Great Expectations: the Classic British Novel by Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

marras 2017 · Classic Books Kirja 18 · Xist Publishing

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Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

The ultimate coming of age story from Charles Dickens, Great Expectations tells of the rise of the book's narrator, Pip. When Pip shows kindness to an escaped convict, he changes the course of his life without even knowing it. Raised by his older sister and her husband, Pip is an unhappy child who becomes a visitor to a wealthy spinster, Miss Havisham. Pip becomes an apprentice blacksmith but then receives word that he has an anonymous benefactor who wishes him to study to become a gentleman. Thinking that Miss Havisham is acting in his interests, Pip eventually finds that the money is coming from another source. He is forced to examine his principles and chart a new course for his life.

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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 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.