Reading Dickens's Bleak House

This readers' guide to Bleak House begins with a general introduction to Dickens in the context of his times, stressing the public themes of the novel and the experimental aspects of its technique. Later chapters contain a survey of its major characters and aspects of Dickens's characterization; the pleasures of serial reading; a detailed analysis of several key passages; an exploration of Dickens's craft and the status of this novel as an experimental fiction; a discussion of Dickens and 'the woman question', and a survey of critical reception of what many regard as Dickens's greatest novel.