TITLE: Great Expectations

AUTHOR: Charles Dickens

GENRE: Novel

PUBLISHER: Penguin Books

DATE OF PUBLICATION: 2002

SUMMARY: Great Expectations is the story of the orphan Pip, writing his life from his
early days of childhood until adulthood and trying to be a gentleman along the way. The
story can also be considered semi-autobiographical of Dickens, like much of his work,
drawing on his experiences of life and people. The action of the story takes place from
Christmas Eve, 1812, when the protagonist is about seven years old (and which happens
to be the year of Dickens' birth), to the winter of 1840.

CHARACTERS: Pip, the protagonist; Handel, Joe Gargery, Mrs. Joe Gargery, Mr.
Pumblechook, Miss Havisham and her family.

FILM ADAPTATIONS: It has been filmed several times. For example: 1946 - starring
John Mills as Pip, Valerie Hobson as Estella and Jean Simmons as Young Estella,
directed by David Lean.

AUTHORS BIOGRAPHY: Charles John Huffam Dickens (7 February 1812 9 June

1870), pen-name "Boz", was the most popular English novelist of the Victorian era and
one of the most popular of all time. He created some of literature's most memorable
characters. His novels and short stories have never gone out of print. A concern with
what he saw as the pressing need for social reform is a theme that runs throughout his
work. Much of his work first appeared in periodicals and magazines in serialised form,
a favoured way of publishing fiction at the time. Other writers of the time would
complete entire novels before serial publication commenced, but Dickens often wrote
his in parts, in the order in which they were meant to appear. The practice lent his
stories a particular rhythm, punctuated by one cliffhanger after another to keep the
public eager for the next instalment. Critics and fellow-novelists such as George Gissing
and G. K. Chesterton have applauded Dickens for his mastery of prose, and for his
teeming gallery of unique characters, many of whom have acquired iconic status in the
English-speaking world. Others such as Henry James and Virginia Woolf have accused
him of sentimentality and implausibility.

PHOTOGRAPHS:

Charles Dickens