Understanding Great Expectations: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents (The Greenwood Press "Literature in Context" Series) - Hardcover

George Newlin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0313299404 ISBN 13: 9780313299407

Publisher: Greenwood (UK), 2000

Synopsis

More than one hundred years after being written, Great Expectations is still one of the most widely studied works of fiction. This casebook of historical documents, collateral readings and essays brings to life both Dickens' masterpiece and the social issues surrounding his work. The interdisciplinary approach offers students insight into the historically significant issues, such as child welfare, that ignited Dickens' creative and moral sensibilities. Newlin has unearthed significant documentation on the dilemma of Victorian women, supplying original social commentary such as Mary Wollstonecraft's 1792 A Vindication of the Rights of Women, and John Stuart Mill's 1861 The Subjection of Women. This work also addresses the transportation and deportation of convicts with first-hand accounts of the treatment of prisoners. Original materials describing the significance of class distinctions, with demographic data from 1834, point up the socio-economic gaps that stratified Victorian society. Other primary documents describe the physical settings such as the Marsh Country and the river, and Bow Street in London, that figure prominently in Great Expectations. This collection of sources will help broaden students' understanding of Great Expectations and places it within its historical context.

A literary analysis chapter introduces students to the important themes and various writing techniques employed by Dickens. Each subsequent chapter offers original essays and explication of historical documents on significant issues. Each section concludes with thought-provoking study questions, topics for research, and lists of suggested readings. This volume will enhance students' reading of this classic and will facilitate further research for student and teacher alike.

About this title

About the Author

Until 1988, GEORGE NEWLIN spent his professional career combining activities in law and finance with volunteer service in the arts and serious avocational musical performance. At that time, he withdrew from most of his activities in venture capital and assets management and began developing his concept for a new kind of literary anthology, beginning with the works of Charles Dickens. He continues his pro bono services in the music field.

Edition details

• Publisher: Greenwood (UK)
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0313299404
• ISBN 13: 9780313299407
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256