"'I mean a man whose hopes or aims may sometimes lie (as most men's sometimes do, I dare say) above the ordinary level, but to whom the ordinary level will be high enough after all of it should prove to be a way of usefulness and good service leading to no other. All generous spirits are ambitious, I suppose, but the ambition that calmly trusts itself to such a road, instead of spasmodically trying to fly over it, is the kind I care for.'"
Charles Dickens was the author of Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, Great Expectations, and A Tale of Two Cities. I think it's fair to say he was the greatest author of his generation, even if he had some stiff competition from other American, British and Russian authors of the time. For all the excellent authors of the early and late 1800s, its probably Dickens who casts the greatest shadow over Western thought and culture.
Bleak House is probably the last of his books I'll read for some time. Why? Because I've read all of the other famous ones. His bibliography is huge, and there are some odds and ends I haven't read, but I'm not likely to come across any of those other, far more obscure works any time soon.
In Bleak House Esther Summerson, a young woman of unknown origins, is released into the care of her guardian, a Mr. Jarndyce. From that point on her fortunes become increasingly entwined within an ongoing inheritance dispute within the Court of Chancery. Lurking in the background of her story is the highborn Lady Dedlock, a woman with whom she shares a mysterious relation.
I could never fault Dickens in terms of style, so let me just say that Bleak House is Dickens at his most densely descriptive. He tells this story with his characteristic lack of moral ambiguity, but given the literature of the time I can't fault him for that. In the mid-1800s very few people were ready to venture into those waters.
For the most part I found Bleak House very hard to get through, and this is coming from someone who's thoroughly enjoyed all of his other famous books. My main complaint is that so very little happens actually happens in this story, and it's extraordinary length becomes a real obstacle after a certain point. I liked the ending, and there was a certain ambiguity to this ending that shows Dickens' skill as a writer, but it seemed like an eternity passed between the opening and closing chapters of this novel.
For those unfamiliar with Dickens, I'd recommend starting with one of his shorter books. Oliver Twist, for example, or The Christmas Books. Books like Bleak House are best approached when you've finally come to a conclusion about an author, and when you've finally decided that he or she deserves the title "great."
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