Great Expectations - Part 1 of 2 - FULL Audio Book - by Charles Dickens Great Expectations is Charles Dickens' thirteenth novel. It is the second novel, after David Copperfield, to be fully narrated in the first person.[N 1] Great Expectations is a bildungsroman, or a coming-of-age novel, and the story genre is Victorian Literature.[1] It depicts the growth and personal development of an orphan named Pip. The novel was first published in serial form in Dickens' weekly periodical All the Year Round, from 1 December 1860 to August 1861.[2] In October 1861, Chapman and Hall published the novel in three volumes. Great Expectations was to be twice as long, but All the Year Round's management constraints limited the novel's length. Collected and dense, with a conciseness unusual for Dickens, the novel represents Dickens' peak and maturity as an author. Great Expectations was written, according to G. K. Chesterton, in "the afternoon of his life and glory," and the penultimate novel Dickens completed, preceding Our Mutual Friend. It is set among the marshes of Kent and in London in the early-to-mid 1800s.[1] From the outset, the reader is "treated" by the terrifying encounter between Pip, the protagonist, and the escaped convict, Abel Magwitch.[3] Great Expectations is a graphic book, full of extreme imagery, poverty, prison ships, "the hulks," barriers and chains, and fights to the death.[3] It therefore combines intrigue and unexpected twists of autobiograhical detail in different tones. Regardless of its narrative technique, the novel reflects the events of the time, Dickens' concerns, and the relationship between society and man. The novel received mixed reviews from contemporary critics: Thomas Carlyle speaks of "All that Pip's nonsense,"[4] while George Bernard Shaw praised the novel: "All of one piece and Consistently truthfull."[5] George Orwell wrote; "Psychologically the latter part of Great Expectations is about the best thing Dickens ever did."[6] Dickens felt Great Expectations was his best work, calling it "a very fine idea,"[7] and was very sensitive to compliments from his friends: "Bulwer, who has been, as I think you know, extraordinarily taken by the book."[8] Great Expectations has a colourful cast that has remained in popular culture: the capricious Miss Havisham, the cold and beautiful Estella, Joe the blacksmith who is always kind and generous, the dry and sycophantic Uncle Pumblechook, Mr Jaggers, Wemmick and his dual personality, and the eloquent and wise friend, Herbert Pocket. Throughout the narrative, typical Dickensian themes emerge: wealth and poverty, love and rejection, and the eventual triumph of good over evil.[3] Great Expectations has become very popular and is now taught as a classic in many English classes. It has been translated into many languages and adapted many times in film and other media. s Dickens began writing Great Expectations, he undertook a series of hugely popular and remunerative reading tours. He had separated from his wife, Catherine Dickens, and was keeping secret an affair with a much younger woman, Ellen Ternan. However, the genesis of Great Expectations is not glorious, artistically, and the idea of romance and economic circumstances dictated the novel's design and implementation. PLOT FOR "GREAT EXPECTATIONS" On Christmas Eve, around 1812,[14] Pip, an orphan who is approximately six years old, encounters an escaped convict in the village churchyard while visiting the graves of his mother and father, as well as those of his siblings. The convict scares Pip into stealing food for him, and a file to grind away his shackles, from the home he shares with his abusive older sister and her kind, passive husband Joe Gargery, a blacksmith. The next day, soldiers recapture the convict while he is engaged in a fight with another convict; the two are returned to the prison ships whence they escaped. Miss Havisham, a wealthy spinster, who wears an old wedding dress and lives in the dilapidated Satis House, asks Pip's "Uncle Pumblechook" (who is actually Joe's uncle) to find a boy to play with her adopted daughter Estella. Pip begins to visit Miss Havisham and Estella, with whom he falls in love, with Miss Havisham's encouragement. Pip visits Miss Havisham multiple times, and during one of these visits, he brings Joe along. During their absence, Mrs. Joe is attacked by a mysterious individual and lives out the rest of her life as a mute invalid... If you enjoyed "Great Expectations - Part 1 of 2 - FULL Audio Book - by Charles Dickens" then please like,comment and subscribe to GreenAudioBooks

• published: 10 Jan 2013
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