Critical Insights: Great Expectations

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Edited by Eugene Goodheart, Edytha Macy Professor of Humanities Emeritus at Brandeis University.

Great Expectations, one of Dickens's finest novels in terms of writing and construction, tells the story of young Pip as he grows up from being a poor and abused orphan to being a man of means. Pip's struggles with class consciousness, wealth, and education have provided critics with ample material for discussion and consideration. Great Expectations remains one of Dickens's most read novels and continues to generate interest among literary critics.

Here is a collection of lively and diverse essays—prefaced by commentaries on context, the novelist’s life and the critical reception—on plot symbolism, class, gender, and sexuality in Dickens’s great and perhaps most popular novel, Great Expectations(1860-1861).

Each essay is 5,000 words in length, and all essays conclude with a list of "Works Cited," along with endnotes.

The hope is that students will be stimulated by this cornucopia of approaches to make their own individual readings of the novel. 

Additional Resources:

• Chronology of Charles Dicken's Life
• Works by Charles Dickens
• Bibliography
• About the Editor
• About The Paris Review
• Contributors
• Acknowledgements
• Index

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