A Grotesque Tragi-Comic Conception

Dickens: Great Expectations

In this course, Professor John Bowen (University of York) explores Charles Dickens' Great Expectations, first published in Dickens' weekly periodical All the Year Round from December 1860 to August 1861. We begin by thinking about the complex texture of the novel – Dickens himself described it as a 'grotesque tragi-comic conception' – before moving on to consider its plot and genre. In the third module we think about the presentation of crime and the law in the novel, before turning in the fourth module to the performance of class. Finally, in the fifth module, we return again to what the novel is actually about, focusing in particular on the presentation of empire and colonialism, the theme of survival, and the novel's ambiguous ending.

A Grotesque Tragi-Comic Conception

In this module we think about the complex texture of the novel, focusing in particular on scenes of eating and the symbolism of food and the importance that the novel gives to effects of light and dark.