Difficult times (D.T.) Hard Times is a novel by Charles Dickens, first published in 1854. The book explores English society, deriding the social and economic conditions of that era. "Hard Times", which became Dickens's tenth novel, is unusual in several respects. It is the shortest of his novels (about four times smaller in volume than the previous and the next), it was published without an author's introduction and without illustrations; it is the only Dickens novel in which there are no scenes taking place in London. The whole story takes place in the fictional industrial city of Cocktown, similar to Manchester, but smaller in size. The bulk of the stories and essays published in this volume were first published in the magazine "Household Words", founded by Dickens in 1850. In creating Home Reading, Dickens drew on the experience of such popular 18th-century publications as D.'s Political Review. Defoe, satiric-narrative magazines "Boltoon" and "The Spectator" Addison and Style, a series of essays "The Bee" O. Goldsmith. The main genres of "Home Reading" were essay, story, essay. A significant part of the published works are humorous miniatures, detective and adventure stories. Illustrations published on page. : 19, 37, 63, 105, 139, 145, 183, 215, 227, 237, 263, 267, 299, 317, owned by artist X. French; on page. : 91, 141, 191, 289, 381, 385, 545, 573F. Walker . Translation: Toper B. , Volpin N. , Borovoi L. , Khutsishvili N. , Lorie M. , Daruses N. , Klyagina-Kondratieva M. , Alexandrova Z. Editor: M. Loria . Comments: Parfenov A. , Shestakov D.