Could you write an insightful novel full of caricatures and stereotypes; merge comedy with tragedy; make shady types lovable and sympathetic; cast the leading lady as a sociopath whom the reader will pity; and make the central character so clueless that he doesn’t see that great expectations are a fool’s errand? Then, could you sell such a mixed bag to a publisher? How did Dickens pull these contradictory and unlikely elements together to create Great Expectations, one of the nineteenth century’s greatest novels, a tale whose popularity a century later is undiminished?
In previous readings/teachings we were entertained by the magic trick(s) but never explored how he pulled them off. Join us, as we pull the curtain back on the magician, explaining his tricks. We will use the Penguin Classics edition. Read the first 19 chapters for the first class. Class Limit: 20
Instructor John Ward went to Amherst for his A.B. and the University of Virginia for his Ph.D. and taught English literature at liberal arts colleges in Ohio (Kenyon) and Kentucky (Centre) for 40 years. After retiring, for the last dozen years he has been teaching in Coastal Senior College. In a sense, he has hardly “retired” but instead is exploring new as well as familiar literary topics with his contemporaries. While his college courses were principally in the areas of 18th- and 19th-century British literature, more recently he has concentrated on major poets, from Yeats, Frost, Lowell, and Heaney.
Instructor Maryanne Ward holds a B.A. from Marymount Manhattan College, Masters degrees from the University of Virginia, and a Ph.D. from the Ohio State University. Her main fields of interest are the 19th-century novel (English and Russian) and Greek literature, particularly, Homer’s Odyssey. In addition to teaching her academic specialties, she shares her love of detective fiction with the Mystery Monday reading group. After retiring, Maryanne trained as a Master Gardener, has worked at Blaine House, and is currently a docent at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens.