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Little Dorrit is a novel by English author Charles Dickens, originally published in serial form between 1855 and 1857. The volume is a massive work, totally over 330,000 words. Little Dorrit was published in 19 monthly installments, each consisting of 32 pages with two illustrations by Hablot Knight Browne whose pen name was Phiz. Each instalment cost a shilling except for the last, a double issue which cost two shillings. The first book edition was published by Bradbury and Evens in 1857
The story features Amy Dorrit, youngest child of her family, born and raised in the Marshalsea prison for debtors in London. Arthur Clennam encounters her after returning home from a 20-year absence, ready to begin his life anew.
The novel satirises some shortcomings of British society and government at the time, including the institution of debtors' prisons, where debtors were imprisoned, unable to work and yet incarcerated until they had repaid their debts. The prison in this case is the Marshalsea, where Dickens's own father had been imprisoned. Dickens is also critical of the inert bureaucracy of the British government, in this novel in the form of the fictional "Circumlocution Office". In addition, Dickens satirises the stratification of society that results from the British class system.
The story has been adapted for the screen six times, the first being in 1913.
LITTLE DORRIT
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