Great Expectations — Charles Dickens
In Spanish, the title of this novel is closer in meaning to ‘Great hopes’, which works, but I think it could be better. The thing is that the literal translation of expectation is expectativa, which doesn’t sound as great in Spanish. However, it was my mother who recently suggested one that I liked better: ‘Grandes ilusiones’. The word ilusión — delusion in English — conveys the same as expectations, the belief that something will happen, but it also evokes a sense of deceit. The protagonist lives in a delusion not only because he expects something, but because he has deceived himself in order to believe it. A delusion so big it will define him.
This is the story of Pip, an orphan boy living a modest life with his sister and his brother-in-law Joe, in a rural town of 19th century England, whose life will change because of two events. The first will be meeting Miss Havisham, an eccentric woman who always wears her wedding dress and lives in a dilapidated mansion with Estella, an obnoxious but beautiful girl. Pip will become so enamored by them that he will start to feel inadequate, like his life is perhaps too simple. The second event will be the appearance of a secret benefactor who will make Pip an heir to a fortune to be used to move to London and become a gentleman. Good enough, perhaps, to marry Estella one day. Throughout the novel we see how Pip’s expectations will shatter against reality, forcing him to be in a constant readjustment of them.
‘Great expectations’ was the penultimate book by Charles Dickens, published in the height of his fame. Just like many other works of that time, it was published first as a serial between 1860 and 1861, in the literary magazine All The Year Round — founded by Dickens himself, in which authors like Wilkie Collins and Anthony Trollope were also published — and was then made into a book. It is now considered to be one of the greatest works of literature, conceived by an author at the height of his abilities, with the sufficient self-confidence of someone who created his own inimitable style.
Personally, this was the first book by Dickens that I read. It did not disappoint. The writing is charming, with exquisite descriptions and clever observations; with a plot that seems simple but saves its twists and surprises for the end. However, the best part of this book is undoubtedly its cast of characters. There is Pip, a clever but clueless boy — easy to sympathize with due to the difficulties of his childhood — who makes the classic mistake of youth of giving too much importance to the wrong things, hurting the ones who love him most along the way. Pip is so endearing precisely because he is sometimes so obnoxious, just like we all have been at some point. There is also Joe, who more than his brother-in-law is his best friend, a man who seems uncouth at first sight but is actually classier than most; Miss Havisham, a woman haunted by her past; and Magwitch, a runaway convict that makes an impression on a young Pip.
As I researched a little about the history around this book, I found a review written in the same year of its publication, in the American magazine The Atlantic, which already declared it a masterpiece. It would be difficult to argue otherwise when the book is still being read, as well as adapted into multiple movies and TV series, 160 years later. Dickens was an expert at capturing human nature in his stories. A human nature that seems to have not changed much since then.
This review was originally published in Spanish at Cuaderno Reciclado.
