Reading the Classics

I am now reading the classic Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. I read this book in high school, but that was many moons ago and I don't remember more than the story outline. Dickens is of course masterful in his characterizations; every person in the novel, from Pip, the protagonist, to the least mentioned barkeeper is rich in detail and fully knowable. As readers we meet Pip as a poor, orphaned child being reared by a shrewish sister and her hapless husband, Joe. Pip is settled on his life, knowing he will apprentice to Joe. However, fate steps in in the form of Mrs. Havisham and Pip realizes there is a world outside his own narrow life. He begins to have expectations, though limited by the meaness of his existence. Then he is visited by a London lawyer who tells Pip that he has a benevolent benefactor and enough funds to train as a gentleman. Pip travels to London with "great expectations" and his life changes forever.

My main purpose is reading Great Expectations now is that I'm very interested in seeing David Lean's 1946 film which is judged by many film critics to be the best adaptation of a book in the history of film.

Reading the Classics

My next classic is Henry James' The Portrait of a Lady. I have never read anything about the book or any other book by this author, so I have no preconceptions about the text. I know from the book jacket that the main character is Isabel Archer, an American, and that it's set mostly in England and Italy. Since I've traveled both England and Italy extensively, I'm hoping that I learn more about those locales as I learn Isabel's story.

The Count of Monte Cristo, Part 4

The story of the Count of Monte Cristo ends where it began...at the Port of Marseilles. The count repents for his motive of vengeance, seeing that he has no right to assume he's the agent of God, no one can be. He visits the home of his dead father and finds there his lost love whom he's able to comfort and forgive. He promises to help her young son whom his actions against the father had harmed. He brings together young lovers whom his actions had separated. He frees his young slave girl and restores her fortune. In the end the count finds peace, happiness, and the love he deserves. In the final scene he sails away from the port of Marseilles to a new life.

Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3...prior installments at this blog