false 5344 183 Hard Times is perhaps the archetypal Dickens novel, full as it is with family difficulties, estrangement, rotten values and unhappiness. It was published in 1854 and it is the story of the family of Thomas Gradgrind (perhaps the archetypal Dickens name) and occurs in the imaginary Coketown, an industrial city inspired by Preston. Gradgrind is a man obsessed with misguided ‘Utilitarian’ values that make him trust facts, statistics and practicality more than emotion and is based upon James Mill (the Utilitarian leader). He directs his own children, Louisa and Tom, in this same way: enforcing an artless existence upon them. For instance, he makes Louisa marry Josiah Bounderby who is three decades her elder. Her only love is really for her brother who is in Bounderby’s employ. The cynical James Harthouse arrives and attempts to seduce her but she is inspired by the experience to escape her constricted life and her imagination takes over. Her father becomes aware of the nonsense of his own schemes and he protects his daughter from her husband. Not everything is cleared up, though, and Tom steals from the bank and dishonestly tries to shift the blame. He does so successfully for a time but eventually gets found out and must leave the country. Contemporary critics such as Macaulay savaged the book for its supposed ‘sullen socialism’ but has become well thought-of in since the favour of George Bernard Shaw (this is true also of Bleak House and Little Dorrit). 6751955 book 1854 Hard Times total:4763|5:670|4:1401|3:1513|2:579|1:218| 4763 16194 6706 332 5 4 false false Mon Jun 16 13:15:21 -0700 2008 Sun Jun 29 08:31:45 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 4 false false Thu Sep 04 14:17:18 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 04 14:20:08 -0700 2008
It's pretty much "Lets light some straw men on fire!" day in Dickens land. Presumably Hard Times was chosen as the title because "Let's Kick Some Deserving Fuckers In The Teeth" was already taken.

Still...more...]]> 4 2 false false Fri Jan 02 14:13:48 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 21 17:40:36 -0800 2009 Hard Times is as vitriolic an indictment against the institutionalized teaching model Paolo Friere scathingly criticized as the “banking concept” in his Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Josiah Bounderby is delectably...more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue May 26 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat May 30 21:36:08 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 04 14:24:27 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 3 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Aug 06 15:03:30 -0700 2007 Mon Aug 06 15:13:55 -0700 2007
NOTE: I listened to the audio version.

For some reason, I could never get into Dickens. I was an English major, for goodness' sake. I tried David Copperfield. I tried the Pickwick Papers. I tried Oliver Twist. All meh, and I didn't finish any of them. I have, ho...more...]]> 1 2 false false Mon Jan 28 20:24:34 -0800 2008 Thu Feb 21 20:35:03 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Fri Nov 01 00:00:00 -0800 2002 Fri Aug 15 20:59:02 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 17 09:57:12 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Fri Apr 25 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Apr 28 05:13:51 -0700 2008 Mon Apr 28 05:20:19 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Aug 26 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 31 03:04:34 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 31 06:01:13 -0700 2009
Mr. Bounderby behaves up ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Jul 22 20:45:54 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 22 20:45:54 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Oct 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 12 09:24:55 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 16 15:23:24 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Oct 10 20:46:26 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 18 08:07:17 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false false Wed May 27 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun May 17 19:18:00 -0700 2009 Wed May 27 19:20:12 -0700 2009 Original Review...
Looking about at the commentary on this book, most of it discusses not the novel itself, but rather the rightness or wrongness of Dickens' political premise in writing it. This is understandable, I suppose - the book is, without a doubt, meant to be a political one. The novel...more...]]> 4 1 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Sat Jan 03 11:45:19 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 03 11:47:48 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Jun 23 07:25:04 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 23 07:54:20 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Sun Aug 24 15:36:23 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 24 15:37:39 -0700 2008 2 1 false false Wed Dec 17 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 15 11:11:13 -0800 2008 Thu Dec 18 07:26:00 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Jul 29 09:20:39 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 23 11:46:42 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 29 09:20:39 -0700 2009 1
this is my first post-high school experience with dickens and i feel the same deep, roiling cocktail of guilt and pleasure at discovering him as i did in john cash's music and craig ferguson's monologues on late night television. it's the kin...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Jun 19 14:46:43 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 19 14:51:23 -0700 2009 1
Fifteen years later, I was surprised to find myself thoroughly enjoying Hard Times. The prose is crisp and to the point...more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 15 21:16:15 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 15 21:26:09 -0700 2009 more...]]>