Bleak House

[poliphilo]

Bleak House is a tremendous novel. There is, however, a problem. It doesn't have a centre. Or, rather, it doesn't have a satisfactory centre.

John Jarndyce, Esther Summerson, Rick and Ada just aren't interesting enough. The tragedy of Richard Carstone- which ought to be the emotional heart of the book- simply registers as one of its many incidents.

Dickens' decision to write as Esther Summerson is an interesting experiment. Esther's voice is largely convincing- if a little irritating at times- but to make it convincing Dickens has to dumb down.

As if to compensate for the constraints of vocalising Esther, Dickens cuts loose in the sections of omniscient narration. These contain some of the most sustained, the most gorgeous, the most brilliant writing he ever did.

Comments

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes!

It's not my favourite Dickens novel, but a lot of critics think it's his best. It's certainly a tremendous piece of work.

And compulsively readable. Of how many "classics" can that be said?

It's also very funny and has some claims to be considered the first ever detective novel.

Its detective- Inspector Bucket- is highly reminiscent of Peter Falk's Columbo.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Early critics of Dickens (Chesterton for instance- who is very perceptive and very quotable) tended to see Dickens as first and foremost a humourist. Then there was a reaction and the comedy got overlooked in favour of Dickens the social realist and precursor of Dostoevsky. I think it could be time for the pendulum to swing partway back.