Resumen
Resumen de Los papeles póstumos del Club Pickwick
Para quién es
For readers who love warm, talkative humour full of colourful people, comic journeys and loyal friendships, or who want to see where Dickens began.
De qué trata este libro
The Pickwick Papers is the first novel by Charles Dickens, and it began as a job for hire. In 1836 the publishers Chapman and Hall asked the young writer, then twenty-four, to supply the text for a series of comic sporting pictures by the artist Robert Seymour. Dickens bent the plan to his own taste, and the story came out in monthly parts until 1937 turned into 1837. It sold so well that it made him known across the country.
The story follows Samuel Pickwick, a kind, round, trusting retired businessman who founds a club to study the oddities of human nature. He sets out by coach across southern England with three friends, and they meet cheats, lovers, lawyers, actors, drunks and ghosts. One scrape follows another. Then a quick-witted London servant named Sam Weller steps in and, many readers say, steals the book.
What you get is a loose, comic road story that grows warmer and sharper. You see an England of coaching inns, rowdy elections, cricket fields and law courts, as it looked in the 1820s and 1830s. You also meet a hero whose plain goodness is tested by the law itself. Let us begin with the club, and with the first coach ride out of London.
En este resumen
- 1A club of curious men sets outFree
- 2A servant arrives who outshines his master
- 3A landlady misreads a kind remark
- 4Elections, inns and the wrong bedroom
- 5Strange tales told by the fireside
- 6The law closes in on a good man
- 7Goodness and innocence face a cunning world
- 8Law, money, class and the comfort of fellowship
- 9A comic novel that found its own shape
Idea clave 1 de 9
A club of curious men sets out
The book opens with the Pickwick Club, whose members meet in London to hear the papers of their founder, Samuel Pickwick. He is a retired businessman, bald and bespectacled, who wears gaiters and a round waistcoat and believes the best of everyone. His idea is simple. He and three companions will travel the country, observe the places and people they find, and report back to the club.
The three companions are very different men. Tracy Tupman is plump and sure that he is still a great lover. Augustus Snodgrass fancies himself a poet and speaks in large, vague phrases. Nathaniel Winkle is a young man who boasts of his skill at sport, though he has hardly held a gun or ridden a horse.
Their first trip takes them by coach to Rochester in Kent. On the way Pickwick quarrels with a cab driver who suspects him of being a spy, and the first of many misunderstandings begins. Then the group meets a stranger who talks without stopping, in broken, telegraphic sentences. He calls himself Alfred Jingle, and he is a strolling actor and a cheerful, shameless trickster.
Jingle charms the party and lives off them. He gets Winkle into a quarrel with an army officer, and he borrows clothes, dinners and trust wherever he can. Pickwick sees only a lively fellow with a hard life. The reader sees at once that this man will come back, and that he is not what he seems.
The friends move on to Dingley Dell, a farm in the Kent countryside owned by the hearty Mr Wardle. There they find a house full of pies, cold meats, old ladies and young girls, and a fat boy named Joe who falls asleep wherever he stands. The visit brings a cricket match and the first sign of how this book works. Nothing much happens, and yet every scene is crowded with people you remember.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Who’s who
- Samuel Pickwick
- A kindly retired businessman, he founds the Pickwick Club and travels with three friends to study human nature.
- Sam Weller
- A quick-witted London servant, he becomes Pickwick's loyal attendant and supplies practical wisdom his trusting master lacks.
- Alfred Jingle
- A fast-talking actor and trickster, he exploits other people's trust and repeatedly crosses Pickwick's path.
- Mrs Bardell
- Pickwick's widowed landlady, she cares for her young son and misunderstands her lodger's kindly words.
- Nathaniel Winkle
- The Pickwick Club's would-be sportsman, he travels with Pickwick and boasts of sporting abilities he lacks.
- Tracy Tupman
- A romantic member of the Pickwick Club, he accompanies Pickwick and his friends with an eager interest in courtship.
- Augustus Snodgrass
- The club's dreamy would-be poet, he accompanies Pickwick, Winkle and Tupman and speaks in grand phrases.
- Mr Wardle
- The hearty owner of Dingley Dell, he welcomes Pickwick's party and keeps a protective eye on his family.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 311,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 20 h 45 min
- Listening time34 h 30 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 14 other languages
Questions about Los papeles póstumos del Club Pickwick
What is The Pickwick Papers about?
It tells of Samuel Pickwick and his three friends, who travel through England to study people and meet cheats, lovers and lawyers. A misunderstanding with his landlady leads to a lawsuit that tests his character.
Who is Sam Weller in The Pickwick Papers?
Sam is a young London boots who becomes Pickwick's servant. His sharp tongue, loyalty and street wisdom made him the best-loved character in the book, and he helped the story find its voice.
When was The Pickwick Papers written and published?
Dickens wrote it in 1836 and 1837, when he was in his twenties. It came out in monthly parts before being gathered into a single book. It is fiction, but it reflects real English life of the time.
Is The Pickwick Papers hard to read?
No. The story is a lively comic road trip, and each stop brings new people and a fresh scrape. Pickwick is a kind, trusting hero, and Sam Weller's sharp, joking voice makes every scene fun to follow.
What is the Pickwick Club?
It is a London club founded by Samuel Pickwick to study human nature and the odd habits of people. Pickwick and three members travel the country and report their findings, which gives the book its loose structure.