Re: great expectations
Charles Dickens (cdickens@RMPLC.CO.UK)
Wed, 7 Oct 1998 10:34:51 -0100
My dear Students,
Yours is an interesting question. I respond to it not least because my
characters do live for me. How I wept at the death of little Paul Dombey!
But dare I breath a little sobriety into our discussion? Pip and Estella
are fictitious characters. They never lived, and certainly didn't after I
completed "Great Expectations."
It has become widely known, I believe, that I originally wrote an ending
to the novel, in which Pip and Estella simply meet finally and part, never
to meet again. My good friend Bulwer Lytton, when he read the manuscript at
my request, advised me against that, and I substituted an ending in which
they are together at the end, and Pip declares, "I saw no shadow of another
parting from her." I intended that to be ambiguous, for doubt to cling
about it.
I have told you that Pip and Estella didn't live after I completed the
book. Perhaps in doing so I am doing my craft a disservice. May I suggest
that they do live - in your imaginations? They have become creatures of
your imaginations, as much as of mine. You may determine what happened to
them. It is your privilege as a reader. You do not need me to advise.
Faithfully yours,
Charles Dickens
____________________________________________________________________________
____________
>Dear Charles,
>
>We are Educations students who are interested in the potential of E-Mail
>and would appreciate a reply regarding the lives of Pip and Estella
>following the conclusion of your great book.
>
>
>Yours sincerley
>
>
>some students
>
>
======================
Charles Dickens
charles_dickens@rmplc.co.uk
Author