At the Guardian, Harris tagged ten notable random encounters in literature, including:
Great Expectations by Charles DickensRead about another entry on the list.
Victorian novels often have random encounters at their heart, but Pip’s childhood meeting with Magwitch, in a graveyard on Christmas Eve, holds a special place. It’s what changes Pip’s fortunes without him realising and takes him away from his life among the “open marshes”. Dickens’ novel is a parable of class and capitalism: Pip is magically lifted out of poverty and then left stranded when he’s made aware of the illicit origins of his wealth.
Great Expectations appears on Caroline Crampton's top ten list of books about the River Thames, Jenny Kawecki's list of four of the worst holidays in fiction, Lynne Truss's 6 best books list, Charlotte Seager's list of five well-known literary obsessives who take things too far, TheReadDown's list of seventeen books to read during wedding season, Phoebe Walker's list of eight of the best feasts quotes in literature, Rachel Cooke's top ten list of single women, Robert Williams's top ten list of loners in fiction, Chrissie Gruebel's top ten list of books set in London, Melissa Albert's list of five interesting fictional characters who would make undesirable roommates, Janice Clark's list of seven top novels about the horrors of adolescence, Amy Wilkinson's list of five books Kate Middleton should have read while waiting to give birth, Kate Clanchy's top ten list of novels that reflect the real qualities of adolescence, Joseph Olshan's list of six favorite books, John Mullan's lists of ten of the best clocks in literature, ten of the best appropriate deaths in literature, ten of the best castles in literature, ten of the best Hamlets, ten of the best card games in literature, and ten best list of fights in fiction. It also made Tony Parsons' list of the top ten troubled males in fiction, David Nicholls' top ten list of literary tear jerkers, and numbers among Kurt Anderson's five most essential books. The novel is #1 on Melissa Katsoulis' list of "twenty-five films that made it from the book shelf to the box office with credibility intact."
Read an 1861 review of Great Expectations.
--Marshal Zeringue