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The Open University

Approaching literature: reading Great Expectations

The Open University via OpenLearn

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Overview

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This free course, Approaching literature: reading Great Expectations, considers some of the different ways of reading Great Expectations, based on the type of genre the book belongs to. This is one of the most familiar and fundamental ways of approaching literary texts. The novel broadens the scope of study of a realist novel, in both literary and historical terms. The course includes extracts from critical writings, which are discussed in detail.

Syllabus

  • Introduction
  • Learning outcomes
  • 1 Openings and ogres
  • 1 Openings and ogres
  • 1.1 The novel's opening
  • 1.2 Perspective
  • 1.3 The serialised novel
  • 1.4 Summary
  • 2 Grotesque expectations
  • 2 Grotesque expectations
  • 2.1 Writing style
  • 2.2 Dickens and his critics
  • 2.3 Surface realism – and beyond
  • 2.4 Summary
  • 3 Hallucinatory reading
  • 3 Hallucinatory reading
  • 3.1 Details
  • 3.2 Moral development
  • 3.3 Dickens' characterisation
  • 3.4 Fantasies and desires
  • 3.5 Summary
  • 4 Little Britain and the Empire
  • 4 Little Britain and the Empire
  • 4.1 A changing society
  • 4.2 Great Expectations and realism
  • 4.3 Death
  • 4.4 Summary
  • Conclusion
  • Next steps
  • References
  • Acknowledgements

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