Part one: Hard Times - Part two: Criticism and context.

"This enriched edition of HARD TIMES contains a number of features intended to increase the enjoyment and uderstanding of modern readers and students. In addition to teh complete text of the novel and a penetratring introduction, it includes a fascinating collection of essays on the life and tomes of Charles Dickens. as well as a selection of the best. Theare are noheroes or villains in Hard Times, only the exploiters and their victims. In is the story of the beautiful and proud Josiah Bounderby, a coarse and pompous man concerned only with his own self-esteem and the making of money. Threatening their empty, loveless marriege is James Harthouse, relentless in his pursuit of Louisa, always showing her the deceit and mockery of her meaningless life. These three - Louisa, Bounderby and Harthouse - form a classic triangle which is broght powerfully alive by brillian strokes of Dickens´s psychological genius." contraportada.