Charles Dickens - Bleak House

by Charles Dickens

"It is not a large world. Relatively even to this world of ours, which has its limits too (as your Highness shall find when you have made the tour of it and are come to the brink of the void beyond), it is a very little speck. There is much good in it; there are many good and true people in it; it has its appointed place. But the evil of it is that it is a world wrapped up in too much jeweller's cotton and fine wool, and cannot hear the rushing of the larger worlds, and cannot see them as they circle round the sun. It is a deadened world, and its growth is sometimes unhealthy for want of air."Bleak House by Charles Dickens wins with its superb descriptive writing, subtle humour, and the exciting plot. At the centre of Bleak House is a long-running legal case in the Court of Chancery, Jarndyce and Jarndyce, which came about because a testator has written several conflicting wills. In a preface to the 1853 first edition, Dickens wrote there were many actual precedents for his fictional case.

1274 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 1987

About the author

Charles John Huffam Dickens (1812-1870) was a writer and social critic who created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the twentieth century critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories enjoy lasting popularity.

Dickens left school to work in a factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors' prison. Despite his lack of formal education, he edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, education, and other social reforms.

Dickens was regarded as the literary colossus of his age. His 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. Oliver Twist and Great Expectations are also frequently adapted, and, like many of his novels, evoke images of early Victorian London. His 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Cities, set in London and Paris, is his best-known work of historical fiction. Dickens's creative genius has been praised by fellow writers—from Leo Tolstoy to George Orwell and G. K. Chesterton—for its realism, comedy, prose style, unique characterisations, and social criticism. On the other hand, Oscar Wilde, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf complained of a lack of psychological depth, loose writing, and a vein of saccharine sentimentalism. The term Dickensian is used to describe something that is reminiscent of Dickens and his writings, such as poor social conditions or comically repulsive characters.

On 8 June 1870, Dickens suffered another stroke at his home after a full day's work on Edwin Drood. He never regained consciousness, and the next day he died at Gad's Hill Place. Contrary to his wish to be buried at Rochester Cathedral "in an inexpensive, unostentatious, and strictly private manner," he was laid to rest in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey. A printed epitaph circulated at the time of the funeral reads: "To the Memory of Charles Dickens (England's most popular author) who died at his residence, Higham, near Rochester, Kent, 9 June 1870, aged 58 years. He was a sympathiser with the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; and by his death, one of England's greatest writers is lost to the world." His last words were: "On the ground", in response to his sister-in-law Georgina's request that he lie down.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

When reading "important" books, it's helpful to have some guidance. In the case of "Bleak House" I had an excellent discussion leader and wonderful classmates. If you are without those assets, reading a critical interpretation or the work can give you some of the fullness in the novel.

There are seven essays in this book. They are very academic. All opened my mind to new aspects of the novel that I had not considered such as the role of ghosts, the significance of the "deaths" and the feminist perspective. It's not light reading, but well worth it.

What reading such a book brings to mind is my chosen inability to spend much of my reading hours on re-reads. There is nothing I would like to do so much as to re-read "Bleak House" right now, but the stack of unread, need-to-be-read books is calling louder.

[Deborah Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Am rereading this for the third or fourth time after having looked at some humorous books and am relishing the depth of Dickens's writing. Trying also to read it more slowly which allows me to see better how carefully he sets up elements in the first chapters which will be developed throughout the novel. Love the beginning on London's fog, mud and griminess. There's so much to savor--the characters and the way they intersect one another's lives and, of course, the searing depiction of chancery.