小杜丽 (1857)

《小杜丽》（Little Dorrit）是英国作家狄更斯的长篇小说作品，发表于1855年—1857年。故事可分为上下两部，上部内容写威廉·杜丽全家老少因无力偿还债务而先后被终身监禁于位于伦敦桥和乔治教堂南大街的中段的马夏尔西监狱（Marshalea Prison），她的父亲被称为马夏西之父，她遇到了同为狱友的海吉格医生，下半部内容则写小杜丽家变有钱之后。这部小说极具灰暗色彩，故事中的“繁荣”代表的本质就是邪恶，讽刺英国官僚机制“什么事都不做”的麻木不仁。

Little Dorrit is a novel by English author Charles Dickens, originally published in serial form between 1855 and 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.

Plot summary

Poverty

In 1826 Marseille, murderer Rigaud narrates to his prison cellmate John Baptist Cavalletto how he had killed his wife, just prior to being taken to trial. Businessman Arthur Clennam is detained with other travellers in quarantine in Marseilles and becomes friends with the merchants Mr. and Mrs. Meagles, their daughter "Pet", and their maid, an orphan named Harriet Beadle whom the family has nicknamed Tattycoram. Arthur has spent the last twenty years in China with his father, handling that part of the family business; his father died recently there. Arthur is now returning to London to see his mother, Mrs Clennam.

When Arthur's father was on his deathbed, he gave Arthur a watch to give to his mother with a message inside, murmuring "Your mother," which Arthur delivers to Mrs. Clennam. Inside the watch casing is an old silk paper with the initials DNF (do not forget) worked in beads. Arthur asks about the message, but Mrs. Clennam, who now uses a wheelchair, refuses to reveal what it means. Arthur says that he will not continue in the family business and will seek new opportunity on his own. Jeremiah Flintwinch then presses Mrs. Clennam on her failure to tell Arthur of the past.

In London, William Dorrit, imprisoned as a debtor, has been a resident of Marshalsea debtors' prison for over twenty years. He has three children: Edward (known as Tip), Fanny and Amy. The youngest daughter, Amy, was born in the prison and is affectionately known as Little Dorrit. Their mother died when Amy was eight years old. Tip has recently been imprisoned for his own gambling debts, and Fanny lives outside the prison with William's older brother Frederick. She works as a dancing girl in the music hall (where Frederick plays the clarinet) and has attracted the attention of the wealthy Edmund Sparkler. Little Dorrit, devoted to her father, supports them both through her sewing and is free to pass in and out of the prison. To maintain the honour of her father, who is embarrassed to acknowledge his financial position, Little Dorrit avoids mentioning her work outside the prison or his inability to leave. Mr Dorrit assumes the role of Father of the Marshalsea and is held in respect by its inhabitants, as if he had chosen to live there.

After Arthur tells his mother that he will not continue in the family business, Mrs. Clennam chooses her clerk Jeremiah Flintwinch as her partner. When Arthur learns that Mrs. Clennam employs Little Dorrit as a seamstress and shows her unusual kindness, he wonders whether the young girl might be connected with the watch's mystery. Arthur follows the girl to the Marshalsea. He tries in vain to enquire about William Dorrit's debt in the Circumlocution Office – assuming the role of benefactor towards Little Dorrit, her father, and her brother. Meanwhile, Rigaud, who has been released for lack of evidence, approaches Mrs. Clennam under the name Blandois and blackmails her and Flintwinch into giving him a place in her business.