A gripping portrayal of London's dark criminal underbelly, published in Penguin Classics with an introduction by Philip Horne.The story of Oliver Twist - orphaned, and set upon by evil and adversity from his first breath - shocked readers when it was published. After running away from the workhouse and pompous beadle Mr Bumble, Oliver finds himself lured into a den of thieves peopled by vivid and memorable characters - the Artful Dodger, vicious burglar Bill Sikes, his dog Bull's Eye, and prostitute Nancy, all watched over by cunning master-thief Fagin. Combining elements of Gothic Romance, the Newgate Novel and popular melodrama, Dickens created an entirely new kind of fiction, scathing in its indictment of a cruel society, and pervaded by an unforgettable sense of threat and mystery.This Penguin Classics edition of Oliver Twist is the first critical edition to faithfully reproduce the text as its earliest readers would have encountered it from its serialisation in Bentley's Miscellany, and includes an introduction by Philip Horne, a glossary of Victorian thieves' slang, a chronology of Dickens's life, a map of contemporary London and all of George Cruikshank's original illustrations.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

チャールズ・ディケンズが描く本作の本質は、ヴィクトリア朝の貧困と悪を抉り出す痛烈な批判と、人間の業が渦巻くゴシック的な恐怖にあります。フェイギンら悪役が放つ強烈な生命力は、霧に包まれたロンドンの裏通りを、不穏な美しさを湛えた魂の迷宮へと変貌させています。 映像版のダイナミックな活劇性に対し、原作は盗賊スラングのリアリティや緻密な心理描写で読者を圧倒します。特に本エディションが再現する連載当時の生々しい筆致は、映像のスペクタクルを超え、著者の憤りと慈愛をダイレクトに脳内へ刻み込む至高の読書体験を約束してくれます。