In the marshy mists of a village churchyard, atiny orphan boy named Pip is suddenly terrified by ashivering, limping convict on the run. Yearslater, a supremely arrogant young Pip boards the coachto London where, by the grace of a mysteriousbenefactor, he will join the ranks of the idle richand "become a gentleman." Finally, in theluminous mists of the village at evening, Pip theman meets Estella, his dazzingly beautifultormentor, in a ruined garden--and lays to rest all theheartaches and illusions that his "greatexpectations" have brought upon him. Dickens'sbiographer, Edgar H. Johnson, has said that--exceptfor the author's last-minute tampering with hisoriginal ending-- Great Expectations is "the most perfectly constructed andperfectly written of all Dickens's works." In JohnIrving's Introduction to this edition, thenovelist takes the view that Dickens's revised ending is"far more that mirror of the quality of trust inthe novel as a whole." Both versions of theending are printed here.

查尔斯·狄更斯，全名查尔斯·约翰·赫法姆·狄更斯（Charles John Huffam Dickens，1812年－1870年），英国小说家，狄更斯一生共创作了14部长篇小说，许多中、短篇小说和杂文、游记、戏剧、小品。其中最著名的作品是描写劳资矛盾的长篇代表作《艰难时 代》（1854）和描写1789年法国革命的另一篇代表作《双城记》（1859）。前者展示了工业资本家对工人的残酷剥削和压迫，描写了工人阶级的团结斗争，并批判了为资本家剥削辩护的自由竞争原则和功利主义学说。后者以法国贵族的荒淫残暴、人民群众的重重苦难和法国大革命的历史威力，来影射当时的英国社会现实，预示这场“可怕的大火”也将在法国重演。其他作品有《奥列佛·特维斯特》（又译《雾都孤儿》1838）、《老古玩店》（1841），《董贝父子》（1848），《大卫·考坡菲》（1850）和《远大前程》（1861），等等。狄更斯是19世纪英国现实主义文学的主要代表。艺术上以妙趣横生的幽默、细致入微的心理分析，以及现实主义描写与浪漫主义气氛的有机结合著称。