Thursday, February 20, 2020

'Bleak House' by Charles Dickens



Bleak House opens in the twilight of foggy London, where fog grips the city most densely in the Court of Chancery. The obscure case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce, in which an inheritance is gradually devoured by legal costs, the romance of Esther Summerson and the secrets of her origin, the sleuthing of Detective Inspector Bucket and the fate of Jo the crossing-sweeper, these are some of the lives Dickens invokes to portray London society, rich and poor, as no other novelist has done. Bleak House, in its atmosphere, symbolism and magnificent bleak comedy, is often regarded as the best of Dickens. A 'great Victorian novel', it is so inventive in its competing plots and styles that it eludes interpretation.

MY THOUGHTS: 
Here is my choice for a Classic with a Place Name in the Title in the 2020 Back to the Classics Challenge. It's always a pleasure to return to Dickens' London, where fog and mud reign supreme and we know that whenever any character bobs to the surface we're bound to see them again later, possibly under surprising circumstances. He pulls so many divergent threads together, which puts me in awe of his genius when I consider that his long novels were originally published as magazine serials. It means he obviously had it all planned in his head before Issue 1 hit the newsstands.

Dickens' major gripe in this novel is the frustration of court cases that drag on forever, driving some people to put their lives on hold while waiting for a verdict that may have the potential to change everything. The problem is, decisions are so prolonged that successive generations inherit all the angst. It's these non-criminal, inheritance sort of spats that absorb costs to help lawyers feather their nests, but merely break the hearts of the clients concerned and send them bankrupt.

The long-running court case in this story is Jarndyce versus Jarndyce, and the current Mr Jarndyce chooses to stand aloof from all the uncertainty and take three needy young people to live beneath his roof. Richard Carstone and Ada Clare are distant cousins whose interests are also caught up in the court case, and Esther Summerson is a young orphan he invites to keep house for them all. Esther narrates great swathes of the story. Dickens has given us many, many super-sweet, good girls, but she is the only one we are ever allowed into the actual head space of. And she's such a great point of view character!

Esther was brought up by a stern, unloving aunt who taught her that she was born as a disgrace. When Mr Jarndyce becomes her kind benefactor, she's stoked. All of Esther's comparisons are in a positive direction, since she's trained herself to choose gratitude over grumbling every time, and never grows sour or jealous of the bounty of others. She's a perfect example of how mood management should work, and succeeds in setting contentment as her default. The irony is that Esther's existence has been so hush-hushed, since she's the most admirable person in the whole book (with the exception perhaps of the guy she eventually marries.)

An intriguing underlying mystery concerns the identities of Esther's parents. It's easy for the reader to figure both out early on, and then the fun comes from watching it dawn on others as the story unfolds.

There's a very cool cast of characters across the board. It includes freeloaders like old Mr Turveydrop and the parasitic Harold Skimpole, who is surely one of the most despicable leeches in literature. It appears Dickens based his character on a fellow Victorian author, Leigh Hunt, and everyone who knew them both instantly recognised Hunt in Skimpole. The two writers were sort of friendly before Dickens wrote Bleak House, but definitely not afterwards!

There are dysfunctional families like the Jellybys and Smallweeds, and those who have chosen numbness over feeling. The scenes in which Lady Dedlock and her lawyer Mr Tulkinghorn have conversations with huge stakes, yet both apparently try to outdo each other for nonchalance and languidness are very well done. There is so much intense under-reaction from both, the air is charged with it.

This story hasn't knocked Our Mutual Friend and Great Expectations from the top of my Dickens favourites list. I think there's a little too much of poor Richard's plight and Skimpole's dodgy shenanigans for that. But it's well worth a read, especially for the success in which Dickens pulled off a first person female point of view in Esther, who is definitely one of my favourite characters.

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18 comments:

  1. This one and David Copperfield are my favorite Dickens. It really is a rich book filled with rich characters. As you point out, Jarndyce and Jarndyce says a lot about human nature.

    Super review of this one.

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    1. Thanks Brian, it's so true, what you say. And the characters cover such a broad social spectrum, all the way from Sir Leicester Dedlock to Jo the street sweeper. It really is a masterpiece.

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  2. I really enjoyed this book & have seen the BBC movie a few times & loved it. Our Mutual Friend isn’t as well known as it should be. It was excellent & I really should re-read it.

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    1. Hi Carol, I've heard great things about the BBC Bleak House. I'll have to look it up for sure. And yes, I love Our Mutual Friend and will re-read it again myself before too long :)

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  3. There are many people who rank this as their favorite Dickens novel, but I also prefer Our Mutual Friend to it. That said, I am due for a reread. I've read it twice, but the second time was long ago. I do remember liking Lady Dedlock so much, and Tulkinghorn is a fabulous character.

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    1. Hi Jane,
      It's well worth a re-read just for the interaction between Tulkinghorn and Lady D, who were both such pros at holding their cards close to their chests 👍 But as Our Mutual Friend was written later than Bleak House, it seems to me that Dickens had got a bit better by then in some ways.

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  4. I can never decide which Dickens novel is my favorite, but BLEAK HOUSE is definitely in the top two (the other being OUR MUTUAL FRIEND). I've lost count of how many times I've read it, in addition to the film versions. This book really should be required reading for everyone entering law school.

    And the underlying mystery of WHO are Esther's biological parents is gripping and heartbreaking. The story is so good on so many levels that I see something new every time I read it.

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    1. Yes, what a heartbreaking story her parents went through 😢 I found the death scenes of each so very touching. And it could only happen quite that way in the Victorian era.

      What a huge range of society Dickens managed to include in his story, ranging from Sir Leicester Dedlock at the top to poor Jo at the bottom.

      As for his other books, I really love Our Mutual Friend too. I've never read A Tale of Two Cities yet though, which I think will be next.

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    2. A TALE OF TWO CITIES is the all-time favorite for a friend of mine, but I was never able to warm up to it. I'm not sure why, because Dickens is one of my most beloved authors. I'll be interested to know what you think of it. Please review it for us after you read it!

      By the way, have you ever heard that JARNDYCE vs JARNDYCE was supposed to be based on a real court case in Dickens's lifetime that lasted 112 years? I read that little bit if trivia in the forward of one of my editions - can't remember which one, though.

      Anyway, I LOVE your blog! You are my go-to source for recommendations when I am choosing a new book to read! <3

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    3. That's so great to hear! Thank you, that's made my day :) I put a fair bit of work into the reviews, to balance pros and cons and describe my impressions. To think they're drawn on for book selection help is fantastic!

      And I'll definitely review A Tale of Two Cities in due time. I'm intrigued now, by what you say. I know nothing, except that it's a classic doppelganger yarn :)

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    4. I love, love, love A Tale of Two Cities - the themes of resurrection + the value of life are woven through in a beautiful way, and I honestly think it's Dicken's best work.

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    5. Hi Emily, you've inspired me to take on A Tale of Two Cities very soon. I haven't read another Dickens since Bleak House, but that will be my next. Always challenging other Dickens tales to live up to Great Expectations and so far only Our Mutual Friend has come close ☺️

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  5. I read Bleak House this year as well! Loved Dicken's prose; cried over Jo; but found Mr Jarndyce's relationship with Esther a bit odd/deceptive/patronising?

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    1. Whoa, I'm with you there! I was certain she was going to marry him, and so relieved when that didn't turn out to be the case. Just another example of weird, Victorian father/daughter figure relationships which can never make it to romance for me 😊

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  6. Love this novel. Mr Bucket calls his fat forefinger his familiar demon. He sees Mrs Snagsby's jealousy being like a 'dense atmosphere of dust'. I'd love to think that Dickens's amazing dialogue sewed a seed of inspiration for Philip Pullman and His Dark Materials.

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    1. Hi Trish, yeah, classic Dickens description that just gets straight to the point 😆 Intriguing thought about him being an inspiration for Philip Pullman's far more modern material.

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  7. I live, work and study near Chancery Lane and my neighbourhood is imbued with Bleak House. It’s always inspiring to re-read this novel and I have stood in the new Great Hall at Lincoln’s Inn and expected to the shade of Dickens around every corner.

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    1. Wow, how amazing to live where all those broken hearted victims of court cases existed. I'm sure the atmosphere must be as fascinating as you say. I'd imagine every young boy might be Jo the street sweeper.

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