Bleak House
:
For the 2005 TV series see Bleak House (TV serial)Bleak House is the ninth
novel by
Charles Dickens, published in 20 monthly parts between March
1852 and September
1853. The plot concerns a long-running legal dispute (
Jarndyce and Jarndyce) which has far-reaching consequences for all involved. Dickens's assault on the flaws of the
British judiciary system is based in part on his own experiences as a law clerk. His harsh characterization of the slow, arcane
Chancery law process gave voice to widespread frustration with the system, helping to set the stage for its eventual
reform in the
1870s.
In
Bleak House Dickens experimented with the device of dual narrators: an unnamed third-person narrator and the orphan Esther take turns to tell the story. The style is also remarkable: a hypnotic opening of three paragraphs without a complete sentence. The scope is probably the broadest Dickens ever attempted, ranging from the filthy slums to the
landed aristocracy, in a narrative that is in equal parts
satire and
comedy. One character, Krook, smells of brimstone and eventually dies of
spontaneous human combustion, attributed to his evil nature.
Some critics, including
George Gissing and
G. K. Chesterton, take this to be Dickens's best novel.
As usual, Dickens drew upon many real people and places but was not constrained by the realities. The character Mrs. Jellyby, always involved in good causes but with a chaotic family, is based upon
Caroline Chisholm. Many people saw the character of Harold Skimpole as a portrait of
Leigh Hunt but this was always denied by Dickens. Mr Jarndyce's friend Mr Boythorn is based on the writer Walter Savage Landor. The novel also includes one of the first detectives to appear in English fiction, Mr Bucket. This character is probably based on Inspector Charles Frederick Field of the recently formed Detective Department at
Scotland Yard.
[Site of Dr Russell Potter, Rhode Island College Biography of Inspector Field] Dickens wrote several journalistic pieces about the Inspector and the work of the detectives in
Household Words.
Major characters
* Esther Summerson — an orphan
* Richard Carstone — a ward of court in Jarndyce v Jarndyce
* Ada Clare — a ward of court in Jarndyce v Jarndyce
* John Jarndyce — a party in Jarndyce, guardian of Richard, Ada and Esther, and owner of Bleak House
* Harold Skimpole — a friend of Jarndyce and "in the habit of sponging his friends" (Nuttall); supposedly based on
Leigh Hunt* Sir Leicester Dedlock — a crusty baronet
* Honoria, Lady Dedlock — the haughty mistress of Chesney Wold
* Mr Tulkinghorn — the Dedlock family lawyer
* Nemo — a law writer
* Miss Flite — an elderly eccentric obsessed with Chancery
* Mr Guppy — a hapless law clerk
* Inspector Bucket — a detective
* Mr George — a former soldier
* Caddy Jellyby — a friend of Esther
* Krook — a rag and bottle merchant and collector of papers
* Jo — a crossing sweeper
* Allan Woodcourt — a physician
* Grandfather Smallweed — a money lender
Minor characters
* Mr Kenge — a lawyer of Kenge and Carboys
* Mr Vholes — a lawyer
* Mr Gridley — an involuntary party to a suit in Chancery (based on a real case, according to Dickens' preface)
* Mr Snagsby — the proprietor of a law-stationery business
* Mrs Snagsby — his wife
* Guster — the Snagsbys' maidservant, prone to fits
* Neckett — aka Coavinses — a debt collector
* Charley — Coavinses' daughter
* Tom — Coavinses' young son
* Emma — Coavinses' baby daughter
* Mrs Jellyby — Caddy's mother, a philanthropist with little regard to the notion of charity beginning at home
* Mr Jellyby — Mrs Jellyby's husband
* Peepy Jellyby — the Jellybys' young son
* Prince Turveydrop — a dancing master
* Old Mr Turveydrop — a master of deportment
* Jenny — a brickmaker's wife
* Rosa — a favourite of Lady Dedlock
* Hortense — lady's maid to Lady Dedlock
* Mrs Rouncewell — housekeeper to the Dedlocks at Chesney Wold
* Mr Rouncewell — son of Mrs Rouncewell and a prosperous
ironmaster* Watt Rouncewell — his son
* Mercury — a footman to the Dedlocks in London
* Volumnia — a Dedlock cousin
* Boythorn — an old friend of John Jarndyce and neighbour of Sir Leicester Dedlock; based on
Walter Savage Landor* Miss Barbary — Esther's godmother and severe guardian in childhood
* Mrs Rachael Chadband — a former servant of Miss Barbary
* Mr Chadband — an oleaginous preacher, husband of Mrs Chadband
* Mrs Smallweed — wife of Mr Smallweed senior
* Young Mr (Bartholemew) Smallweed — grandson of the senior Smallweeds and friend of Mr Guppy
* Judy Smallweed — granddaughter of the senior Smallweeds
* Tony Jobling — aka Mr Weevle — a friend of Mr Guppy
* Mrs Guppy — Mr Guppy's aged mother
* Phil Squod — Mr George's assistant
* Captain Hawdon — an officer under whom Mr George once served
* Matthew Bagnet — military friend of Mr George and dealer in musical instruments
* Mrs Bagnet — his better half
* Mrs Woodcourt — Allan Woodcourt's widowed mother
The BBC has adapted Bleak House on three occasions. The first version was broadcast in
1959 in eleven half-hour episodes;
[http://imdb.com/title/tt0224837/] the
second, starring
Diana Rigg and
Denholm Elliott, was broadcast as an eight-part series in 1985; and the
third was broadcast in fifteen episodes in 2005.
[http://imdb.com/title/tt0442632/]Like most Dickens novels,
Bleak House was published in 19 monthly instalments, each containing 32 pages of text and two illustrations by
Phiz. Each cost one shilling, except for the last, which was a double issue and cost two.
| Instalment | Date of publication! Chapters | | I | March 1852 | 1â€"4 |
|---|
| II | April 1852 | 5â€"7 |
|---|
| III | May 1852 | 8â€"10 |
|---|
| IV | June 1852 | 11â€"13 |
|---|
| V | July 1852 | 14â€"16 |
|---|
| VI | August 1852 | 17â€"19 |
|---|
| VII | September 1852 | 20â€"22 |
|---|
| VIII | October 1852 | 23â€"25 |
|---|
| IX | November 1852 | 26â€"29 |
|---|
| X | December 1852 | 30â€"32 |
|---|
| XI | January 1853 | 33â€"35 |
|---|
| XII | February 1853 | 36â€"38 |
|---|
| XIII | March 1853 | 39â€"42 |
|---|
| XIV | April 1853 | 43â€"46 |
|---|
| XV | May 1853 | 47â€"49 |
|---|
| XVI | June 1853 | 50â€"53 |
|---|
| XVII | July 1853 | 54â€"56 |
|---|
| XVIII | August 1853 | 57â€"59 |
|---|
| XIXâ€"XX | September 1853 | 60â€"67 |
|---|
The literary device of the opening paragraphs is consciously echoed in an American novel, also of the 1850s, almost certainly written by an escaped female slave. The manuscript was rediscovered in 2001, researched and published as
The Bondswoman's Narrative by Hannah Crafts.
*
Detective fiction. Warning: this article includes a
plot spoiler for
Bleak House* Crafts, Hannah; Gates, Jr, Henry Louis (Ed), 2002.
The Bondswoman's Narrative. Warner Books. ISBN 0762876824
Online editions*
Free ebook of Bleak House at
Project Gutenberg*
Bleak House – complete book in HTML one page for each chapter.
*
Bleak House — HTML Searchable HTML version.
*
Bleak House — Easy to read HTML verson.
*
Free Internet Cliffnotes on Bleak House.*
Bleak House Annotated On-line Resources for Bleak House
*
Free ebook of Reprinted Pieces at
Project Gutenberg "The Detective Police", "Three Detective Anecdotes", "On Duty with Inspector Field". Last piece first publ (June 1841)
Household Words
