Critical Response2

Tim Vorwald

1/17/2013

Bleak House in Context

            When I went to the Rare Books Room at the library to read certain installments of the original work of Bleak House. There were a myriad of things that were very different from what I read in the copy of the book that we use in class. The first and most obvious thing was that the first part of the little booklet that it was published in did not contain the story itself but actually advertisements which for a person that is reading the book and trying to put context to it the advertisements are very helpful. The reason that these advertisements were so helpful to me was that they helped me to visualize the things that were taking place in the story because it shows what they would have been using during that time period. The advertisements also appeared at the end of the book as well providing even more context. Another interesting thing is the illustrations of events in the book.

            The illustrations in the book that we have with us in class are the same as the ones in the original but there is a difference between the two. After flipping through the advertisements in the beginning one would come to the illustrations of the events in the book one right after the other before the story itself. This is a very interesting thing but it is something that could potentially give the reader interest in reading it. This is because, I think, the pictures could have served as something to grab the reader’s attention and thus pull them into the story. The use of illustrations is something that I find interesting because of how in the book they are right in with the text. Another thing that should be touched upon is how the book was written in monthly installments.

            The fact that the book was not released as a whole when it was originally written is something that is very interesting. It is a good way to keep the readers interested because they would constantly have to wait for the next month’s chapters to come out. If a person was really into reading the story then it is something that would definitely cause excitement and that excitement would bring in readers from the outside. With all these factors being brought into just one installment of the work it makes for a very interesting read. I rather enjoyed getting the opportunity to read the actual and original installment of the book because while it is still the same story it is something that is an experience all its own.