Great Expectations, "a Good Name?" (Critical Essay‪)‬

On 4 October, 1860, Dickens wrote John Forster to announce the second change of plans within a month. In mid-September, he had reported that "a little piece" he was working on, possibly a short paper for The Uncommercial Traveller, was better suited to "a new book" (Forster bk. 9, ch. 3). Now, with Charles Lever's A Day's Ride depressing sales of All the Year Round, he felt compelled to forego "the old 20 numbers" in favor of a weekly serial to save his ailing periodical. Dickens's thirteenth novel began as a paper, then turned from a projected serial of twenty monthly parts into one with thirty-six weekly installments. "The name," Dickens informed Forster "is GREAT EXPECTATIONS. I think a good name?" (1) Dickens titular artistry leaves lots to be desired, even if his major rivals--Eliot, Thackeray, Trollope--were seldom more imaginative. Five of Dickens's novels, one-third of the total, are simply named after the book's protagonist: Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, Martin Chuzzlewit, David Copperfield, Little Dorrit. Three more, Pickwick Papers, Dombey and Son, and The Mystery of Edwin Drood, might as well be called "Pickwick," "Dombey," and "Drood." The Old Curiosity Shop, A Tale of Two Cities, and Bleak House adopt place names for titles. The first and third may also be taken as metaphors for the human condition, curious and grim. The title Hard Times describes industrial conditions at mid-century. It may also connote hardhearted manufacturers and fact-worshipping Benthamites. Our Mutual Friend has a title said to be "unfortunately chosen" (Pierce 460); this popular phrase could mean not just a friend in common but also a common friend. (2)