Hard Times - Charles Dickens

Dickens uses art to confront ideology that would have certainly discarded artists had it been able to thrive. 18th and 19th century England is on display as the Industrial Revolution is in full swing. Man is degraded to his economic value, education is attempting to produce rational drones and the city is a metaphorical cancer on nature. Such is the life portrayed in this novel. Dickens makes no apology for his rejection of industry and modernism and he conjures sympathy in the reader.

The characters are less developed than in Dickens' other writing but are memorable for their absurdity, failure and/or innocence. It is an enjoyable story.