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Introduction

Great Expectations is a novel by Charles Dickens which was first published in serial form in All the Year Round^[1] from 1 December 1860 to August 1861. It has been adapted for stage and screen over 250 times.^[2]

Great Expectations is written in the genre of "bildungsroman", the style of book which follows the story of a man or woman in their quest for maturity, usually starting from childhood and ending in the main character's eventual adulthood. Great Expectations is the story of the orphan Pip, writing about his life from his early days of childhood until adulthood and attempting to become a gentleman along the way. The novel can also be considered semi-autobiographical of Dickens, like much of his work, drawing on his experiences of life and people.

The main plot of Great Expectations takes place from Christmas Eve, 1812, when the protagonist is about seven years old (and which happens to be the year of Dickens' birth), to the winter of 1840.^[3]