Abraham Nussbaum

Physician, Teacher, Writer


Great Expectations, Charles Dickens

What to make of Miss Havisham? She’s not the protagonist, but she is the novel’s compelling character. A portrayal of depression, a powerful personage undone by their unstable mind? Probably, but also: a fairy tale witch in a bridal dress. You could make more of Havisham, and I dream of a full Angela Carter re-write. Carter called Havisham an “awful image of the condition of women” and I would love to read her Havisham. Surely, something more than an image.