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Charles Dickens

Bleak House is a novel by Charles Dickens, published in 20 monthly instalments between March 1852 and September 1853. It is held to be one of Dickens's finest novels, containing one of the most vast, complex and engaging arrays of minor characters and sub-plots in his entire canon. The story is told partly by the novel's heroine, Esther Summerson, and partly by a mostly omniscient narrator. Memorable characters include the beautiful and haughty Lady Honoria Dedlock, holding a dark secret buried in her breast, the menacing lawyer Tulkinghorn, the friendly but reflective and realistic John Jarndyce, and the childish and disingenuous Harold Skimpole, as well as the happy-go-lucky but imprudent Richard Carstone. At the novel's core is long-running litigation in England's Court of Chancery, Jarndyce v Jarndyce, which has far-reaching consequences for all involved. This case revolves around a testator who apparently made several wills. The litigation, which already has taken many years and consumed between £60,000 and £70,000 in court costs, is emblematic of the failure of Chancery.

Wiki Url : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/index.html?curid=441425

Date : May 26, 2005

Subjects : Fiction, Guardian and ward, Young women, Illegitimate children, Inheritance and succession, Social problems, Translations into French, Social life and customs, Social conditions, English Christmas stories, Classic Literature, Literature, open_syllabus_project, Young women -- Fiction, Domestic fiction, British and irish fiction (fictional works by one author), England, fiction, London (england), fiction, Fiction, historical, English literature, Manners and customs, Classics, LITERARY CRITICISM, European, English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Fiction, historical, general, Enfants naturels, Romans, nouvelles, Tutelle et curatelle, Jeunes femmes, Bleak House (Dickens, Charles), Successions et héritages, Fiction, general, Young women, fiction, Fiction, family life, general, Fiction, legal, Fiction, coming of age, Fiction, family life, London (England) -- Fiction, Inheritance and succession -- Fiction, Bildungsromans, Guardian and ward -- Fiction, Illegitimate children -- Fiction, Legal stories, Chang pian xiao shuo

Characters : Lady Dedlock, John Jarndyce, Richard Carstone, Esther Summerson, Ada Clare

Places : London (England), England, London, Ying guo

Times : 19th century