Literature in English, British Isles Commons^™

George Eliots's Epigraphs: A Note, R.J. Owens

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

George Eliot followed the conventions of her time in titling her novels either after their hero or heroine or the setting where the action takes place. Later she began to give titles to each chapter, or to the individual "Books" which made up the complete novel, or to both. Since the titular hero was sometimes not the only or the main centre of interest in the novel, for example in Felix Holt or Daniel Deronda, the practice of giving titles to "Books" helped, in the usual circumstances of nineteenth century publishing, to point the reader's attention to the appropriate aspect …

George Eliot Birthday Luncheon: The Toast To The Immortal Memory, Margaret Wolfit

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

In May 1869 George Eliot received what she described as "a really noble letter from the American writer Harriet Beecher Stowe full of admiration of Silas Marner The Mill on the Floss and Adam Bede" and although they never met, there seems to have been some deep affinity of feeling between these two eminent women that drew them closely together in spite of diversity of intellectual tastes.

In reply to that first letter George Eliot wrote; - "Letters are necessarily narrow and fragmentary, and when one writes on wide subjects, are likely to create more misunderstanding than illumination. But I …

Westminster Abbey Wreath-Laying- June 18th 1988, Jennifer Uglow

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

In June 1856 George and Marian Lewes (for it would not yet be right to call her 'George Eliot') were staying in North Devon. While George was collecting specimens on the beach, Marian was preoccupied with work for the Westminster Review, her 'Belles Letters' column and her famous article on W. H. Riehl, 'The Natural History of German Life', which, she wrote, 'I worked at considerably a contretemps, despairing of its ever being worth anything', But by this day, the 18th June, she was enjoying a splendid sense of freedom and a desire to turn to a different world, as …

Book Review: George Eliot: The Jewish Connection, Kathleen Porter, Ruth Levitt

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

George Eliot: The Jewish Connection, published in Israel in 1975, has recently come to our attention for review. Ruth Levitt, who lives in Israel, had read and admired Daniel Deronda, and was encouraged by George Eliot's sympathetic treatment of the Jewish characters in the novel, to attempt to show that Theodore Herzl, one of the founders of modern Zionism, was himself inspired by the fictional Daniel Deronda. As Mrs. Levitt tells us in her Preface, the attempt failed, and for this reason the effect of her book is diminished.

Undaunted, the author persevered with a modified theme, convinced that George …

George Eliot At Southfields, Pat Bailey

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

George Eliot (Marian Evans) was quite delighted with Holly Lodge, Wimbledon Park Road (now No. 31) when she and George Henry Lewes took possession of it on a seven year lease on 5th February 1&59. The four storey house with "wide horizons, well ventilated rooms and abundant water" was a welcome change for them after four years in very cramped furnished lodgings at 8 Park Shot, Richmond, where their favourite evenings of songs at the piano had been restricted because a clergy-man happened to live on the floor below. In a letter to Sara Hennell several weeks later she was …

The George Eliot Fellowship Review 1988 No. 19, Kathleen Adams, Graham Handley

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

Contents- 1988

President's Message 1

Annual Report-1987 2

Accounts- 1987 8

Treasurer's Report-1987 9

George Eliot Memorial Lecture-1987: The Seduction of Maggie Tulliver by Dr. Beryl Gray 10

Westminster Abbey Wreath-laying-1987 18

Trinagular Patterns in MIddlemarch by David Ball 23

Book Reviews: 26

World's Classics Series: 26

Felix Holt ed. by Fred C. Thomson 26

Daniel Deronda ed. by Graham Handley 26

To Educate or not to Educate: Patterns for Women in George Eliot's novels by Linda K. Robertson 28

George Eliot at Southfields by Pat Bailey 32

Silas Marner: George Eliot and Mme Le Prince de Beaumont by Terence …

Obituary- Siggers

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

We were sorry to hear of the death on March 9th. of Dr. Siggers who had been a life member of the Fellowship since 1971.

If you have the good fortune to live in a house once occupied by George Eliot, it is natural that an interest in the novelist will develop. This happened with Dr. Siggers, for his home in Devizes was the scene of Mary Ann Evans' visit in 1843 to the home of Dr. Robert Brabant. Her holiday lasted a month; it might have been longer if her relationship with her host, nearly forty years her senior, …

Message Of Greeting From The Fellowship President, Jonathan G. Ouvry

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

Having been intrigued by the puzzle on P. 87 of the previous edition of the Review my mind has turned to anagrams (perhaps the Review should have a crossword puzzle - I enjoy a crossword puzzle!) but without any great success. Trying "George Eliot" produces various unpromising words like "tiger" and "girl", but nothing very relevant. If only there were an "n" Eng. Lit. would appear quite satisfactory.

Turning to the name Adams, again I find nothing very relevant. Kathleen is surely not "sad" about the undertaking she embarked on more than 20 years ago, though she may feel she …

Maggie's Sisters: Feminist Readings Of The Mill On The Floss, Oliver Lovesey

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

The view that Eliot presented her female characters with only very limited possibilities for self-realization in either marriage or martyrdom, and that Eliot herself '1ived" but did not "write" the "revolution" is one that has dominated the feminist assessment of George Eliot. This tradition regards Eliot as an author who served unintentionally to bolster a reactionary, phallocentric ethos. Further, Eliot is suspect as she has been, particularly since F. R. Leavis gave her prominence in The Great Tradition a part of the accepted literary canon. Nevertheless, as Elaine Showalter, for example, has pointed out in "The Greening of Sister George," …

Letters To The Editors - 1988

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

In the 1987 Review an article was published entitled TO PRAY OR NOT TO PRAY. It was an answer from the Fellowship to those who criticised us for indulging in religious practice from time to time - something they regard as being unacceptable to George Eliot. In response to the article, a letter was received from The Venerable Michael Mansbridge, Chaplain and Archdeacon to The Gulf. Michael was a one-time President of the Fellowship during the years when he was Vicar of Chilvers Coton (‘Shepperton') and Astley (‘Knebley') Churches. Writing from Baghdad, and sending good wishes to the Fellowship, he …

Triangular Patterns In Middlemarch, David Ball

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

There has been no lack of awareness in modern criticism of the complexities and surprises of George Eliot's careful structuring of Middlemarch, particularly when it is presented in terms of duality. I will quote here only one very representative example, from W.}. Harvey's introduction to the Penguin edition of the novel:

It is not difficult to discern the pattern of this network (of parallels and contrasts). The contrast between Rosamond and Mary Garth, or between Rosamond and Dorothea; the combined parallel and contrast between the researches of Casaubon and Lydgate (both of them searching for a "key"); the way in …

Treasurer's Report- 1987

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

During the course of this my first year as Treasurer of the George Eliot Fellowship, I sometimes found myself wondering how I came to be doing this job. Our Chairman, Bill Adams, reminded me at the Birthday Luncheon. He said that I had been "wooed by soft words".

This is quite true. One thing that Kathleen has in common with George Eliot is a beautiful voice and that voice "wooed" me into undertaking the Treasurer's post.

It had not occurred to me to look at the books of the retiring Treasurer to see what was involved before agreeing to take …

To Educate Or Not To Educate: Patterns For Women In George Eliot's Novels, Linda K. Robertson

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

Throughout her novels, George Eliot points out the deplorable state of education for women in the nineteenth century and the effects that poor education has upon the individual. Only limited schooling, if any, was available to girls whose parents could not afford to pay substantial sums, and too much schooling for girls was commonly viewed as unnecessary and even dangerous. In addition, schools generally spent a large proportion of their time teaching various "accomplishments" and very little on more academic subjects. Characters in most of Eliot's novels reflect common perceptions on education for women and illustrate the undesirable results of …

Review Of The Leavises On Fiction: An Historic Partnership, Bill Adams

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

Trying to follow the polemics of literary criticism is rather like trying to understand the progress of an aerial battle from the ground. One is aware of much noise and the incomprehensible twistings of the vapour trails of argument. However, anyone having the least interest in English literature cannot fail to have heard of the battling Leavises, or indeed, to recognise the spare features and uncompromising expressions of both spouses.

It was this vague layman's interest which led me to open Dr. Robertson's book, with the thought - how can anyone looking as pugnacious as F.R. Leavis have the delicacy …

Silas Marner: George Eliot And Mme Le Prince De Beaumont, Terence Dawson

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

At the beginning of chapter 15 of Silas Marner (1861), there is a reference to a well-known fairy tale. The paragraph is as follows:

That famous ring that pricked its owner when he forgot duty and followed desire - - I wonder if it pricked very hard when he set out on the chase, or whether it pricked but lightly then, and only pierced to the quick when the chase had long been ended, and hope, folding her wings, looked backward and became regret? (Penguin ed., p. 191)

Joseph Wiesenfarth has identified the fairy tale as 'Prince Darling.' He quotes …

Review Of The World's Classics Series: Felix Holt, Kathleen Adams

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

If one cannot afford the splendid Clarendon Editions of George Eliot's novels. the World's Classics editions are a very good second best. They are second -best, however, only in their format, since the text of the novels is the same. For the finer quality, hardback of the Clarendon is substituted a well-produced and clear paperback with an attractive cover.

Fred C.Thomson's Introduction to Felix Holt, the Radical tells us that, despite its title, this is not a political novel as the genre is ordinarily understood. George Eliot is not telling us the story of a career politician, nor does she …

Review Of The Warwichshire Pen, Gabriel Woolf

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

Being born in Warwickshire, it seems, confers distinction upon those who write. I can make this statement without giving myself airs, since I was born in another county, and, according to Gabriel Woolf, merely to dwell in Warwickshire is no guarantee of excellence.

Shaking the local dust from his feet with a grand dramatic gesture, so to speak, Gabriel Woolf began his programme with extracts from Henry V on "the vastly fields of France", whither we had been puffed by the breath of Shakespeare's contemporary, Michael Dray ton. Back in Warwickshire, a contrast followed from the early pen of George …

Review Of The Prison Of Womanhood. Four Provincial In Nineteenth Century Fiction., Elizabeth Jane Macmillian

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

This is an interesting but relatively obvious analysis of four female characters of major significance in 19th century fiction. Miss Sabiston is seeking to establish whether or not there is a 'feminine creative sensibility'. She notes the heroines' similarities, and as her analysis deepens, she maintains comparison and perspective by cross-reference. Thus Emma Bovary requires change of location for her romance, whereas Emma is manifestly tied by duty to her own area and rejects any idea of moving away. The sections devoted to Dorothea Brooke advance what seems to me to be very obvious arguments. The chapter, as with the …

Book Review Of Intellectual Women, Graham Handley

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

This is a very well documented and impressive study of Harriet Martineau, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and George Eliot. It is more than that: it is directly inspirational, stimulating one to re-read and re-assess in the light of Miss David's analyses. There are glancing but important references to Ruskin and the significance of his 'Of Queens' Gardens', his views being 'the essence of patriarchal thought'. There is the weighted idea that 'education disfigures -and makes it difficult for girls to find husbands.' But it is when Deirdre David gets down to the individual writers under examination that her insight and sympathy …

Review Of Daniel Deronda

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

In writing of this edition of my favourite of George Eliot's novels edited by Graham Handley, a man to whom the George Eliot Fellowship owes so much and for whom we feel a particular warmth for his exceptional work as one of the two leaders of our Study Group and as one of the Review's two editors

We are told of her meticulous research into the legal aspects of the story and of the places she visited where she was to set her scenes. Dr. Handley also reminds us of the times in which the novel was written and of …

The George Eliot Fellowship Statement Of According For The Year Ending 31st December 1988

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

1988 P&L Statement and Balance sheet

George Eliot And Friendship The Toast To The Immortal Memory, Ina Taylor

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

Before going on to my chosen subject I thought you might like to hear a little about this new biography of George Eliot. You could indeed be forgiven for saying, 'Not another biography of George Eliot'. A new study must come out most years, either in this country or in America and I would be the first to admit that the definitive biography by Gordon Haight will not be superseded for some time. So what more is there to say about the great lady?

Well, after reading Haight and others, I was struck by the fact that of George Eliot's …

Westminster Abbey Wreather Abbey Wreath-Laying, John Kane

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

We are here today to pay our respects and do homage to the memory of a great artist and an astonishing woman. Although she died over a hundred years ago, I know that to many members of the George Eliot Fellowship and to readers around the world, she is still our contemporary and to some, she is more vibrant and alive than many living authors. But what if she really were alive today? What if we were actually here not to lay a wreath but to meet the woman herself. I for one would approach the event with some ambivalence. …

A Newly Purchased Letter, T. Clifford Allbutt

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

The following letter has recently been purchased by Nuneaton Museum and Art Gallery and its pubIication here (as far as we are aware, for the first time) is with the Curator's kind permission. Unfortunately, no year is shown with the date, neither is the correspondent addressed in any other way than by 'My dear Sir', so it has been impossible to discover to whom it was written. All one can say is that it was penned sometime between 1890 (the date of publication of Oscar Browning's Life of George Eliot) and 1925 when Sir Thomas Clifford Allbutt, the writer of …

The George Elliot Fellowship Review 1987 No.18, Kathleen Adams, Graham Handley

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

CONTENTS 1987

President’s Message 6

Annual Report- 1986 7

Accounts- 1986 15

Treasurer’s Report- 1986 16

George Eliot Memorial Lecture- 1986: Silas Marner: Filming the Novel by Louis Marks 16

Nuneanton Wreath-laying- June 1986 24

Westminster Abbey Wreath-laying- 1986 25

Shakespearean Allusionsin ‘Janet’s Repentance by A.G. van den Broek 27

Book Reviews:

The Clarendon Edition of Middlemerch edited by David Carroll 40

George Eliot and 19^th Century Science: The Make-Believe of a Beginning by Sally Shuttleworh 42

George Eliot by Gillian Beer 43

Poem: At the Grave of George Eliot by Amy Clampitt 46

A Hard Moral Core by …

A Hard Moral Core, Vic Hopkins

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

The novelist C. P. Snow, reviewing a book on George Eliot by Robert Speaight (1954), seeking an answer to his own question: “Which of the Victorian novelists means much to the younger writers today?", after rejecting most of them, finally selected George Eliot, who, in her time, he explained

"received a complete esteem not given to any other English novelist, and who afterwards became regarded as a faintly comic monument.”

I paused over the statement, puzzled and fearing worse might follow, but mercifully the writer of it, buoyed perhaps by the thought II serious art needs a hard moral core", …

George Eliot's Wesleyan Madonna, Elsie B. Homes

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

George Eliot's "favorite painting in all the world" was Raphael's "Sistine Madonna”, which she and George Henry Lewes first viewed at Dresden when she was writing Adam Bede. In her journal, she recorded that on her first sight of the painting she sat down briefly, but then "a sort of awe, as if I were suddenly in the presence of some glorious being, made my heart swell too much for me to remain comfortably, and we hurried out of the room" (Haight 264). Each day as they came to the gallery, they would return last to what Lewes termed “this …

To Pray Or Not To Pray, Kathleen Adams

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

No-one who has read George Eliot's novels can be unaware of her interest in the clergy as characters for her fiction - Amos Barton, Mr. Gilfil, Mr. Tryan, Mr. Irwine, Rufus Lyon - or of her knowledge of various expressions of faith - Evangelical, Methodist, Independent, through to ..Judaism in her final novel, Daniel Deronda. She writes of the clergy with a minimum of caricature, some criticism, but she is never without compassion.

Reading her letters confirms this interest as well as her Iife-Iong search for knowledge of the subject and, because her quest is so well documented, her views …

The Manuscript Of Daniel Deronda: A Change In Sequence?, Graham Handley

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

The examination of a great writer's manuscript carries its own fascinations and frustrations, for eyes and mind are intent on discovery, with might-have-been replacing is at the blink of an eyelid. Deletions hide something of significance, single-word alterations are evidence of a change of mind (or of heart), and commonplaces are elevated by a single deft stroke or slant into transcendent maxims or inscrutable morality. Re-shaped sentences take on a greater profundity of thought, while paragraphs collated with the first printing or a later corrected one, show either the wisdom of reflection or the author's obstinacy, depending on the reader's …

Shakespearean Allusions In 'Janet's Repentance', A.G. Van Den Broek

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

This paper is part of a comprehensive survey of Shakespeare's influence on George Eliot's writing, an influence widely recognised by critics but rarely given the detailed analysis it deserves. It seems to me that, a study of this sort is needed because Shakespeare belongs to that enormous "choir" of philosophers, theologians, writers, poets, dramatists and scientists on whom Eliot drew when shaping her philosophy of life and art; a "choir" which with "mild persistence urge man's search/ To vaster issues. I offer this critique of "Janet's Repentance", therefore, as something to be compared with studies that show other influences from …