Hard Times is unusual in several ways. It is by far the shortest of Dickens' novels, barely a quarter of the length of those written immediately before and after it. Also, unlike all but one of his other novels, Hard Times has neither a preface nor illustrations. Moreover, it is his only novel not to have scenes set in London. Instead the story is set in the fictitious Victorian industrial Coketown, a generic Northern English mill-town, in some ways similar to Manchester, though smaller. Coketown may be partially based on 19th-century Preston.
Les Indes noires est un roman de Jules Verne, publié en 1877. L'auteur établit dans ce récit un parallèle entre la richesse mythique des Indes, orientales ou occidentales, et la nouvelle richesse des régions industrialisées d'Europe, fondée sur le charbon, au cours de la révolution industrielle.
又名《七十二朝四书人物演义》，是明代的一部较为特殊的白话小说集，共四十卷，每卷独立成篇。与其他小说不同的是，这四十篇文字正文所写的人物和事件都源于“四书”，每卷题目也均取自“四书”中的原句。因其所描写的“四书”中提及的人物分属于春秋列朝，“那时天下有七十二国”，故冠之以“七十二朝人物”。孙楷第先生在《中国通俗小说书目》中将之置于“明清小说部甲”中，但又视其为“译述性质”，认为“去通俗小说甚远”，因此“姑附诸书之后”，表明其体制的特殊性。据孙楷第先生著录，有明刊本，日本内阁文库、静嘉堂文库藏；光绪丁酉上海十万卷楼石印本，每卷有图，有总评、旁评。石印本封面题“李卓吾先生秘本”，“诸名家汇评写像”，有庚辰仲春癯道人序和空冷散人、磊道人二序。