OSHER 821 - Reading the Reader in Dickens's "Bleak House"

How the reader reads forms the question everyone must ask if they are to understand any text. In the case of Charles Dickens's 1853 novel "Bleak House," arguably his best and most daunting tale, readers are often challenged and sometimes dismayed by its length and complexity. Yet in its simplest form, "Bleak House" is about reading--reading characters, reading individual scenes, reading texts and conversation, and reading Phiz's illustrations. Every character, every word, every illustration is essential to the meaning, and together they ask the principal question: What do these people, their classes, and the places they live or work have to do with each other? Reading "Bleak House" in serial--part by part and installment by installment--provides answers. This single-session lecture will be a preview of a longer class session to follow in fall term.