Charles Dickens' Little Dorrit: Autobiography and Social Satire NEW IN PERSON Krauss Hall, UH Ma?noa

Text: Participants will need to have a copy of Little Dorrit, on paper or electronic            
Reading: Please read the first thirteen (13) chapters BEFORE our first meeting, Nov 18. 

Little Dorrit (1857) is one of Dickens's great Late Period novels, along with Bleak House and Great Expectations, though often overshadowed by them. It is his powerful presentation of Victorian society as both literal and metaphoric Prison, leavened with some of his most telling satire and comedy (the Circumlocution Office, Flora Finching). George Bernard Shaw said that reading Little Dorrit converted him to socialism.

We will read the novel closely over four weeks. Because it is a long novel, we must make the best use possible of our four meetings. I will lecture of course but group discussion will be key to successful meetings.