Great Expectations as a Pre-Postmodern Rewriting of The Odyssey?
The postmodern age in literature is characterized by, among other things, a tendency to rewrite classic masterpieces. And there have been, indeed, modern rewritings of Dickens’s novels. Great Expectations is a case in point. Yet this literary game did not really start in the postmodern age and I wou...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée
2012-01-01
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| Series: | Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens |
| Online Access: | http://journals.openedition.org/cve/12429 |
| _version_ | 1797961983501271040 |
|---|---|
| author | Alain Jumeau |
| author_facet | Alain Jumeau |
| author_sort | Alain Jumeau |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The postmodern age in literature is characterized by, among other things, a tendency to rewrite classic masterpieces. And there have been, indeed, modern rewritings of Dickens’s novels. Great Expectations is a case in point. Yet this literary game did not really start in the postmodern age and I would like to argue here that Great Expectations—written many decades before Joyce’s Ulysses—might be read as a rewriting of The Odyssey. The comparison between Victorian novel and classic epic is suggested by Dickens’s text itself, in a remarkable piece of rhetoric published by Pumblechook in the local paper. If we take The Odyssey as paradigm, of course we notice many differences in Great Expectations, but also striking similarities. This may be an invitation to read Great Expectations not only as a spiritual odyssey for the Victorian Age, but as a pre-postmodern rewriting of one of the oldest literary masterpieces. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T01:07:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-44dfb0bdeb6b4422adf61041c63ca487 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0220-5610 2271-6149 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T01:07:20Z |
| publishDate | 2012-01-01 |
| publisher | Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens |
| spelling | doaj.art-44dfb0bdeb6b4422adf61041c63ca4872023-01-04T11:26:04ZengPresses Universitaires de la MéditerranéeCahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens0220-56102271-61492012-01-0110.4000/cve.12429Great Expectations as a Pre-Postmodern Rewriting of The Odyssey?Alain JumeauThe postmodern age in literature is characterized by, among other things, a tendency to rewrite classic masterpieces. And there have been, indeed, modern rewritings of Dickens’s novels. Great Expectations is a case in point. Yet this literary game did not really start in the postmodern age and I would like to argue here that Great Expectations—written many decades before Joyce’s Ulysses—might be read as a rewriting of The Odyssey. The comparison between Victorian novel and classic epic is suggested by Dickens’s text itself, in a remarkable piece of rhetoric published by Pumblechook in the local paper. If we take The Odyssey as paradigm, of course we notice many differences in Great Expectations, but also striking similarities. This may be an invitation to read Great Expectations not only as a spiritual odyssey for the Victorian Age, but as a pre-postmodern rewriting of one of the oldest literary masterpieces.http://journals.openedition.org/cve/12429 |
| spellingShingle | Alain Jumeau Great Expectations as a Pre-Postmodern Rewriting of The Odyssey? Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens |
| title | Great Expectations as a Pre-Postmodern Rewriting of The Odyssey? |
| title_full | Great Expectations as a Pre-Postmodern Rewriting of The Odyssey? |
| title_fullStr | Great Expectations as a Pre-Postmodern Rewriting of The Odyssey? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Great Expectations as a Pre-Postmodern Rewriting of The Odyssey? |
| title_short | Great Expectations as a Pre-Postmodern Rewriting of The Odyssey? |
| title_sort | great expectations as a pre postmodern rewriting of the odyssey |
| url | http://journals.openedition.org/cve/12429 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT alainjumeau greatexpectationsasaprepostmodernrewritingoftheodyssey |