Book Cover of Our Mutual Friend

Our Mutual Friend

by Charles Dickens

Our Mutual Friend, written in 1864–1865, is the last novel completed by Charles Dickens and is one of his most sophisticated works, combining savage satire with social analysis. It centres on, in the words of critic J. Hillis Miller, quoting from the character Bella Wilfer in the book, "money, money, money, and what money can make of life". Most reviewers in the 1860s continued o praise Dickens' skill as a writer in general, but did not review this novel in detail. Some found the plot both too complex and not well laid out. The Times of London found the first few chapters did not draw the reader into the characters. In the 20th century, however, reviewers began to find much to approve in the later novels of Dickens, including Our Mutual Friend. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, some reviewers suggested that Dickens was, in fact, experimenting with structure, and that the characters considered somewhat flat and not recognized by the contemporary reviewers were meant rather to be true representations of the Victorian working class and the key to understanding the structure of the society depicted by Dickens in the novel.

Book Details

Language

English

Original Language

English

Published In

1865

Authors

Charles Dickens image

Charles Dickens created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. Charles John Huffam Dickens was born on 7 February 18...

Books by Charles Dickens

Listen/Download Audiobook

Read by:
00:00
Playback Speed 1.0
00:00
  • Select Speed

Related books

Nether World Cover image

Nether World by George Gissing

This novel revolves around the problematic issue of money. Michael returns from Australia a rich man, but he hides this fact from everybody. Instead o...

The Children Of The Abbey Cover image

The Children Of The Abbey by Regina Maria Roche

The Children of the Abbey is a novel by the Irish romantic novelist Regina Maria Roche. It first appeared in 1796, in London in 4 volumes, and related...

Testament van mevrouw De Tonnette Cover image

Testament van mevrouw De Tonnette by Gerard Keller

Het Testament van mevrouw De Tonnette is een lichtvoetige roman uit de 19e eeuw, die draait om een rijke weduwe die haar fortuin wil nalaten aan een a...

La Comédie Humaine: Le Père Goriot: Father Goriot Cover image

La Comédie Humaine: Le Père Goriot: Father Goriot by Honoré de Balzac

Le Père Goriot est un roman d’Honoré de Balzac, commencé à Saché en 1834, dont la publication commence dans la Revue de Paris et qui paraît en 1842 en...

Wall Street Girl Cover image

Wall Street Girl by Frederick O. Bartlett

Don, a young man accustomed to a life of privilege, faces a stark reality after the loss of his father. Suddenly stripped of his wealth, he finds hims...

La Comédie Humaine: 05 - Scènes de la vie de province tome 1 Cover image

La Comédie Humaine: 05 - Scènes de la vie de province tome 1 by Honoré de Balzac

La Comédie humaine estla collection en plusieurs volumes d' Honoré de Balzac (1829-1848) de romans et d'histoires interconnectés décrivant la société...

Haworth's Cover image

Haworth's by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The story of an inventor's son, who tries to prevent him and a couple other characters from being taken into poverty by the man of the house who is dr...

Frau Jenny Treibel Cover image

Frau Jenny Treibel by Theodor Fontane

Frau Jenny Treibel is a novel by Theodor Fontane, published in 1892. It is a humorous and satirical look at bourgeois society in Berlin. The novel cen...

The Morals of Marcus Ordeyne Cover image

The Morals of Marcus Ordeyne by William John Locke

Marcus Ordeyne is a middle aged bachelor schoolmaster who has inherited both money and a title and thus is able to lead a life of leisure. One day, he...

Will Warburton Cover image

Will Warburton by George Gissing

Will Warburton is a story about a young man who loses his money in a failed business venture and must come to terms with his new job as a grocer. It i...

Reviews for Our Mutual Friend

No reviews posted or approved, yet...