| Front | Bleak House |
|---|---|
| Back | novel C. Dickens 1853 Esther Summerson , Ada Clare , Richard Carstone are central to the plot of novel endless case of Jarndyce v. Jarndyce , gives the novel its scope and meaning Esther 's account of her lonely , unhappy childhood Ada and Richard marry Jo, the crossing-sweeper whose brutish life and death are the instrument for one of Dickens' s most savage judgments on an indifferent society Harold Skimpole; based on Leigh Hunt boisterous Boythorn; based on Walter Savage Landor Bleak House is a novel by Charles Dickens, first published as a 20 episode serial between March 1852 and September 1853. The novel has many characters and several sub-plots, and is told partly by the novel's heroine, Esther Summerson, and partly by an omniscient narrator. At the centre of Bleak House is a long-running legal case in the Court of Chancery, Jarndyce and Jarndyce, which came about because a testator has written several conflicting wills. In a preface to the 1853 first edition, Dickens claimed there were many actual precedents for his fictional case. One such was probably the Thellusson v Woodford case in which a will read in 1797 was contested and not determined until 1859. Though the legal profession criticised Dickens's satire as exaggerated, this novel helped support a judicial reform movement which culminated in the enactment of legal reform in the 1870s. Quick facts: Author, Illustrator … There is some debate among scholars as to when Bleak House is set. The English legal historian Sir William Holdsworth sets the action in 1827; however, reference to preparation for the building of a railway in Chapter LV suggests the 1830s. |
Learn with these flashcards. Click next, previous, or up to navigate to more flashcards for this subject.
Next card: Poem rossetti blessed damozel dante published pre-raphaelite germ
Previous card: Art july issue blast review great english vortex
Up to card list: Wordsworth companion to literature by Bahman Moradi