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Bleak House: Difference between revisions
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[[File:Bleak_House_frontispiece2_5881.jpg|frame]][[Charles Dickens]]' ''Bleak House'' (1852-53) is one of the most complicated novels of the nineteenth century. In an amazing feat of narrative planning, ''all'' of the novel's several dozen characters turn out to be [[You ALL Share My Story|somehow integral to the plot]]. ''Bleak House'' features two narrators: on the one hand, the protagonist, Esther Summerson, who is emotionally damaged, determinedly cheerful, and devoted to duty; on the other, an anonymous narrator, who is near-omniscient (he sees all but rarely has access to anyone's thoughts), satirical, and frequently appalled by the human race. While both halves of the novel are bleak--appropriately enough--Esther is ultimately optimistic about human nature in a way that her counterpart most decidedly is not. In its satirical moments, the novel crusades against the Court of Chancery's labyrinthine red tape and Victorian philanthropists' self-serving hypocrisy.▼
| title = Bleak House
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| image = Bleak_House_frontispiece2_5881.jpg
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| author = Charles Dickens
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| publication date = 1853
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Given that most of ''Bleak House''{{'}}s readers need a flowchart to keep everything straight, it's impossible to do justice to the novel with a brief summary. But here are some basics:
* Esther Summerson believes herself to be an orphan, raised out of duty by the icy Miss Barbary. As the novel unfolds, however, Esther discovers that Miss Barbary was her aunt--and that her mother remains alive. In the meantime, her kind guardian, John Jarndyce, has her appointed as a companion to the lovely young Ada Clare...although he has something else in mind for Esther's future.
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