Bleak House, Part 1
by Charles Dickens
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Bleak House is one of Dickens's finest novels, containing one of the most vast, complex and engaging arrays of minor characters and sub-plots in his entire canon. The story follows long-running litigation in England's Court of Chancery, Jarndyce v Jarndyce, which has far-reaching consequences for all involved. This case revolves around atestator who apparently made several wills.Tags
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I've come to appreciate Charles Dickens' novels, not for their plots which, in general, are pretty silly and formulaic, but for his rich cast of characters and his vivid picture of life in Victorian England. And while many people think Great Expectations is his best effort, I have to cast my vote for Bleak House with its perfect skewering of the legal profession and in Jarndyce v. Jarndyce, a cautionary warning against betting one's financial future on the outcome of a law suit
This book is very long (almost 1000 pages) and the conventions used in a serialized novel are all to evident, but it also makes it possible to read the book in doses, just as readers in the 19th Century would have done.
This book needs to be savored for it's riich show more variety of characters, it's colorful dialogue and it's vivid picture of Victorian society at all levels of the income scale. show less
This book is very long (almost 1000 pages) and the conventions used in a serialized novel are all to evident, but it also makes it possible to read the book in doses, just as readers in the 19th Century would have done.
This book needs to be savored for it's riich show more variety of characters, it's colorful dialogue and it's vivid picture of Victorian society at all levels of the income scale. show less
A young orphan girl grows up and becomes a housekeeper for an older man. He has 2 young cousins who are the principles in a long running legal dispute about some money. There is mystery surrounding the orphan girl and various characters all tie in to her past and present and are attempting to influence her future. Good stuff. Making me realize that without a solid Bible background, many of Dicken's allusions would be meaningless.
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2,578+ Works 313,139 Members
Charles Dickens, perhaps the best British novelist of the Victorian era, was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England on February 7, 1812. His happy early childhood was interrupted when his father was sent to debtors' prison, and young Dickens had to go to work in a factory at age twelve. Later, he took jobs as an office boy and journalist before show more publishing essays and stories in the 1830s. His first novel, The Pickwick Papers, made him a famous and popular author at the age of twenty-five. Subsequent works were published serially in periodicals and cemented his reputation as a master of colorful characterization, and as a harsh critic of social evils and corrupt institutions. His many books include Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Bleak House, Great Expectations, Little Dorrit, A Christmas Carol, and A Tale of Two Cities. Dickens married Catherine Hogarth in 1836, and the couple had nine children before separating in 1858 when he began a long affair with Ellen Ternan, a young actress. Despite the scandal, Dickens remained a public figure, appearing often to read his fiction. He died in 1870, leaving his final novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, unfinished. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Bleak House, Part 1
- Original publication date
- 1852-1853
- Disambiguation notice
- This work is only Part I of Bleak House. Please do not combine with the main work, Bleak House. Thank you.
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- Reviews
- 3
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- Languages
- 11 — Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 25
- ASINs
- 23
