Bleak House character list below for the supposed inspiration of individual characters). Although not a character, the "Jarndyce and Jarndyce" case is a vital part of the novel. It is believed to have been inspired by a number of real-life Chancery cases involving wills, including those of Charles Day and William Jennens, and of Charlotte Smith's father-in-law Richard Smith. Much criticism of "Bleak House" focuses on its unique narrative structure: it is told both by a third-person omniscient narrator and a first-person narrator (Esther Summerson). The omniscient narrator speaks in the present tense and is a dispassionate observer. Esther Summerson tells her
My Companions in the Bleak House in the Bleak House" a "stunning tour-de-force". It won the Tom Stoppard Prize in 1984 for the best work of Czechoslovak unofficial literature. Attention has been paid to the fact that the book focuses exclusively on the stories of women, and particularly women in prison. "My Companions in the Bleak House" was made into a four-part miniseries for Czech Television in 1992, starring Ivana Chýlková. The four 70-minute episodes were written by Kantůrková with Václav Šašek. They were re-broadcast in 2001 and again in 2017, in commemoration of the fortieth anniversary of Charter 77. At the 1994 Festival International de