Dickens and the life of David Copperfield. Reviews and reviews of the book "David Copperfield" by Charles Dickens

Pinocchio hung on a nail with his hands tied and was silent. He wasn't sleeping. The joints creaked, it was painful to move, and not a single sensible thought came into the wooden head. How to escape? Oh, what a pity for Papa Carlo, who will cry bitterly for him. At the other end of the hut, Artemon whined quietly. His paws ached, tied tightly with rope.

Suddenly Pinocchio heard a grumpy whisper very close by:

- And who are you?

This was asked by a parrot from an iron cage. Pinocchio perked up and also began to whisper about himself and his friends. The parrot listened to the boy's hasty story without interrupting.

“Yes, you are in history,” he finally said. “The company here is disgusting.”

- So why do you live here with this robber if you know that he is bad? — Buratino was surprised.

- Not just bad, but very bad. Most evil person in the whole world,” said the parrot and fell silent for a few minutes.

Then he continued:

- My name is Perico. Many years ago, a robber caught me, put me in an iron cage, and sealed the door of the cage tightly so that I would not fly away. So I’m sitting in it, and apparently I’ll never fly in freedom.

- How can you be freed? - Buratino asked sympathetically.

“You won’t be able to lift and carry away the cage unless you break it?” Yes, and you can’t do that. But I’ll try to help you with something,” Perico said. “Move closer,” and he began to untie the knot on Pinocchio’s hands with his beak through the bars of the cage.

A few minutes later the boy’s hands were free, and he was about to jump down when the parrot stopped him:

- Wait wait…

“I’m not afraid to jump,” Buratino objected. - I'm brave.

- No, that's not the point. You'll hit the floor and wake up the whole gang. Need to come up with something.

- What's going on with you?

Buratino got scared and froze, but Perico calmed him down:

- This is Mona the monkey. Fyrdybas caught her, put her on a chain, locked the chain, and threw the key to the castle into the sea. She, like me, will never see freedom.

The parrot sighed. All three fell silent as precious time passed. It was beginning to get light.

“I’ll jump, come what may,” Buratino said decisively.

The monkey below began to stir, and the chain clinked softly.

“I’m here,” she said. Jump on my shoulders.

“But I’m heavy, and it will hurt you,” Buratino tried to object.

- It’s okay, I’ll be patient. Come on, be brave, jump!

The wooden boy tore his hands away from the nail and flew down. The monkey groaned quietly, and both fell to the floor.

- Well? - Pinocchio asked in a whisper.

“It’s okay,” Mona replied, rubbing her bruised shoulder.

Feeling around in the dark with his hand, Pinocchio found a small padlock to which the monkey’s chain was locked. And then he remembered something that almost screamed with joy. He took a golden key from a secret pocket on his chest and inserted it into the hole in the lock. “Now we’ll test you for magic,” he thought, just in case he whispered magic words: “Cracks, fex, pex” - and turned the key.

The lock clicked quietly and opened.

“That’s great,” Buratino was delighted and threw the lock aside along with the chain. Then he grabbed Mona by the paw and dragged her to the corner where Artemon was lying.

Together they quickly freed the poodle from the ropes, and he struggled to his feet.

At the entrance to the hut the cat stirred and muttered:

- You can’t run away from me...

Pinocchio tiptoed back to the cage.

“Perico, I promise that I will definitely come for you,” he whispered to the parrot, looking at the cat. - Well, now, friends, follow me!

All three, carefully so as not to make noise, moved towards the exit.

The cat was sleeping and guarding Pinocchio in his sleep

When the fugitives moved a little away from the hut, Mona, who only now realized that she was free, whispered to Pinocchio.

A. E. Zarin

Escape from captivity

(Officer's story)

“They kept the oath of allegiance”: 1812 in Russian literature M., “Moscow Worker”, 1987. I was captured immediately after Borodin. We retreated to Mozhaisk. On August 29th I was sent on reconnaissance. I set out with a detachment of 16 people and was almost immediately surrounded by the enemy. I started to fight back, they killed the horse under me, I fell and they took me away. I found myself a prisoner in Victor's corps. They signed me up and took me aside, where I saw a crowd of my fellow sufferers. In a huge space, behind the trucks and charging boxes, in a chain of Italian rangers, prisoners stood, sat and lay. There were officers and soldiers, young and old, healthy and wounded. Two officers immediately approached me., and the other is young and very cheerful. Both of them were taken in the Battle of Borodino. “That means our regiment has arrived,” said Nefedov.“Still, Bonaparte has nothing to boast about,” said Fedoseev. “Look!” these are all prisoners almost from Smolensk! - and he pointed with his hand to the entire space surrounded by sentries. There were up to five hundred people on the lawn. Clearly, this is not much. “That means our regiment has arrived,” said Nefedov.). No, he has nothing to boast about! - Fedoseev graduated. - Why are we standing? “Let’s go get acquainted and you need something to eat,” said Nefedov, and we walked around the camp. A group of soldiers in tattered uniforms and white canvas trousers, on which blood stains were visible, were sitting by the fire. There were almost no healthy people among them: some had a bandaged head, some had a hand, and two were lying on the ground, covered with overcoats. everything is covered in mountain ash from smallpox. He smiled and said: “So there’s enough room for everyone.” But there was little space in the tiny tent. We lay down on armfuls of hay, covered with blankets, with our heads facing each other, and Gavryukov lay down at the very entrance to the tent. Night has fallen. Everything in the camp was quiet, only from time to time the shouts of the sentries and the neighing of horses could be heard. and it will be possible to enter it only by corpses. - one of our people suddenly shouted. - and he glared angrily with his black eyes. I was tired and soon fell asleep. can't go at all. I couldn’t even believe it. Are we really free? I jumped to my feet and helped the major to his feet. He stood up with a slight groan.

Thus ended the day of August 27th, my first day in captivity.

The next day, as soon as we woke up, Gavryukoz told us: “They are performing now.” The order was to gather. Indeed, everything in the camp was in motion. We drank some tea and had to go now. We were all gathered into one crowd, surrounded by the same huntsmen, the officer took a roll call for us and then commanded: “Forward!” We moved. Behind us, the seriously wounded were being transported in an awkward wagon.-- We had no adventures. They treated us well, and the officer in command of the convoy was truly a kind fellow. He often sat down by our fire during stops and talked very nicely with us. He was Piedmonese. Vertically challenged, alive as mercury, with a dark, moving face, with burning eyes, when he talked, he waved his arms, made grimaces and sparkled with teeth white as paper. - Why don’t you give us food? all biscuits and biscuits? - we asked him.- Where will I get it from? - and he spread his hands, - we ourselves have nothing. It's good if we catch a chicken. The soldiers eat horse meat. -Where are we going? right, there will be a battle soon?-- - Battle! Kutuzov will be waiting for us near Moscow. Napoleon will defeat him, and we will enter Moscow and make peace,” while the officer laughed cheerfully. His name was Caruso, Antonio Caruso. We were all indignant at the idea that Napoleon could conquer Moscow. We were sure that our army would block the wall China town-- a historical district of Moscow, which included Red Square and neighborhoods adjacent to the Kremlin. P. 312. Chandelier -- V Orthodox church

- a chandelier made of many candles and lamps hanging from the ceiling.

To escape from captivity, you needed ingenuity, determination and reliable comrades How many of our soldiers and officers were captured during the Great Patriotic War , has not yet been calculated. On the German side they talk about five million, Russian historians call the number 500 thousand less. How the Nazis treated prisoners is known from documents and eyewitness accounts. About 2.5 million people died from exhaustion and torture, and 470 thousand were executed. Even more passed through concentration camps - 18 million people from different countries , of which 11 million were destroyed. Anything could happen in the nightmare of the camps. Some immediately submitted to fate, others, saving their own skins, joined the fascists to serve. But there were always those who minimal chances

Despite success, he still decided to escape.

Hijacked a plane This was the 19-year-old's 12th combat mission. Nikolai Loshakov

. The Yak-16 engine malfunctioned, the pilot turned towards Leningrad, which was defended by their regiment in November 1942. In battle he knocked out a Messerschmitt, but found himself pinned down by two enemy aircraft. Wounded in the arm and leg, Nikolai jumped with a parachute from a burning plane over our territory, but a strong wind carried him towards the Fritz. The Germans began to persuade the captured pilot to come over to their side: they decided that the young man had been shot down in the first battle and, out of fear, would agree to serve in their aviation. After thinking about it, Loshakov agreed, but decided to himself - this The best way disrupt the Nazis' plan to form a squadron of traitors. He was sent to an alternate airfield in the city of Ostrov. However, they were not allowed near the planes. But freedom of movement was not limited. Nicholas found an assistant - a captured infantryman Ivan Denisyuk , who worked as a gas station attendant. He was able to get a German flight jacket and cap and sketch the location of the instruments on the plane. On August 11, 1943, a cargo Storch landed at the airfield, and the German pilot went to rest. Denisyuk quickly refueled the car, Loshakov quietly changed into German uniform

, calmly walked up to the plane, started the engine and soared into the sky. When the Germans realized that they had been duped, it was too late. The fugitives, having covered 300 kilometers, landed the plane in a potato field. This was the first escape from captivity on a plane captured from the enemy.

Valuable cargo Fighter pilot was captured in July 1944. Interrogations, torture, and Devyatayev are sent to the Lodz prisoner of war camp, from where he and his comrades try to escape a month later. They are caught, and now they are suicide bombers, wearing uniforms with appropriate stripes, and are heading to the Sachsenhausen camp. Here, 27-year-old Mikhail is helped by a local hairdresser: he changes his death row tag to the identification number of an ordinary prisoner who died a few days ago. Under the name Grigory Nikitenko Mikhail ends up in Peenemünde - a testing ground on the island of Usedom in the Baltic Sea, where V-missiles were tested. Prisoners were needed to perform unskilled work.

Mikhail DEVIATAYEV stole the most important Heinkel

The thought of escaping was constantly itching. Look how many planes there are around, and he is an ace pilot. But accomplices were needed - those who would not give up under any circumstances. Devyatayev slowly assembled a team and tried to get closer to the planes in order to study the instrument panels. They decided to escape on a Heinkel-111 bomber. On February 8, 1945, ten conspirators won their places in the brigades that were supposed to clean the airfield. They killed the guard with a sharpener, pulled the covers off the plane, Devyatayev sat at the controls, and it turned out that the battery... had been removed. But every minute counts. They rushed to look, found it, brought it, installed it. The car started. But she couldn’t take off the first time: Mikhail didn’t fully understand the levers. I had to turn around for a new run. The Nazis were already racing along the strip. The pilot flew the plane straight at them. Someone rushed towards the anti-aircraft guns, others raised a fighter to intercept. But the fugitives managed to break away from the chase. Having risen above the clouds, we were guided by the sun. We flew to the front line, and then Soviet anti-aircraft guns began firing at the fascist plane. I had to sit down right in the field. Of course, they did not immediately believe that they were escapees from captivity, and not traitors who had gone over to the side of the enemy. But it soon became clear that of all the planes at the test site, the daredevils stole the one on which the equipment for launching the world’s first V-2 ballistic missiles was installed. So they not only saved themselves, but also delivered the most valuable cargo for our rocket scientists. Mikhail Devyatayev was awarded the title of Hero in 1957 Soviet Union for his contribution to Soviet rocket science. Unfortunately, of the ten who fled by the end of the war, only four remained alive.

Enraged Tank

The Kummersdorf test site, 30 kilometers from Berlin, served the Germans as a testing center since late XIX century. During the war, prisoners captured in battle were brought there. military equipment- for a thorough study. Captured tank crews also ended up in Kummersdorf: to understand how a tank operated in battle, a crew was needed.

The next shooting at the end of 1943. The prisoners are promised freedom if they survive the test. But our people know: there is no chance. In the tank, the commander orders to obey only him and directs the car to the observation tower, where the entire fascist command is located. The tank, called by an armored personnel carrier, presses its tracks at full speed and freely leaves the training ground. In a concentration camp located nearby, a tank demolishes a checkpoint booth and part of the fence - several prisoners escape. When the fuel runs out, the tankers will go to their own on foot. Only the radio operator made it out alive, but he also died of exhaustion, having only managed to briefly tell his story to the lieutenant colonel Pavlovtsev. He tried to find out the details from the Germans who lived near Kummersdorf. But no one wanted to talk, except for the decrepit old man, who confirmed the story of the “escaped” tank. The grandfather admitted that what struck them most was the episode with the children who found themselves on the road. The tankers, who valued every minute, stopped, drove the children away, and only then rushed on.

There are no witnesses to this incident, and its heroes are nameless. But the story formed the basis of the film "Lark", filmed in 1964.

Riot of the doomed

Polish Sobibor was an extermination camp. But the death factory also needed workers. Therefore, the strongest were left alive - for the time being. In September 1943, another group of Soviet Jewish prisoners of war arrived. Among them is a 34-year-old Alexander Pechersky, who was assigned to the construction team. He organized an underground group and began planning his escape. At first they wanted to dig an underground passage. But for several dozen people to get through the narrow hole would take considerable time. It was decided to start an uprising.

The first victim was the Untersturmführer Berg. He came to a local tailor's shop to try on a suit, and ran into a rebel's axe. Next was the head of the camp guard. They acted clearly: some eliminated the camp leadership, others cut telephone wires, and others collected captured weapons. The rioters tried to get to the arsenal, but they were stopped by machine-gun fire. It was decided to get out of the camp. Some died in the minefield surrounding Sobibor. The rest hid in the forest, divided into groups and dispersed. Most of the fugitives, including Alexander Pechersky, joined the partisans. 53 prisoners managed to escape alive.

Hares hunting

Beginning of 1945. Austria, Mauthausen concentration camp. Brought here Soviet pilot Nikolai Vlasov- Hero of the Soviet Union, who completed 220 combat missions. He was captured in 1943 when his plane was shot down and he was wounded. The Nazis even allowed him to wear the Golden Star. They wanted to get themselves an ace and called for him to join the army of the traitor - the general Vlasova. And Nikolai tried to escape from all the camps where he happened to be imprisoned. And in Mauthausen he organized a resistance group.

First, the headquarters, consisting of several people, developed a plan. As weapons they will have cobblestones from the pavement, sticks, and washbasins broken into fragments. The guards on the towers are neutralized with streams from fire extinguishers. The current passed through the barbed wire will be short-circuited by wet blankets and clothes. We agreed with the others. 75 people, exhausted to the point that they could not walk, promised to give up their clothes: they no longer cared, and the fugitives could freeze in the ten-degree frost. A date was set: on the night of January 29. But a traitor was found. Three days before the escape, the Nazis burned 25 people alive in a crematorium, including all the organizers. But that didn't stop others. On the night of February 3, the prisoners carried out their plan.

419 people escaped from the camp. 100 were killed by machine gun fire from the towers. The rest were hunted. They raised everyone: the military, the gendarmerie, the people's militia, the Hitler Youth and local residents. They ordered not to take them alive, but to take the corpses to the backyard of the school in the village of Ried in der Riedmarkt. The dead were counted by crossing out sticks with chalk on school blackboard.

The operation was called “Hare Hunt in the Mühlviertel District.”

People were excited! They shot at everything that moved. The fugitives were found in houses, carts, barnyards, haystacks and cellars and killed on the spot. The snow was stained with blood, the local gendarme recorded at the time. Johan Kohout.

However, nine sticks on the school board remained uncrossed. Among the survivors were Mikhail Ryabchinsky And Nikolay Tsemkalo. They risked climbing into the hayloft of one of the houses: it was the only one without a portrait Hitler. Then Mikhail, who spoke German, went to the owners - Maria And Yogan Langthalers. Pious peasants, whose four sons were at the front, decided to help the Russians. They thought to appease God so that their offspring would remain alive. They managed to hide the fugitives from SS search teams until the surrender. The Langthaler sons did indeed return home. And Ryabchinsky and Tsemkalo kept in touch with their rescuers all their lives and even visited them in Austria in 1965.

Mysterious infection

Vladimir Bespyatkin in 1941 he was 12. His mother died four years before the start of the war, his father and older brothers were called to the front, and the boy was left with his five-year-old sister Lida. They lived in the Donbass, in a factory barracks, from hand to mouth. We had to beg for bread from the occupiers. One day, Volodya was captured by police and taken to the building of a local orphanage. Begging to be let go, the boy let slip that his little sister was waiting at home. Then Lida was brought to the orphanage.

This place couldn't get any more satisfying. They were fed a brew made from burnt grain from burned fields. They beat us for the slightest offense. They could have gotten angry and thrown him out the window from the third floor or slashed him in the throat with a knife. And, as it turned out, they conducted medical experiments on children. The only one who tried to somehow help the prisoners was the head, Frau Betta, a German from the Volga region.

The worst thing for children was to end up in an isolation ward. They didn’t know what they were doing there, but no one returned from there. They just took away the wooden boxes and burned them, and buried the ashes in a quarry. One day Volodya ended up in the isolation ward. There were two of them in the room. The second boy's blood was drained and he fell asleep, exhausted. And Volodya’s body was scratched with a metal brush. A few hours later he was covered in blisters and realized that he, too, would be taken to the quarry in a wooden box. We must run!

As an adult, I recalled this situation many times and realized that Frau Betta saved me, recalled Vladimir Bespyatkin. “At night, the nurse started snoring very deliberately, and the office window was open. I wanted to call the boy whose blood was taken, but it turned out that he had died. Then I quietly went to the window and ran away. Crawling, dashing, hiding, I reached Shchebenka station and knocked on the first house.

Irina Omelchenko, who sheltered the boy, became his second mother. After the liberation of Donbass, she also took Lida. Periodically appearing scabs bothered Vladimir all his life. The doctors could not understand what the Nazis infected him with.

They sang and dug

At the Stalag Luft III camp, officers and pilots of the Allies, mainly of the British and American armies, were kept. They lived in completely different conditions than Soviet prisoners of war: they were fed well, allowed to play sports, arrange theatrical performances. This helped them dig four deep tunnels: the sound of the work was drowned out by choral singing. In one of the passages there was even a trolley running and there were ventilation pipes made of milk cans. 250 people dug the tunnels. Each tunnel was given a name. “Harry” was the longest: 102 meters and passed at a depth of 8.5 meters. 76 people escaped overnight. However, most were caught. 50 were shot, the rest were returned to the camp. Only three managed to survive and reach their own.

David Copperfield was born half orphaned six months after the death of his father. It so happened that his father's aunt, Miss Betsey Trotwood, was present at his birth - her marriage was so unsuccessful that she became a man-hater and returned to maiden name and settled in the wilderness. Before her nephew’s marriage, she loved him very much, but she came to terms with his choice and came to meet his wife only six months after his death. Miss Betsy expressed a desire to become the godmother of a newborn girl (she definitely wanted a girl to be born), asked to name her Betsy Trotwood Copperfield and intended to “raise her properly,” protecting her from everyone possible errors. Having learned that a boy was born, she was so disappointed that, without saying goodbye, she left her nephew’s house forever.

As a child, David is surrounded by the care and love of his mother and nanny Peggotty. But his mother is getting married for the second time.

During their honeymoon, David and his nanny are sent to Yarmouth to stay with his brother Peggotty. This is how he first finds himself in a hospitable longboat house and meets its inhabitants: Mr. Peggotty, his nephew Ham, his niece Emlie (David falls in love with her as a child) and the widow of his companion Mrs. Gummidge.

Returning home, David finds there a “new dad” - Mr. Mardston and a completely changed mother: now she is afraid to caress him and obeys her husband in everything. When Mr. Mardston’s sister also moves in with them, the boy’s life becomes completely unbearable. The Mardstons are very proud of their firmness, meaning by it “the tyrannical, gloomy, arrogant, devilish disposition inherent in both of them.” The boy is taught at home; under the ferocious gaze of his stepfather and his sister, he becomes dumb with fear and cannot answer the lesson. The only joy in his life is his father's books, which, fortunately, ended up in his room. For poor studies, he is deprived of lunch and slapped on the head; Finally, Mr. Mardstone decides to resort to flogging. As soon as the first blow hit David, he bit his stepfather's hand. For this he is sent to Salem House School - right in the middle of the holidays. His mother bade him a cold farewell under the watchful gaze of Miss Mardstone, and only when the cart had pulled away from the house did the faithful Peggotty stealthily jump into it and, showering “her Davy” with kisses, provided her with a basket of delicacies and a purse, in which, among other money, were two half-crowns from his mother, wrapped in a piece of paper with the inscription: “For Davy. With love". At school, his back was immediately decorated with a poster: “Beware! It bites!” The holidays are over, its inhabitants return to the school, and David meets new friends - the recognized leader among the students, James Steerford, six years older than him, and Tommy Traddles - “the most cheerful and the most unfortunate.” The school is run by Mr. Creakle, whose teaching method is intimidation and spanking; not only his students, but also his family are mortally afraid of him. Steerford, whom Mr. Creakle fawns over, takes Copperfield under his protection because he, like Scheherazade, tells him the contents of books from his father's library at night.

The Christmas holidays come, and David goes home, not yet knowing that this meeting with his mother is destined to be his last: she will soon die, and David’s newborn brother will also die. After the death of his mother, David no longer returns to school: Mr. Mardstone explains to him that education costs money and people like David Copperfield will not need it, because it is time for them to earn a living. The boy acutely feels his abandonment: the Mardstons have calculated Peggotty, and the kind nanny is the only person in the world who loves him. Peggotty returns to Yarmouth and marries the carter Barkis; but before parting, she begged the Mardstons to let David stay in Yarmouth, and he again ends up in a longboat house on the seashore, where everyone sympathizes with him and everyone is kind to him - the last breath of love before difficult trials.

Mardstone sends David to London to work in trading house"Mardstone and Grinby." So at the age of ten, David enters an independent life - that is, he becomes a slave of the company. Together with other boys, always hungry, he washes bottles all day long, feeling how he is gradually forgetting the wisdom of school and horrified at the thought that someone from his former life might see him. His suffering is strong and deep, but he does not complain.

David becomes very attached to the family of the owner of his apartment, Mr. Micawber, a frivolous loser, constantly besieged by creditors and living in the eternal hope that someday “happiness will smile on us.” Mrs. Micawber, easily hysterical and just as easily consoled, continually asks David to pawn either a silver spoon or sugar tweezers. But they also have to part with the Micawbers: they end up in a debtor’s prison, and after their release they go to seek their fortune in Plymouth. David, who doesn't have a single one left in this city loved one, firmly decides to run to Grandma Trotwood. In the letter, he asks Peggotty where his grandmother lives and asks him to send him half a guinea as a loan. Having received the money and a very vague answer that Miss Trotwood lives “somewhere near Dover,” David collects his things in a chest and goes to the mail coach station; On the way he is robbed, and, already without a chest and without money, he sets off on foot. He sleeps under open air and sells his jacket and vest to buy bread, he is exposed to many dangers - and on the sixth day, hungry and dirty, with broken legs, he comes to Dover. Having happily found his grandmother's house, sobbing, he tells his story and asks for protection. Grandma writes to the Mardstons and promises to give a final answer after talking with them, but in the meantime David is washed, fed dinner and put into a real, clean bed.

After talking with the Mardstons and understanding the full extent of their gloom, rudeness and greed (taking advantage of the fact that David’s mother, whom they brought to the grave, did not stipulate David’s share in the will, they took possession of all her property without allocating him a penny), the grandmother decides to become David's official guardian.

Finally David returns to normal life. Although his grandmother is eccentric, she is very, very kind, and not only to her great-nephew. In her house lives the quiet, crazy Mr. Dick, whom she saved from Bedlam. David begins studying at Dr. Strong's school in Canterbury; Since there are no more places in the boarding school at the school, the grandmother gratefully accepts the offer of her lawyer Mr. Wickfield to place the boy with him. After the death of his wife, Mr. Wickfield, drowning in grief, began to have an immoderate passion for port wine; the only light of his life is his daughter Agnes, the same age as David. For David, she also became a good angel. Uriah Heep works in Mr. Wickfield's law office - a disgusting type, red-haired, writhing with his whole body, with unclosing red eyes, without eyelashes, with eternally cold and damp hands, to each of his phrases, obsequiously adding: “we are small, humble people.”

Dr. Strong's school turns out to be the exact opposite of Mr. Creakle's school. David is a successful student and happy school years, warmed by the love of grandmother, Mr. Dick, good angel Agnes, fly by instantly.

After finishing school, his grandmother invites David to go to London, visit Peggotty and, after resting, choose a business to his liking; David goes traveling. In London he meets Steerford, with whom he studied at Salem House. Steerford invites him to stay with his mother, and David accepts the invitation. In turn, David invites Steerford to go with him to Yarmouth.

They come to the longboat house at the moment of Emly and Ham's engagement, Emly has grown and blossomed, women all over the area hate her for her beauty and ability to dress with taste; she works as a seamstress. David lives in his nanny's house, Steerford in an inn; David spends his days wandering around the cemetery around his family’s graves, Steerford goes to sea, arranges feasts for sailors and charms the entire population of the coast, “impelled by an unconscious desire to rule, an unconscious need to conquer, to conquer even that which has no value to him.” How David will regret bringing him here!

Steerford seduces Emly, and on the eve of the wedding she runs away with him, "to return as a lady or not to return at all." Ham's heart is broken, he longs to lose himself in work, Mr. Peggotty goes to look for Emly around the world, and only Mrs. Gummidge remains in the longboat house - so that the light is always on in the window, in case Emly returns. Long years There is no news about her, finally David learns that in Italy Emly ran away from Steerford when he, bored with her, invited her to marry his servant.

Grandma suggests that David choose a career as a lawyer - a proctor at Doctor Commons. David agrees, his grandmother pays a thousand pounds for his education, arranges his life and returns to Dover.

Begins independent life David in London. He is glad to meet again Tommy Traddles, his friend from Salem House, who also works in the legal field, but, being poor, earns his living and education on his own. Traddles is engaged and eagerly tells David about his Sophie. David is also in love - with Dora, the daughter of Mr. Spenlow, the owner of the company where he is studying. Friends have a lot to talk about. Despite the fact that life does not spoil him, Traddles is surprisingly good-natured. It turns out that the owners of his apartment are the Micawbers; they are, as usual, enmeshed in debt. David is happy to renew his acquaintance; Traddles and the Micawbers form his social circle until the Micawbers go to Canterbury - under pressure from circumstances and inspired by the hope that “fortune has smiled on them”: Mr. Micawber got a job in the Wickfield and Heap office.

Uriah Heap, skillfully playing on Mr. Wickfield's weakness, became his partner and is gradually taking over the office. He deliberately confuses the accounts and shamelessly robs the firm and its clients, getting Mr. Wickfield drunk and instilling in him the belief that the cause of the disastrous state of affairs is his drunkenness. He takes up residence in Mr. Wickfield's house and sexually harasses Agnes. And Micawber, completely dependent on him, is hired to help him in his dirty business.

One of Uriah Heep's victims is David's grandmother. She is ruined; with Mr. Dick and all her belongings, she comes to London, renting out her house in Dover in order to feed herself. David is not at all discouraged by this news; he goes to work as a secretary for Dr. Strong, who retired and settled in London (the good angel Agnes recommended this place to him); In addition, he studies shorthand. The grandmother manages their household in such a way that it seems to David that he has become richer, not poorer; Mr. Dick earns money by copying papers. Having mastered shorthand, David begins to make very good money as a parliamentary reporter.

Having learned about the change in David's financial situation, Mr. Spenlow, Dora's father, refuses him the house. Dora is also afraid of poverty. David is inconsolable; but when Mr. Spenlow died suddenly, it turned out that his affairs were in complete disarray - Dora, who now lives with her aunts, is no richer than David. David is allowed to visit her; Dora's aunts got along very well with David's grandmother. David is slightly embarrassed that everyone treats Dora like a toy; but she herself has nothing against it. Having reached adulthood, David marries. This marriage turned out to be short-lived: two years later, Dora dies before she has time to grow up.

Mr Peggotty finds Emly; after much ordeal, she reached London, where Martha Endell, a fallen girl from Yarmouth, whom Emly once helped, in turn saves her and brings her to her uncle’s apartment. (It was David’s idea to involve Martha in the search for Emly.) Mr. Peggotty now intends to emigrate to Australia, where no one will be interested in Emly’s past.

Meanwhile, Mr. Micawber, unable to participate in Uriah Heap's frauds, with the help of Traddles, exposes him. good name Mr. Wickfield was saved, and the grandmother and other clients' fortunes were returned. Full of gratitude, Miss Trotwood and David pay the Micawber bills and lend money to this nice family: the Micawbers also decided to go to Australia. Mr. Wickfield liquidates the company and retires; Agnes opens a school for girls.

On the eve of the ship's departure to Australia, a terrible storm occurred on the Yarmouth coast - it claimed the lives of Ham and Steerford.

After Dora's death, David, who became famous writer(from journalism he switched to fiction), he goes to the continent to overcome his grief by working. Returning three years later, he marries Agnes, who, as it turned out, loved him all her life. Grandma finally became godmother to Betsy Trotwood Copperfield (that’s the name of one of her great-granddaughters); Peggotty babysits David's children; Traddles is also married and happy. The emigrants have settled down wonderfully in Australia. Uriah Heap is held in a prison run by Mr. Creakle.

Thus, life put everything in its place.

In memory of Dickens. Audio book and film (2009) "David Copperfield"

Charles John Huffam Dickens (February 7, 1812, Portsmouth, England - June 9, 1870, Higham (English) Russian, England) - English writer, novelist and essayist. The most popular English-language writer during his lifetime, he even today has a reputation as a classic of world literature, one of greatest prose writers XIX century. Dickens's work is considered to be the pinnacle of realism, but his novels reflected both sentimental and fairy-tale beginnings. The most famous novels Dickens (published in separate issues with a continuation): “Posthumous Notes Pickwick Club", "Oliver Twist", "David Copperfield", "Great Expectations", "A Tale of Two Cities".

The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery is a largely autobiographical novel by Charles Dickens, published in five parts in 1849 and as a separate book in 1850 This is the first of his works where the narrative is told in the first person.

David Copperfield was born a few months after his father's death. When the boy was seven years old, his beloved mother married the prim Mr. Murdstone. Mutual hostility immediately arose between the boy and his stepfather, which intensified after Murdstone’s sister took control of the house, and his stepfather began to beat him for poor academic performance.
Murdstone sends the boy to private school, where, despite the oppression of teachers, he finds joy in communicating with friends such as James Steerforth and Tommy Traddles. Meanwhile, his mother dies, and Murdstone sends the boy to work in a factory he owns in London. There he settles down to live in the house of Wilkins Micawber, who, despite the terrible poverty, always remains optimistic.
After Micawber is sent to debtor's prison, David, bored with his life of poverty, ventures to Dover to live with his late father's aunt, Miss Betsey Trotwood. Having made the entire journey on foot, he falls under the protection of an eccentric relative. Murdstone's attempt to take the boy from her fails.
More and more characters come in and out of David's life until, by the end of the book, he becomes a brilliant young writer. He spends some time in the house of his aunt's lawyer, Mr. Wickfield, who is plunging into the abyss of alcoholism at the instigation of the disgusting clerk Uriah Heap, who is doing his dark deeds behind the old man's back.
Having become Wickfield's partner, Heap recruits Micawber. He, together with Copperfield, receives evidence of Heap's machinations and leads him to clean water. In parallel with this, the story of Steerforth is told, who seduced the orphan girl Emily and fled with her to Europe; this story line ends in tragedy.
David meanwhile falls in love with the naive Dora Spenlow, who becomes his wife. After the death of the impractical Dora main character finds happiness with Mr. Wickfield's noble daughter, Agnes.
"David Copperfield" is perhaps the most popular of Dickens's novels, and not only in English speaking countries, but also abroad. His Russian translation of the magazines " Domestic notes", "Moskvityanin" and "Sovremennik" were published almost immediately after the publication of the original, in 1850. This classic example educational novel; he was admired by L. N. Tolstoy (“What a delight David Copperfield!”), F. M. Dostoevsky, G. James, F. Kafka and many other authors. J. Joyce was disgusted by Dickens's sentimentality, his addiction to maxims and looseness narrative structure; he caustically parodied the style of the novel in Bulls of the Sun.

"The Life of David Copperfield as Told by Himself"

David Copperfield (2009)