Satire's Bleak Outlook

At first blush, it may seem that Bleak House is a satire.  Let us see.  If a satire is of little aesthetic value, it does not attain its object, however worthy that object may be.  On the other hand, if a satire is permeated by artistic genius, then its object is of little importance and vanishes with its times while the dazzling satire remains, for all time, as a work of art.  So why speak of satire at all?

The study of the sociological or political impact of literature has to be devised mainly for those who are by temperament or education immune to the aesthetic vibrancy of authentic literature.

--Vladimir Nabokov on Bleak House