[titania7]

Originally Posted by lionel

If this is advice, Miss, I’d hate to hear any of your commands.

I only give advice. No commands, luv. I may be a bit of a coquette, but I'm not a demanding female .

Originally Posted by lionel

But may I be excused, as I’ve already read it twice, and it’s been rosily imprinted on my imagination by David Lean since then anyway?

You know, I'm embarrassed to admit that I haven't seen David Lean's adaptation of Great Expectations. Since he's always been one of my favorite directors, the omission is rather glaring. Now that you've brought it to mind, though, I'll order it from the library.

Originally Posted by lionel

I had to read this forty years ago for O level, under the avuncular guidance of Booker-winner Stanley Middleton, who’s still churning out books at nearly ninety. Trouble is, Leavis was his hero, and he subjected us all to close reading of the text, giving us a ten-question test every Friday morning, after we’d all read a chapter or two of the book. I’m paraphrasing here, but one of the questions went: ‘How many mice scampered across Miss Havisham’s floor?’ I may have altered the verb to render it a little more exciting than ‘ran across’, but my reaction to that question is still the same: ‘Who give a shit how many mice scampered across the floor’? (Needless to say, a few clever clogs got the answer right, which I found incomprehensible.)

I haven't any idea how many mice scampered (looove that word, by the way ) across Miss Havisham's floor, but I do know we have one little mouse that scampers across the floor of our garage. We don't have any rotten wedding cake to feed the lit'l critter. However, he seems to have a penchant for sunflower seeds, and those are high in protein and much healthier than the cake would be.

It sounds like your ten-question tests every Friday weren't anything to look forward to, Lionel. I can't even imagine what Miss Havisham's number of mice would have to do with anything! But I daresay your teacher had a lot of fun compiling his lists of questions for those exams.

Originally Posted by lionel

...surely, our attentions should have been on more important things.

Indeed.

Originally Posted by lionel

Stan Middo was and still is a great guy, but I’ll never forgive him for this stupid question , which is enough to put anyone off English literature for life.

Well, it seems you took it in stride, Lionel. I wonder what the long-term
affects were of Mr. Middo's teaching on your classmates. Hmmm....

Originally Posted by lionel

Nevertheless, in spite Leavis’s dominant presence over literature, I loved it and loved Great Expectations.

You see, you're the type of man who always rises above the Stan Middos
of this world! It doesn't surprise me at all that you ended up loving Great Expectations. Indeed, I would've scarcely expected anything else, Lionel.

Originally Posted by lionel

Titania mentions a number of things, and I’m again reminded that books are about moments

Yes, they are about moments. More than characters or plot, it's those magical moments in a book (or a film) that stay with us forever.

Originally Posted by lionel

and there are a couple that spring to mind about the minor character Wemmick and his girlfriend Miss Skiffins. As I recall, Miss Skiffins won’t allow Wemmick to put his arm around her waist – until, I believe, the time when they become engaged.

You're right. Miss Skiffins was very particular about that.

Originally Posted by lionel

(I’m sure Miss Titania will rap my knuckles with her steel rule if I’ve not got all the details right though.)

Ha ha. You know better than that .

Originally Posted by lionel

Great Expectations is about coming of age, maturing out of petty snobbery and prejudices. It’s painful to see Joe in London and we hate Pip for his embarrassment at the same time as we empathise with him: coming of age is a painful process, especially if you’ve changed class in Victorian England. In Pip’s change he’s forgotten that he too, in London society, was once exactly what Joe is here, and in Dickens’s own phrase from another novel: ‘a dolphin in a sentry box’. This makes me wonder how many other dolphins in sentry boxes I’ve missed in Dickens’s novels, as I believe this is exactly how Dickens himself must have often felt in his journey from the blacking factory to riches and lecture tours in America.

I'm glad you brought up this phrase, "dolphin in a sentry box." So far, I've only read five of Dickens' novels, and I don't think I was looking for any dolphins when I perused them . However, you make such an apt point, Lionel, about how Dickens himself must have felt like a "dolphin in a sentry box" when he moved out of the working class and ended up being among the literary celebrities. I'm certain it was an adjustment that was extraordinarily awkward for him.

The comments about empathizing with Pip in my review were intended to
spark discussions about this book such as what you shared above. Anyone whose social status and class level has drastically altered since when they were young must surely relate to Pip. Coming of age is indeed a painful process, and it is particularly painful for Pip. I think the fact he is fully cognizant of his embarrassment regarding Joe, and feels ashamed of it,
makes the reader feel even more closely attuned to him.

An excerpt from an essay by John Lucas, professor of English and Drama
at the University of Loughborough in Leicestershire, England, follows:

"...The severity of Pip's self-judgement may eventually prove to be in excess of what he has to show us of his life. In other words, there is a third point of view that Great Expectations allows us--ours. Almost the best thing about the novel is that because of the self-excoriating quality with which Pip is determined to tell the truth about himself, we understand that his desire to atone for past errors leads him to identify error where none exists. There must be no hint of a desire for martyrdom about this, or the novel will be ruined. Dickens's success depends on his making Pip's desire for atonement plausible and honorable, not priggish or coy. And by and large the success is guaranteed because in spite of Pip's faults we are persuaded of his honesty, candor and essential likeability. Because, although it is proper that he should regard the course of his life as dictated by faults, it is also proper that we should see the matter otherwise. In particular, the novel makes us understand that great expectations are highly problematic. Can one even be guilty of entertaining them, or are they inevitably fed into people's lives?"

That last question is food for thought. Is it not?

Originally Posted by lionel

Thanks for the memory, Titania.

Thank you, Lionel, for sharing your thoughts about the book.

~Titania