Bleak House

Wordsworth Classics

By Charles Dickens, Doreen Roberts (Introduction by), Hablot K. Browne (Illustrated by)

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Average Rating: (See all reviews) Format: Paperback, 800 pages, New edition Edition Other Information: illustrations Published In: United Kingdom, 07 December 1993 Quantity Available: 10 Ships within 6-11 days With an Introduction and Notes by Doreen Roberts, University of Kent at Canterbury and illustrations by Hablot K. Browne (Phiz), "Bleak House" is one of Dickens' finest achievements, establishing his reputation as a serious and mature novelist, as well as a brilliant comic writer. It is at once a complex mystery story that fully engages the reader in the work of detection, and an unforgettable indictment of an indifferent society. Its representations of a great city's underworld, and of the law's corruption and delay, draw upon the author's personal knowledge and experience. But it is his symbolic art that projects these things in a vision that embraces black comedy, cosmic farce, and tragic ruin. In a unique creative experiment, Dickens divides the narrative between his heroine, Esther Summerson, who is psychologically interesting in her own right, and an unnamed narrator whose perspective both complements and challenges hers. From The Publisher: Wordsworth Classics covers a huge list of beloved works of literature in English and translations. This growing series is rigorously updated, with scholarly introductions and notes added to new titles. Publisher: Wordsworth Editions Ltd ISBN: 1853260827 EAN: 9781853260827 Dimensions: 19.0 x 126.0 x 3.0 centimeters

Bleak house is probably my favorite Dicken's novel. He still finishes up with a set of unbelievable coincidences but actually I loved the character descriptions in this and his wonderful ability to characterisation 19th century British life.
Bleak house is probably my favorite Dicken's novel. He still finishes up with a set of unbelievable coincidences but actually I loved the character descriptions in this and his wonderful ability to characterisation 19th century British life.

I have nothing to say about Bleak House, other than that it stands beside David Copperfield as Dickens' greatest achievement, and thus, at the pinnacle of English literature. Failing to read Bleak House is like never tasting chocolate. And, as with chocolate, you might not like it, but if so, then you know there is something wrong with you.

The Everyman's Library edition shows the quality of this series of books. The binding is strong, the built-in page-marker useful, the typeface is clear, and the pages are sturdy. All good assets in a book that you will likely read several times. The editors must be praised for including a preface by GK Chesterton. However, they place the introduction by Chesterton at the end of the book as a sort of anachronistic footnote, and place at the beginning of the book, an introduction by Barbary Hardy.

The contrast between Hardy's rambling, confused, and petty introduction, and Chesteron's impressionist but accurate comments, are not to the benefit either of this edition or Barbary Hardy. Hardy sound her one shrill note of feminism, and then confusedly repeats other people's exegesis of Dickens. Her expectations of Dickens commit the triple crime of faulting a caveman for not knowing calculus - that is, she expects Dickens simultaneously to know the impossible, the inappropriate, and the ineffectual.

The Penguin edition of Bleak House contains an introduction by Nabakov, which, while overanalytical and dryly academic, was at least insightful. If you must waste your time (as I did) reading scholarly dissections of the great Dickens, I recommend the Penguin edition. If you can resist the temptation to set foot into Barbary Hardy's whiny little swamp, then the Everyman's Library edition is far superior.