DAVID COPPERFIELD

  • The first new translation in many decades – by Melanie Walz, the celebrated translator of Middlemarch.
  • David Copperfield continues to be adapted into movies, cherished, and widely read to this day.

translated by: Melanie Walz

David Copperfield was Charles Dickens' favorite novel, and it is also his most personal. The book has captivated generations of readers, serving as influential reading during their formative years. Esteemed authors such as Leo Tolstoy, Virginia Woolf, Vladimir Nabokov, and Elias Canetti revered it throughout their lives.
At its core, the novel is a tale of suffering set in Victorian England. Born after the death of his father and subjected to an ill-fated remarriage of his mother, young David endures a nightmarish school experience and is forced into labor at a tender age. Escaping the inhumane conditions of early industrial factories, he finds refuge under the care of his kind-hearted aunt, Betsey. Slowly, his fortunes seem to change. Like Dickens himself, David becomes a legal clerk, a reporter, and ultimately a successful writer.

The story and experiences of the younger David Copperfield were published in 1849/50, presenting a work filled with both humour and tragedy. It stands as one of the great novels depicting childhood and youth in world literature.

"The most significant work of the most significant of all novelists." Leo Tolstoy

"One can only surrender completely to Charles Dickens' voice. In every lecture, I would most prefer to call for silent meditation, concentration, and admiration of this author." Vladimir Nabokov

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  • Publisher: Rowohlt Hardcover
  • Translated by: Melanie Walz
  • Release: 12.11.2024
  • ISBN: 978-3-498-00297-8
  • 1296 Pages
  • Author: Charles Dickens

Awards

  • 2025: empfohlen - SWR Bestenliste

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Buchcover von DAVID COPPERFIELD
Charles Dickens DAVID COPPERFIELD
Portrait von Charles Dickens
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Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens was born in 1812 as the second of eight children. After a difficult childhood, he began his writing career by publishing sketches under a pseudonym in newspapers and magazines. He wrote all of his major novels at a feverish pace. In 1868, Dickens, now a celebrated poet, fulfilled his childhood dream and purchased a country house in Kent, where he passed away in 1870.