Paperback, 512 pages
English language
Published Dec. 30, 1965 by Penguin Classics.
Great Expectations (first published in 1860/61) is one of the most mature and serious of Dickens's novels. As Angus Calder points out in his introduction, it re- sembles a detective story — but in the sense in which Oedipus Rex also resembles one. From the first shock of the early pages, when Pip encounters the convict Magwitch, the mystery grips our attention and its psychological and moral truth holds us until the end. For, in discovering the secret of his •great expecta- tions'. Pip also begins to discover the truth about himself.
The cover shows a detail from 'A Country Blacksmith Disputing the Price of Iron' by J. M. W. Turner (photo: Rodney Todd-White)
The portrait of Charles Dickens inside the front cover is taken from an engraving after a painting by W. P. Frith, by permission of the Trustees of the Dickens House
I had forgotten a lot in the years since the last time I read this book, and now I am reading it to understand what I can about character depiction and story construction. A lot of it is not to modern tastes, I can see now, but it is good to see how Dickens contrives to create such well-loved characters out of what are to all appearances unlikeable people, setting them in a narrative which is simply crazy.
