Dickens' 13th novel has remained pre-eminent among readers for good reasons. "Great Expectations" (published originally as a weekly serial from 1860 to 1861) has an attractive yet flawed first-person narrator. The plot moves forward with compelling momentum, fueled by mystery, romance, and reversals, and graced with an artistry many consider Dickens' most nearly perfect literary achievement. This new reference companion sets out to recover and illuminate the Victorian culture and allusive verbal worlds that inform the novel. How distinctive are the story's temporal and topographical settings? How carefully has Dickens integrated Pip's life story with the embedded histories of a mad, jilted spinster, a beautiful orphan girl, an unscrupulous con man, a fierce yet tender convict and a brilliant criminal lawyer? What relevance does the "then" of Pip's childhood and the "noW" when he relates the story of his evolution into a gentlemen have to the revised, controversial ending Dickens adopted on the advice of a fellow novelist?

David Paroissien draws on a range of 19th-century sources to illuminate the late Georgian and mid-Victorian contexts of Dickens' novel: the brutal punishments that characterized Hanoverian England's legal system; the transportation of felons and their rough lives in Australia's first penal colony; the social mobility a public school education conferred on a swindler and forger; the struggle to gain the desired status of gentleman among brewers, bakers, and a raw young blacksmith; and the changing face of early 19th century London, with its Inns of Chancery and Inns of Court, the vibrant life on the Thames; and the river's lower, deserted reaches, bound by mists, marshes, and tidal flats, which serve as background for the novel's brilliantly menacing opening. The volume provides the most comprehensive annotation of "Great Expectations." The annotations identify allusions to current events and intellectual and religious issues, and supplies information on topography, social customs, costume, furniture, transportation, and so on. Identifications are provided for allusions to plays, poems, songs, the Bible, the Book of Common Prayer, and other literary sources. Elements of Dickens' plots, characterization, and style which are influenced by the works of other writers are also identified. This is indicated when an aspect of the text can be shown to have been influenced by Dickens' own experience. The work of Dickens' illustrators is also discussed. Finally, although the volume does not attempt the work of a modern scholarly edition, material from Dickens' manuscripts and proofs is included when it is of major significance. An indispensable reference tool for all scholars and students of Dickens' pre-eminent novel.

A Companion to Charles Dickens concentrates on the historical, ideological, and social forces that defined Dickens s world. * Puts Dickens s work into its literary, historical, and social contexts * Traces the development of Dickens s career as a journalist and novelist * Includes original essays by leading Dickensian scholars on each of Dickens s fifteen novels * Explores a broad range of topics, including criticisms of his novels, the use of history and law in his fiction, language, and the effect of political and social reform * Examines Dickens's legacy and surveys the mass of secondary materials that has been generated in response and reverence to his writing

‘… In the wakeful misery of the night, girded by sordid realities, or wandering through Paradises and Hells of visions … I loved you madly’

 Edwin Drood is contracted to marry orphan Rosa when he comes of age, but when they find that duty has gradually replaced affection, they agree to break the engagement off. Shortly afterwards, in the middle of a storm on Christmas Eve, Edwin Drood disappears, leaving nothing but some personal belongings and the suspicion that his jealous uncle John Jasper, madly in love with Rosa, is the killer. And beyond this presumed crime there are further intrigues: the dark opium underworld beneath the surface of sleepy cathedral town Cloisterham, and the sinister double life of choirmaster Jasper, whose drug-fuelled fantasy life belies his respectable appearance. Dickens died before completing Edwin Drood, leaving its tantalizing mystery unsolved and encouraging generations of readers to try and work out what happened next.

This edition contains an introduction discussing the novel’s ending, with a chronology, notes, original illustrations and appendices on Opium use in the nineteenth century, the ‘Sapsea Fragment’ and Dickens’s plans for the story.

This study sets out to recover and illuminate the Victorian culture and allusive verbal worlds that inform Charles Dickens's novel "Great Expectations". How distinctive are the story's temporal and topographical settings? How carefully has Dickens integrated Pip's life story with the embedded histories of a mad, jilted spinster, a beautiful orphan girl, an unscupulous con man, a fierce yet tender convict and a brilliant criminal lawyer? What relevance does the "then" of Pip's childhood and the "now" when he relates the story of his evolution into gentleman have to the revised controversial ending Dickens adopted on the advice of a fellow novelist? David Paroissien draws on a range of 19th century sources to illuminate the novel's late Georgian and mid-Victorian contexts: the brutal punishments that characterized Hanoverian England's legal system; the transportation of felons and their rough lives in Australia's first penal colony; the social mobility a public school education conferred on a swindler and forger; the struggle to gain the desired status of "gentleman" among brewers, bakers and a raw yound blacksmith from the country ignorant of the ways of society and its social graces; the genteel city of Rochester, whose quiet nooks and stately historic houses excercised a powerful hold over Dickens's imagination; the nearby Hoo peninsular, with its lonely marsh villages and picturesque churchyards; and the changing face of early 19th century London, with its Inns of Chancery and Inns of Court, the vibrant life of the Thames, where watermen struggle against steamers as technological changes brought the old and the new face to face; and the river's lower, deserted reaches, bound by mists, marshes and tidal flats, which serve as background for the novel's brilliant menacing opening.