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Great Expectations | Great Expectations: A Reflection of Serial Publication and Dickens' Social Concerns

In the following essay, Arnold A. Markley explains how the fact that Dickens' novel was originally published serially had a profound effect on the creation of the story's plot and characters. Markley also discusses the novel as representative of Dickens' social concerns, which are a common feature in his novels.

In the Victorian era, reading fiction was an extremely favorite pastime, and new novels were commonly published in serial format in periodicals. Many writers such as Charles Dickens became quite popular and developed huge followings that dutifully bought the periodicals in which they were published month after month, hooked by the entertaining and suspenseful stories. Dickens began Great Expectations in the fall of 1860, publishing it in weekly installments that began in December of that year in his popular...

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