CLASSIC BOOKS by JULIAN EARWAKER
SPEAKERS SARAH DAVISON & DANIEL FRANCIS
David Cop
by Charles Dickens UPPER INTERMEDIATE
B2
ON CD 15
GLOSSARY 1 scholars: académicos 2 best-loved: más queridas 3 to weave: entretejer 4 bildungsroman: novela de formación (préstamo del alemán) 5 to pass away: fallecer 6 stepfather: padrastro 7 to hinder: impedir 8 cast of characters: galería de personajes 9 debt: deudas 10 to share: compartir 11 to fail: ser incapaz
B
orn in 1812, Charles Dickens was a literary genius and the most famous author of the 19th century. He possessed what scholars1 called “the conscience of his age”, combining social critique, characterisation and humour in his writing, exploring the inequalities and contradictions of Victorian society. First published as a serial in 1849-50, and as a book in 1850, David Copperfield is one of his best-loved2 novels and according to the author himself “is a very complicated weaving3 of truth and invention.”
EDUCATION A middle-aged David Copperfield narrates the novel in first person. Now an eminent author, he looks back on his formative years and experiences in classic bildungsroman4 style. David’s father dies before he is born and his mother passes away5 when he is still very young. At the age of ten, he is taken out of school by his stepfather6 and sent to work in a factory —which was also Dickens’ experience as a child:
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“You have received some considerable education already. Education is costly; and even if it were not, and I could afford it, I am of the opinion that it would not be at all advantageous to you to be kept at school. What is before you, is a fight with the world; and the sooner you begin it, the better.” “Has recibido hasta ahora una esmerada educación. Un internado es muy caro y, aunque no lo fuese y yo pudiera costearlo, tengo el convencimiento de que no sería lo mejor para ti. En este mundo, la
