Great Expectations

Great Expectations is a novel written by Charles Dickens first published serially in “All the Year Round” between December 1st 1860 and August 1861. It is a bildungsroman narrated in the first person, which depicts the personal growth and personal development of an orphan nicknamed Pip. Great Expectations is full of extreme imagery like poverty; prison ships and chains, and fights to the death with a vast and colourful cast of characters who became popular culture. Upon its release, the novel received near universal acclaim. Thomas Carlyle spoke disparagingly of “all that Pip’s nonsense”. George Bernard Shaw praised the novel, as “All of one piece and consistently truthfull.” During the serial publication, Dickens was pleased with public response to Great Expectations and its sales; when the plot first formed in his mind, he called it “a very fine, new and grotesque idea”. Great Expectations is a classic of literature, popular with readers and literary critics, having been translated into many languages, and adapted numerous times into various media.