Cynicism is usually seen as a provocative mode of dissent from conventional moral thought, casting doubt on the motives that guide right conduct. When critics today complain that it is ubiquitous but lacks the serious bite of classical Cynicism, they express concern that it can now only be corrosively negative. The Function of Cynicism at the Present Time takes a more balanced view. Re-evaluating the role of cynicism in literature, cultural criticism, and philosophy from 1840 to t...

The central focus of this book is the experience of growing old as represented in literature from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day: an experience shaped by changes in longevity, a new science of senescence, the availability of state pensions, and other phenomena of recent history. The collection considers the increasing prominence of stories of ageing, challenging the idea that old age is an uneventful time outside of the parameters of literary narrative. Instead, age increasi...

The Lifted Veil (1859) is now one of the most widely read and critically discussed of Eliot's works. - ;`She had believed that my wild poet's passion for her would make me her slave; and that, being her slave, I should execute her will in all things.' The Lifted Veil was first published in Blackwood's Magazine in 1859. A dark fantasy woven from contemporary scientific interest in the physiology of the brain, mesmerism, phrenology and experiments in revification it is Eliot's anatomy of her...

'All Hogglestock believed their parson to be innocent; but then all Hogglestock believed him to be mad.' Josiah Crawley lives with his family in the parish of Hogglestock, East Barsetshire, where he is perpetual curate. Impoverished like his parishioners, Crawley is hard-working and respected but he is an unhappy, disappointed man, ill-suited to cope when calamity strikes. He is accused of stealing a cheque to pay off his debts; too proud to defend himself, he risks ruin a...

The Long Life invites the reader to range widely from the writings of Plato through to recent philosophical work by Derek Parfit, Bernard Williams, and others, and from Shakespeare's King Lear through works by Thomas Mann, Balzac, Dickens, Beckett, Stevie Smith, Philip Larkin, to more recent writing by Saul Bellow, Philip Roth, and J. M. Coetzee. Helen Small argues that if we want to understand old age, we have to think more fundamentally about what it means to be a perso...

`She had believed that my wild poet's passion for her would make me her slave; and that, being her slave, I should execute her will in all things.' The Lifted Veil was first published in Blackwood's Magazine in 1859. A dark fantasy woven from contemporary scientific interest in the physiology of the brain, mesmerism, phrenology and experiments in revification it is Eliot's anatomy of her own moral philsophy - the ideal of imaginative sympathy or the ability to see...

'She liked lies...To lie readily and cleverly, recklessly and yet successfully, was, according to the lessons which she had learned, a necessity in a woman' Lizzie Eustace is young, beautiful, and widowed. Her determination to hold on to the Eustace family's diamond necklace in the face of legal harassment by her brother-in-law's solicitor entangles her in a series of crimes - apparent and real - and contrived love-affairs. Her cousin Frank, Tory MP and struggling barriste...

'In Little Dorrit, Dickens attacked English institutions with a ferocity that has never since been approached' George OrwellA masterly evocation of the state and psychology of imprisonment, Little Dorrit is one of the supreme works of Dickens's maturity. It follows Arthur Clennam who, returning to England after many years abroad, takes a kindly interest in Amy Dorrit, his mother's seamstress, who was born and raised in the Marshalsea where her father has long been...

"Hard Times" is the 1854 novel by Charles Dickens that sought to highlight the social and economic divide that was growing between capitalistic mill owners and workers during the Victorian era of Great Britain. Originally published in serial form in Dickens's own periodical journal "Household Words", "Hard Times" is unique in that it is not set in London, like many of his works, but in the fictitious Victorian town of Coketown. A critical examination of the poor working conditions in many ...

"There are dark shadows on the earth, but its lights are stronger in the contrast." Charles Dickens's The Pickwick Papers—originally titled The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club—is a masterpiece of humor, warmth, and humanity. This debut novel launched Dickens to literary fame and remains one of his most joyful and entertaining works. The story follows the kind-hearted and eccentric Mr. Samuel Pickwick and his loyal companions—Mr. Tupman, Mr. Snodgrass, and Mr. Winkle—as they jo...

This eBook features the unabridged text of ‘The Old Curiosity Shop’ from the bestselling edition of ‘The Complete Works of Charles Dickens’.Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. The Delphi Classics edition of Dickens includes original annotations and illust...