Excerpt from Oliver Twist, And, Hard Times I embrace the present opportunity of saying a few words in explanation of my aim and object in its pro duction. It is in some sort a duty with me to do so, in gratitude to those who sympathised with me and divined my purpose at the time, and who, perhaps, will not be sorry to have their impression confirmed under my own hand. It is, it seems, a very coarse and shocking circum stance, that some of the characters in these pages are chosen from the most criminal and degraded of Lon don's population; that Sikes is a thief, and Fagin a receiver of stolen goods that the boys are pick pockets, -and the girl is a prostitute. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

チャールズ・ディケンズが描くのは、ヴィクトリア朝の光と影が交錯する人間ドラマの極致です。本作は最下層社会の闇に光る魂の純潔と、功利主義に侵された産業社会の歪みを鋭く抉り出しています。単なる貧困の記録ではなく、人間の尊厳を奪う社会構造への烈火の如き怒りと、それに対抗する「想像力」の救いこそが、彼のペンに宿る文学的本質に他なりません。 映像化作品ではロンドンの陰惨な美しさが視覚を圧倒しますが、テキストには映像が零しがちな語り手の強烈な皮肉が凝縮されています。活字で味わうディケンズの咆哮は、映像の様式美をより深い社会批判の物語へと昇華させ、読者の心に消えない火を灯すはずです。両メディアを体験することで、彼の抱いた慈愛と憤怒の全貌を深く理解できるでしょう。