Bleak House (Norton Critical Editions) Review

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Bleak House (Norton Critical Editions) ReviewThis is the second book by Dickens I have read so far, but it will not be the last. "Bleak House" is long, tightly plotted, wonderfully descriptive, and full of memorable characters. Dickens has written a vast story centered on the Jarndyce inheritance, and masterly manages the switches between third person omniscient narrator and first person limited narrator. His main character Esther never quite convinces me of her all-around goodness, but the novel is so well-written that I just took Esther as she was described and ran along with the story. In this book a poor boy (Jo) will be literally chased from places of refuge and thus provide Dickens with one of his most powerful ways to indict a system that was particularly cruel to children. Mr. Skimpole, pretending not to be interested in money; Mr. Jarndyce, generous and good; Richard, stupid and blind; the memorable Dedlocks, and My Lady Dedlock's secret being uncovered by the sinister Mr. Tulkinghorn; Mrs. Jellyby and her telescopic philanthropy; the Ironmaster described in Chapter 28, presenting quite a different view of industralization than that shown by Dickens in his next work, "Hard Times." Here is a veritable cosmos of people, neighbors, friends, enemies, lovers, rivals, sinners, and saints, and Dickens proves himself a true master at describing their lives and the environment they dwell in. There are landmark chapters: Chapter One must be the best description of a dismal city under attack by dismal weather and tightly tied by perfectly dismal laws, where the Lord Chancellor sits eternally in Lincoln's Inn Hall. Chapter 32 has one of the eeriest scenes ever written, with suspicious smoke, greasy and reeking, as a prelude to a grisly discovery. Chapter 47 is when Jo cannot "move along" anymore. This Norton Critical is perhaps the best edition of "Bleak House" so far: the footnotes help a lot, and the two Introductions are key to understanding the Law system at the time the action takes place, plus Dickens' interest in this particular topic. To round everything off, read also the criticism of our contemporaries, as well as that of Dickens' time. "Bleak House" is a long, complex novel that opens a window for us to another world. It is never boring and, appearances to the contrary, is not bleak. Enjoy.Bleak House (Norton Critical Editions) Overview
This authoritative text of Bleak House was the first to be establishedby a comparative study of all the surviving versions of Dickens' novel,incorporating evidence from the original manuscript and correctedproofs.
Study of the genesis of the novel is facilitated by thereproduction of Dickens' working plans and, for the first time, by somethousands of meticulous textual notes."Backgrounds" offers all of Dickens' correspondence about Bleak House aswell as contextual materials that document the Victorian controversyover pollution, a theme central to the novel, and present contemporaryattitudes toward the government, the courts, and the police, to enhancethe setting of the story.Also featured are several hundred annotations which fully elucidate fortoday's readers the allusions and topical references in this remarkablyallusive Victorian masterpiece.Especially helpful is a clear exposition of the nature of lawprocedures in the Court of Chancery, which is crucial to anunderstanding of the central action of the story."Critical essays" reprinted here include interpretations by G. K.Chesterton, J. Hillis Miller, George Ford, A. O. J. Cockshut, W. J.Harvey, H. M. Daleski, and Ian Ousby.

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