essential eccentricity of the Troup and its theatrical life, on and off the stage.

Happy 200th for Mr. Dickens (that's Dickens with a single 'k', the well known British author)!(less)

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Sep 21, 2012 Smcleish rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: owned

Originally published on my blog here in October 2000.

One of the most successful of all Dickens' early novels, Nicholas Nickleby will always be remembered for its portrayal of the wonderfully named brutal school, Dotheboys Hall. The plot of the novel is a variation of the young man coming to terms with the world theme. After his father's death, Nicholas Nickleby and his sister Kate need to earn their livings for the first time. They turn to their rich uncle Ralph for help, not realising that he i...more Originally published on my blog here in October 2000.

One of the most successful of all Dickens' early novels, Nicholas Nickleby will always be remembered for its portrayal of the wonderfully named brutal school, Dotheboys Hall. The plot of the novel is a variation of the young man coming to terms with the world theme. After his father's death, Nicholas Nickleby and his sister Kate need to earn their livings for the first time. They turn to their rich uncle Ralph for help, not realising that he is an evil man - avaricious miser and unscrupulous moneylender driven by hatred of their father. He arranges work for Nicholas as a teacher at Dotheboys Hall in Yorkshire and for Kate as a dressmaker. Naturally, these jobs do not turn out to be the wonderful opportunities expected by the two of them.

The main problems the novel has are certain of the characters. Ralph Nickleby is the most serious flaw; he is a melodramatic villain and no more, bu plays a big enough part in the plot that he should be made more realistic. The Cheerybyle brothers are blandly generous, and again, insufficiently individualised. A few of the minor characters are irritating, particularly the vain and stupid Mrs Nickleby, mother of Nicholas and Kate. There are excellent and interesting people in the novel, including Mr Squeers the vicious headmaster of Dotheboys Hall. In Dickens' introduction, written later, he explicitly denies that Squeers is based on any real person, to counter various schoolteachers being almost proud to point to themselves as the original; he is so unpleasant that it is bizarre that anyone would wish to do so.

The real strength of the novel is journalistic, the way in which various different worlds are sketched in - the London moneylender, the Yorkshire school (boarding schools in that county were notoriously bad), and the touring stage company which Nicholas joins after fleeing the school with the unfortunate Smike. This last is perhaps a little overly theatrical, but is interesting because of Dickens' own keen interest in the stage.

Nicholas Nickleby, like all of Dickens' novels, has obvious flaws, but it clearly deserves its place among the favourite classics in the English language.(less)

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Sep 17, 2012 Gwen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 1000-book-challenge, literary-spinach, favorites

I think I enjoyed this one even more than Pickwick Papers and Oliver Twist. I mean, at first I was worried it was going to be more of the same all the way through, when Nicholas was introduced to the schoolmaster and his poor little waif charges that resembled the children in Oliver Twist. Then in Chapter 6, he started up with the unrelated short stories again, like in Pickwick Papers, but fortunately, that was the only appearance of such filler.

When Nicholas Nickleby Sr. dies after making some...more

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Sep 13, 2012 علی rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: classics, novels

Victorian literature is the literature produced during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901), tend to be idealized portraits of difficult lives, perseverance and love in civil society….
The main elements in Victorian and pre-Victorian literature, are mostly hidden loves, jelousy, planned marriages for money and social positions, women’s situation both in family and the society, and the roll of Church which dominate all over the society. One can not deny the roll of Victorian novels, specially w...more Victorian literature is the literature produced during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901), tend to be idealized portraits of difficult lives, perseverance and love in civil society….
The main elements in Victorian and pre-Victorian literature, are mostly hidden loves, jelousy, planned marriages for money and social positions, women’s situation both in family and the society, and the roll of Church which dominate all over the society. One can not deny the roll of Victorian novels, specially works by Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope, Jane Austen, William Thackeray, Bronte’s sisters, George Eliot and others…effectioning on all social aspects, changing the modern society, carrying up moral and etic, law and behaviour. Novels in particular, became ubiquitous, and created legacy appeal for human rights …

چارلز دیکنز، نام آورترین نویسنده ی دوره ی ویکتوریایی (قرن نوزدهم)، خالق آثار بزرگی ست، چون "الیور تویست"، "آرزوهای بزرگ"، "دوریت کوچولو"، "دیوید کاپرفیلد" و "داستان دو شهر" که شخصیت هایشان نظیر اولیور، دیوید، پیپ و .... جاودانه شده اند. چارلز دیکنز برخلاف بسیاری از نویسندگان دیگر، در دوران حیات مشهور شد. آثار دیکنز، بیش از هر نویسنده ی دیگری به فیلم های سینمایی و تله ویزیونی تبدیل شده است. اغلب آثارش در محله های دلگیر و فقیر لندن، با دقتی عمیق در ترسیم شخصیت ها، حتی وصف شهر لندن در دوره ی ویکتوریا نوشته شده اند. او طرفدار حقوق کودکان بود و برای این امر تمامی عمر علیه بی عدالتی و ستم به کودکان فقیر تلاش کرد. معروف است که دیکنز کریسمس را اختراع کرد. زندگی نامه نویس دیکنز می نویسد؛ "دیکنز تقریبن به تنهایی باورهای کریسمس امروزی را خلق کرده، و چسترتون، نویسنده ی دیگر بریتانیایی شرح می دهد که چگونه دیدگاه رمانتیک دیکنز در مورد کریسمس به سراسر جهان نفوذ کرد. تصویر شخصیت های آثار دیکنز، مانند "اسکروج" (مرد خسیس داستان سرود کریسمس) برگزاری مراسم کریسمس را متحول کرد. دیکنز در کودکی مجبور شد مدرسه را رها کند و به کار در کارخانه بپردازد و همین امر به او کمک کرد تا کودکان کار، و مردم فقیر لندن را از نزدیک بشناسد. دیکنز حرص و طمع، فساد و خصومت، نفرت و خست، و هر خصلت ناشکیل انسانی را جزو ذات بشر می دانست، بی آن که انسان را در این زمینه ها و رفتارها مقصر بداند. او شاید اولین نویسنده ای ست که جامعه را در همه ی زمینه های ستم اجتماعی، به ویژه نسبت به کودکان و زنان مقصر می دانست. در یکی از رمان های مشهورش "بلیک هاووس"، به اندازه ی یک حقوقدان، و با دیدی کاملن انتقادی نسبت به قوانین و مسایل حقوقی سخن می گوید. این رمان یک حمله ی تمام عیار به نظام قضایی وقت انگلستان است و گفته می شود بسیاری از قوانین پس از "بلیک هاووس" تغییر و ترمیم شده است.
بسیاری از شخصیت های دیکنز، به عنوان یک "مفهوم" در زبان انگلیسی و به ویژه در انگلستان بکار برده می شوند؛ "ابه نه زر اسکروج"؛ سرود کریسمس یا قصه ی اسکروج در یک شب کریسمس، یکی از ماندگارترین قصه های تاریخ است. این نام در فرهنگ انگلوساکسون به معنای فردی خسیس و سنگدل، خودخواه و بدخلق درج شده است. همین طور "فاگین" از رمان الیور توییست که نمونه ی شخصیتی رذل و بدذات و بی رحم است، و اولیور توییست، نماد خوش قلبی و مهربانی، نانسی؛ فاحشه ای از جان گذشته که تصویر و تصور "فاحشگی" را در فرهنگ انگلیسی زبان و دنیای مدرن، بکلی دگرگون کرد، پیپ (رمان آرزوهای بزرگ) یا ساموئل پیک ویک (نامه های آقای پیک ویک) نشانه ی مردی نرم و نجیب و.... خانم هاویشام (آرزوهای بزرگ) که به انتقامی مردی که در شب عروسی از او گریخت، تا آخر عمر لباس عروسی را از تنش بیرون نکرد، پرده ها را کشیده و به نور، اجازه ورود به خانه نداد تا گذشت زمان را نفهمد. زنی متمول که به دختر خوانده اش استلا یاد داد تا با سخت دلی توام با خونسردی، قلب مردها را بشکند تا از این راه از مردی که او را تنها گذاشته، انتقام بگیرد. نامی که امروز ترمی در روان شناسی به حساب می آید.
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Sep 04, 2012 Angela Young rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

So often there's a particular scene or series of scenes from a book that stay with me and the ones from Nicholas Nickleby are the early ones between him and Smike. On page 97 of this edition Nickleby sees Smike on his knees before the stove. Smike shrinks back expecting a blow but Nickleby says, 'You need not fear me ... are you cold?' Smike says he's not cold but Nickleby can see he's shivering. He thinks, 'There was such an obvious fear of giving offence in his manner, and he was such a timid,...more

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Aug 24, 2012 Avi Gvili rated it 4 of 5 stars

The day I finished reading Great Expectations, I made a promise to myself that I would read every book ever written By Charles Dickens. I'm glad to say that fulfilling this promise is one of the best journeys I have ever taken.

Dickens is simply a giant among writers, immortal as long as the written word is valued. It was hearing Eli Siegel's lecture, THE TRIAL OF MR. PICKWICK: A consideration of Chapter 33 of Charles Dickens' Pickwick Papers, at the Aesthetic Realism Foundation in Soho, NY, that...more The day I finished reading Great Expectations, I made a promise to myself that I would read every book ever written By Charles Dickens. I'm glad to say that fulfilling this promise is one of the best journeys I have ever taken.

Dickens is simply a giant among writers, immortal as long as the written word is valued. It was hearing Eli Siegel's lecture, THE TRIAL OF MR. PICKWICK: A consideration of Chapter 33 of Charles Dickens' Pickwick Papers, at the Aesthetic Realism Foundation in Soho, NY, that I was first introduced to the laugh-out-loud humor of Pickwick Papers, a book that as an English major in university I had, strangely, never come across. And it is the humor of Dickens, his wild and deep caricatures of human beings--of oneself--that is so delightful.

Nicholas Nickleby, Dickens third novel, distributed in 19 monthly installments, was a huge bestseller, still being adapted to the stage and film over a century after it was first written. There is anthropological richness and personal indignation in the way Victorian society is portrayed, as in, for example, descriptions of a so called "private school" managed by the cruel and sniveling Mr. Squeers, "The author's object in calling public attention to the system would be very imperfectly fulfilled...if he did not state now, in his own person, emphatically and earnestly that Mr. Squeers and his school are faint and feeble pictures of an existing reality, purposely subdued and kept down lest they should be deemed impossible. That there are, upon record, trials at law in which damages have been sought as a poor recompense for lasting agonies and disfigurements inflicted upon children by the treatment of the master in these places, involving such offensive and foul details of neglect, cruelty, and disease, as no writer of fiction would have the boldness to imagine."

It's worthwhile to compare here Dickens 19th cent. description of education with news reports of the mischief of for-profit "education" and charter school operators.

Yet, along with this width of society, we have the vibrant specificity of the courageous main character Nicholas Nickleby as he defends his friend, Smike, against the violence of Smike,

"Sit Down, Beggar! screamed Squeers, almost beside himself with rage and, and seizing Smike as he spoke.

"Wretch," rejoined Nicholas, fiercely, touch him at your peril! I will not stand by, and see it done! My blood is up, and I have the strength of ten such men as you. Look to yourself, for by heaven I will not spare you, if you drive me on."

Nicholas Nickleby is a deep adventure, one you won't soon forget. (less)

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Aug 20, 2012 Thom Swennes rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Everyone interested in 19th Century English Literature

A virtual cornucopia of characters entwined in a kaleidoscope of intrigues and plots, Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens provides the reader with a colorful view of mid-nineteenth Century England. I hesitate in referring young master Nickleby as the main character as he shares that role with so many others. I suppose it would have been both imprudent and impracticable for Dickens to name all this story’s characters in the title and decided on just Nicholas. The tale begins as the Nickleby’s ar...more

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May 27, 2012 Matthew rated it 4 of 5 stars

I'm currently reading all of Dicken's novels in chronological order. This is the third book, and I am approaching the end. It's fascinating to watch the development of a writer by reading their books in order.

As is appropriate for a writer in the infancy of his writing, Dickens seems fascinated by children and their sufferings in his early books. This book was made between Oliver Twist and The Old Curiosity Shop, both of which have children as their protagonists. Nicholas Nickleby has a young m...more

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Apr 22, 2012 Larry rated it 3 of 5 stars

What I really enjoy about Dickens is his portrayal of class conflict and social injustice in the 19th century which, unfortunately, is still relevant to the 21st century – that, and his ability to create such interesting scoundrels.

The main bad guy in this one is Ralph Nickleby, uncle to Nicholas. Uncle Ralph is an extremely wealthy loan shark and speculator, whose complete lack of morality would make him a perfect fit for 21st century Wall Street.

Dickens tells us “there are some men who, livin...more What I really enjoy about Dickens is his portrayal of class conflict and social injustice in the 19th century which, unfortunately, is still relevant to the 21st century – that, and his ability to create such interesting scoundrels.

The main bad guy in this one is Ralph Nickleby, uncle to Nicholas. Uncle Ralph is an extremely wealthy loan shark and speculator, whose complete lack of morality would make him a perfect fit for 21st century Wall Street.

Dickens tells us “there are some men who, living with the one object of enriching themselves, no matter by what means, and being perfectly conscious of the baseness and rascality of the means which they will use every day toward this end, affect nevertheless – even to themselves – a high tone of moral rectitude, and shake their heads and sigh over the depravity of the world”…and then he notes Ralph Nickleby was not of that ilk. He knew exactly what he was and made no bones about it. He was a cut-throat psychopathic businessman, seeking no Scrooge-like redemption at the end.

Among his many schemes, Ralph Nickleby worked closely with Wackford Squeers (love the name!), an evil one-eyed schoolmaster who reveled in physically and psychologically abusing his wards: “There were little faces which should have been handsome, darkened with the scowl of sullen, dogged suffering; there was childhood with the light of its eye quenched, its beauty gone, and its helplessness alone remaining…With every kindly sympathy and affection blasted in its birth, and every young and healthy feeling flogged and starved down…what an incipient hell was breeding here!” The scenes at the school were truly depressing, a reminder of the fragility of children and the horrible effects of early abuse.

Ralph Nickleby also enlisted the services of two shysters, Mr. Pyke and Mr. Pluck, who “live up their wits (or not so much, perhaps, upon the presence of their own wits as upon the absence of wits in other people).” The scenes with Pyke and Pluck conning Nicholas Nickleby’s mother were comic masterpieces.

In true Dickens style, the story captures the struggles of downtrodden but honest hard-working people in 19th century England, while weaving an entertaining story, with a good dose of humour, and wrapping things up with the improbable but required happy ending.

Nicholas Nickleby was a fun read, but I’d say a few notches below his best works.
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Feb 06, 2012 Ben Dutton rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Charles Dickens’s third novel, Nicholas Nickleby, is a lengthy and picaresque novel detailing the exploits of the Nickleby family – notably Nicholas, his sister Kate, dear Mama, and Uncle Ralph. It is more interesting that the villain of the piece is Ralph Nickleby, and made clear from the start.

For reasons that need not explaining, it took me over a month to finish this novel, and the delays in reading it dissipated some of its tensions, but did not overly affect my reading of it – for as a pic...more Charles Dickens’s third novel, Nicholas Nickleby, is a lengthy and picaresque novel detailing the exploits of the Nickleby family – notably Nicholas, his sister Kate, dear Mama, and Uncle Ralph. It is more interesting that the villain of the piece is Ralph Nickleby, and made clear from the start.

For reasons that need not explaining, it took me over a month to finish this novel, and the delays in reading it dissipated some of its tensions, but did not overly affect my reading of it – for as a picaresque novel it is subject to shifts in focus, in obsessions and in plot. Not one character hangs around for very long. But what characters! There is Wackford Squeers, the infamous headmaster of Dotheboys Hall where Nicholas is employed as master and from where he deserts with Smike the maltreated schoolboy (and revealed, near the end of the novel, to be Nicholas’s cousin). Squeers is a monstrous creation, and apparently real enough for several readers to threaten legal action against Dickens for defamation of character: as he notes in the preface: “It has afforded the Author great amusement and satisfaction, during the progress of this work, to learn from country friends and from a variety of ludicrous statements concerning himself in provincial newspapers, that more than one Yorkshire schoolmaster lays claim to being the original of Mr. Squeers… [I] suggest that these contentions may arise from the fact, that Mr. Squeers is the representative of a class, and not of an individual.” It is a sign of Dickens’s increasing popularity in Victorian England that he is subject to attack, but also a clear sign of his concern of the treatment of the young and vulnerable in the country: In his second preface, to the 1848 Cheap Edition, he notes that such schools as Dotheboys were common in Yorkshire at the time of writing but are now disappearing.

Nicholas Nickleby is, for me, Dickens’s first genuine masterpiece. Oliver Twist may have mass popularity, even now, but it is a flawed novel whose focus is badly lacking in the middle half – Nicholas Nickleby’s focus is also lacking, but the adventures and scrapes Nicholas and his family become embroiled in advance their characters and their fortunes – there is a trajectory to their life, and their decisions affect themselves and others. Nicholas may have always been a good man, but he must undergo all that he does, and learn all that he does about humanity, before he can woo Madeline Bray. It is this subplot that gives Nicholas Nickleby its depth – this is the first of Dickens’s romances, and it is handled with good humour and honesty and only the occasional splashing of sentimentality. The same is true of Kate Nickleby; she must endure the violence and threat of Sir Mulberry Hawk and see her family almost destitute before she can find happiness. This is what Nicholas Nickleby does best; Dickens has created a living breathing city in this novel. London, in its myriad layers, comes alive; the poor rub against the rich, the crooks plot against the innocent, ordinary men rise up to extraordinary challenges, and even the good men are not safe from Death’s scythe.

It is sometimes noted that Nicholas Nickleby is famed as one of the great comic novels of the nineteenth century – a statement I agree with – but that it lacks character development: everything I have just stated to me seems to disprove this claim. Yet: the villains almost wholly remain villains. Squeers and family remain as cruel as when the novel begins, Sir Mulberry Hawk remains as misogynist as when we first meet him, but Dickens’s treatment of Ralph Nickleby is curious: here is a man who sees no wrong in his action, and yet by the end is reformed but unforgiven, and chooses an action that would seem to be at odds with how he first appears: Ralph Nickleby has changed. Characters in this world do change, they make bad decisions and good ones, they are subject to fate and to their own choices – they are, indeed, the most human of characters Dickens has created so far.

Nicholas Nickleby, then, is a good book. My favourite, so far, of his oeuvre, and at times very very funny, and at times movingly sad. (less)

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Sep 25, 2011 Tamhack rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is the same category as Oliver Twist. Lots of character. Lots of moralizing. Did like the book. Favorite quotes:

" Dreams are the bright creatures of poem and legend, who sport on earth in the night season, and melt away in the first beam of the sun, which lights grim care and stern reality on their daily pilgrimage through the world."

"... mourning is sometimes the coldest wear which mortals can assume; that it not only chills the breasts of those it clothes, but extending its influence...more

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Mar 08, 2011 Anna Bear rated it 5 of 5 stars

I actually listened to the BBC read version of this book while I was sick a couple of weeks ago. Although there is nothing quite like the feel and companionship of a physical book, in this case I have to say that nothing showcases Dickens like the audio version. BBC Radio 4 has an extensive selection of Dickens novels dramatized. They are so fantastic because they really capture the period with all the accompanying sound effects. If the text says that the Nicklebys were having tea, you'll hear t...more I actually listened to the BBC read version of this book while I was sick a couple of weeks ago. Although there is nothing quite like the feel and companionship of a physical book, in this case I have to say that nothing showcases Dickens like the audio version. BBC Radio 4 has an extensive selection of Dickens novels dramatized. They are so fantastic because they really capture the period with all the accompanying sound effects. If the text says that the Nicklebys were having tea, you'll hear the clamor of cups and the pouring of steaming water while they chat. Doors open, footsteps fade into the distance, sailors shout, a rope swings from a creaky beam and all other kinds of scene appropriate sounds are used. I really loved it. The voices the BBC chose are also so perfect for the Dickens characters.

The ONLY thing I found highly annoying and NOT true to the book was this terrible songish refrain of "Farewell and never think of me..." that would play between scenes and a few times at the end or during pivotal moments. Truly that was obnoxious and unnecessary.

Perhaps listening to a dramatized audiobook defeats the purpose of reading---some may argue it's more of a movie than a book. In this case, however, I found it to be appropriate and I would counter that it is even possibly the way Dickens intended his book to be. Dickens was known in his time to be a fantastic bard and was famous for his own semi-dramatized readings of his books. Also, the dramatization, unlike a movie, maintains the entire text of the book. This was a rather short novel and it still took me something like 8 hours to listen to it---approximately the same time I would take to read it to myself.

As to the book iteself: the characters were typically Dickens. Their personalities are varied and exaggerated somewhat even to the degree of being caricatures. But that is of course the point---to be critical of specific people or of types/ classes of people during that time of industrialization in Britain. Ralph Nickleby (uncle) somewhat resembles Ebeneezer Scrooge, but unlike Scrooge does not have the chance for redemption. This novel has all the charm and wit of A Christmas Carol without the completely happy ending. Also, maybe it was just me, but this novel had better flow than Great Expectations. It never dragged. The pace at which Dickens tells each characters story keeps even with one another among the chapters. (less)

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Jan 24, 2011 trishtrash rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, favorites

Deliciously satirical Dickens, the author hell-bent on seeing evildoers get their come-uppance, and the innocent prevail, while ridiculing, with varying degrees of fierceness, everything he points his nib at. I recently read, and loved Bleak House, and while Nicholas Nickleby wasn’t quite that cohesive a story, perhaps because of the serial nature of its release, I still enjoyed it enormously (perhaps even more than Bleak House on the basis of the quality of writing). I worried, through the firs...more Deliciously satirical Dickens, the author hell-bent on seeing evildoers get their come-uppance, and the innocent prevail, while ridiculing, with varying degrees of fierceness, everything he points his nib at. I recently read, and loved Bleak House, and while Nicholas Nickleby wasn’t quite that cohesive a story, perhaps because of the serial nature of its release, I still enjoyed it enormously (perhaps even more than Bleak House on the basis of the quality of writing). I worried, through the first few pages, that the biting humour might distance me from enjoying the story for its own sake, but didn’t allow for Dickens’ incredible storytelling capacity and unrivalled talent for character. It’s impossible not to be invested in the fate of the most idly-sketched person in any of his works.

Nicholas, our hero, is a pleasant and agreeable young man in pursuit of means after the death of his father leaves his family practically destitute. Relying at first upon the kindness of his uncle, and then discovering the man has none, he is first employed as a teacher at a school for young boys under the management of the brutal Mr. Squeers, where he takes under his wing – and takes off with - the loyal, if childlike, Smike. Nicholas sets about taking his fortunes into his own hands, and releasing his family, and especially his sister, Kate, from the clutches of the avaricious and vengeful Ralph Nickleby (characters whom I’d like to slap, list, head of).

Some of the most hilarious, satisfying scenes in literature fall between the covers of Nicholas Nickleby, those wherein Nicholas makes delightful use of his fists (always where others commit outrages on those under his charge) being particularly enjoyable; the fantastic Newman Noggs finally getting to tell off his employer, and the remarkable prison break of the re-captured Smike, masterminded by the Yorkshireman, John Browdie, whose stifling of his own hilarity caused me to half-choke on mine.

Better yet, barely a scene passes that isn’t pasted up and down with Dickens’ satirical social commentary, the perfect tone for this story which deals with the inconsistencies and injustices of a rampantly money-conscious society.

Any work can be described as flawed if examined closely enough; caught up in the story, I didn’t care to poke too critically at anything, and the negatives I can summon are very slight… there are several examples of Dickens’ more sentimentally ‘perfect’ characters – the brothers, Ned and Charles (enjoyable), come to mind, as does Kate Nickleby (bland), although for once it’s hard to knock the stereotypical ‘perfection’ of one woman in a novel, when the entire cast consists of people drawn at the extremes of nature – and, being a tale with a happy ending for most of those that deserve it, the single undeserved tragedy feels rather more unfair to its victim than normal. Far more poignant and clever is the end of the antagonist, towards whom the reader had developed a sort of complicated pity (which in no way precluded the urge to slap him). There exists, perhaps, a weakness in the very last tying up of the plot in that the final machinations of Ralph Nickleby seem to have, in the end, been undone largely by the virtuous following the villainous around for a bit until things reveal themselves.

It took me a fortnight to read Nicholas Nickleby and, despite the pressing urge to read other books on my pile, and the unpleasantly small text in my copy, I consider it time well spent, an auspicious beginning to the year’s reading, and a new favourite.
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May 17, 2010 Rowland Bismark rated it 4 of 5 stars

Nicholas Nickleby; or, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby is a comic novel by Charles Dickens. Originally published as a serial from 1838 to 1839, it was Dickens' third novel.

The lengthy novel centres around the life and adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, a young man who must support his mother and sister after his father dies. His Uncle Ralph, who thinks Nicholas will never amount to anything, plays the role of an antagonist.

Nicholas Nickleby is Dickens' third published novel. He return...more

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Apr 28, 2010 Rrshively rated it 4 of 5 stars

Dickens is one of my favorite authors. However, it took me a while to get through this 800+ page novel replete with 19th Century language. One always wants to slow down and savor the wit, irony, and sarcasms scattered within the story. The way the various characters weave in and out of the story, bumping into the other characters is amazing. This book may have been written about 150 years ago, but many of its subjects and plots are relevant to our world today. What deeds will some greedy people...more

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Jan 23, 2009 Margaret rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: british-literature, victorian-fiction, authors-cd

I was surprised to enjoy this more than I thought I would. Dickens' avowed purpose in writing it was to provide the public with a novel like The Pickwick Papers, full of funny episodes and lively characters, and since I wasn't terribly interested in Pickwick, I thought that boded ill for Nickleby. However, although the book is certainly episodic, following the adventures of its central hero, there's a plotline concerning his usurer uncle which travels through the book and provides it with a cohe...more

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Apr 10, 2013 Olga Porterfield rated it 3 of 5 stars

well.... very disappointed with the last 1/3 or 1/4... pretty much everything after the two romantic interests (of Nicholas and of Kate) are identified, the book deteriorates in familiar Dickensian sappy sentimentality and verbosity...
I acknowledge, that I listened to most of the book during a Caribbean vacation, and finished on the plane ride and then at home (driving to work), so these circumstances may have influenced my perceptions. But... where the first half of the book sparkled with witty...more

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A Year of Dickens: Nicholas Nickleby (FEBRUARY 15TH - MARCH 15TH)	5	14	Mar 03, 2013 04:31am
The Readers Revie...: "Nicholas Nickleby" by Charles Dickens, Week Thirteen, Chapters 61-65	27	24	Aug 12, 2012 03:46pm
The Readers Revie...: "Nicholas Nickleby" by Charles Dickens, Week Twelve, Chapters 56-60	21	20	Apr 01, 2012 07:45pm
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About Charles Dickens

A prolific 19th Century author of short stories, plays, novellas, novels, fiction and non-fiction; during his lifetime Dickens became known the world over for his remarkable characters, his mastery of prose in the telling of their lives, and his depictions of the social classes, morals and values of his times. Some considered him the spokesman for the poor, for he definitely brought much awarenes...more

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Quotes from Nicholas Nickleby

“The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again.” — 455 people liked it

“Happiness is a gift and the trick is not to expect it, but to delight in it when it comes.” — 119 people liked it

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/325085.Nicholas_Nickleby?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1352758388l/325085.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/325085.Nicholas_Nickleby?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens[/url]

Nicholas Nickleby

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