Literature in English, British Isles Commons^™

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 …

Book Review: George Eliot And Nineteenth-Century Science: The Make-Believe Of A Beginning, Graham Handley

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

This is a sustained investigation of the novels (Scenes of Clerical Life is virtually omitted) and the scientific climate and knowledge which inform them. It is a necessary and stimulating book, firmly anchored in 19th century scientific: theory. It underpins what we have always known but never perhaps spelled out fully, and that is the depth and width of George Eliot's scientific interests and how she integrated them into her work. Dr. Shuttleworth notes that George Eliot's knowledge of science was 'unmatched by any of her peers' and at the same time indicates the centre of her own study - …

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 …

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 …

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

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

Having very much enjoyed my three year spell as President of the Fellowship I was delighted and honoured to hear from Kathleen Adams that I had been re-elected. She allayed my suspicion that this was simply to avoid the expense of reprinting the letterheading, pointing out that Ann Reader had retired from the Treasurership so that change. was, in any event, inevitable. I would like to add my personal thanks to Ann for all her tireless work in keeping the Fellowship on a sound financial basis over a very long period, and at the same time wish her successor a …

Book Review: The Clarendon Edition Of Middlemarch, Kathleen Porter

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

We welcome the Clarendon edition of George Eliot’s Middlemarch, which is generally considered to be her greatest novel. It took her about three years to write, and it seems to have caused a good deal of trouble to all concerned.

David Carroll's splendid Introduction, although not intended to be biographical, offers the reader a glimpse of the working life of the Leweses. As the Editor tells us, George Eliot left no detailed account of the 'germ' of Middlemarch, but her letters to John Blackwood gave hints that an 'English novel' was in her mind as early as 1867. Then, after …

"Listening" A Poem Inspired By Middlemarch, M.A. Valk

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

LISTENING

Listening to silence

on its other side

hearing the grass grow

the beat of a bird's heart

the fall of a star

Shall 1 die of the roar

waiting for silence

to break - like glass?

Book Review: George Eliot, Kathleen Adams, Jennifer Uglow

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

When I first heard that Virago were to pubIish a book about George Eliot (the author sought my help in locating certain photographs) I was a Iittle apprehensive. I feared that this might be a militant feminist view of a lady who concerned herself deeply about the 'Woman Question' but who did not align herself with the growing Victorian feminist movement. But a first reading allayed my fears, for Jennifer Uglow treats her subject with sympathy and understanding and does not try to prove that George Eliot was an active feminist when she was not.

The book opens with a …

The Sixteenth George Eliot Memorial Lecture- 1987, Beryl Gray

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

Although from its first chapter the novel evolves towards the crises of Maggie's brief maturity, my focus here is on the two final Books of The Mill on the Floss. Book VI is called "The Great Temptation"; Book VII is called ''The Final Rescue". Taken together, these two Books can be read as an allegory of moral struggle and redemption.

The temptation itself is located in Paradise. Indeed, the first chapter of Book VI - ''The Great Temptation" - is entitled" A Duet in Paradise". In conjunction, the key titular words - "Temptation" and "Paradise" - conjure the Temptation in …

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 …

Annual Report 1987

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

Before I began this, my 20th. annual Report, 1 looked back to my first and found, to my amusement, that it was a mere half quarto page! During that year we had visited the Amold Bennett Country, seen the play of 'Wutherlng Heights', and our Guest of Honour at the Dinner was the writer, Richard Church, a kinsman of George Eliot. Our total membership was 60.

1987 was inevitably a quieter year than 1986 - can it really be more than two years since we unveiled the Statue? At the AGM in March it seemed almost inevitable that we should …

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", …

The Spherical Vision, Nancy Topping Bazin

English Faculty Publications

Virginia Woolf's experiences as a manic-depressive influenced her vision of reality and, in tum, her aesthetics. Manic-depression is a "cyclic" illness-cyclic in the sense that the manic-depressive moves alternately between two extreme psychological states. Hence, he experiences reality in terms of two opposite perspectives. Psychotic depression involves what Jung describes as the experience of the "shadow." That is, looking into the unconscious, the individual sees his own reflection. He takes a risk in looking, for as Jung says, "The mirror does not flatter, it faithfully shows whatever looks into it; namely, the face we never show to the world because …

The George Eliot Fellowship Treasurer's Report- 1986

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

You will see from the Statement, which I hope is straightforward, that the finances of the Fellowship are in a satisfactory condition. In 1986 one of our High Income Bonds matured and was reinvested, together with £250 from the Snare Account, in a Capital Share 90 Account. This gives us a better rate of interest on our investment.

Profits on meetings, outing and sales are very encouraging. We prefer to raise money by our efforts rather than have to increase subscriptions and 1986 was a good year, with the result that subscriptions for this year remain the same as in …

George Eliot And Theatre: The Toast To The Immortal Memory, Kathleen Adams

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

In 1838, at the age of 18, Mary Ann Evans was deep in her evangelical period, taking everything very, very seriously. On a visit to London with her brother Isaac she refused to accompany him to the theatre, preferring instead to stay home and read History of the Jews. Not quite theatre, but she went to S1. Michaelis Church in Coventry with Miss Rebecca Franklin, her teacher at the Coventry school, to hear Haydn's Creat'ion, Handel's Jephtha and a new oratorio by Mendelssohn entitled Paul (all in one concert) and she wrote to her old school-friend, Martha Jackson, "nothing can …

Address At Westminster Abbey Wreath-Laying

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

ROSEMARY MARTIN was our Guest of Honour. She had been invited because of her very sympathetic portrayal of Dolly Winthrop in the BBC Television film of 'Silas Marner' - a much loved character with a special place in George Eliot's novel.

After she had placed the Fellowship chaplet of laurel and white carnations on the Memorial Stone which had been unveiled exactly six years earlier by Gordon S. Haight, Miss Martin admitted that, prior to the invitation to play Dolly Winthrop in the film, she had read no George Eliot. She was interested in the part and then read 'Silas …

Speech At The Nuneaton Wreath-Laying, Len Struebig

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

Almost twenty years ago, for the first time, I joined the small group of admirers who annually pay tribute to the memory of Nuneaton's famous daughter.

It is perhaps fitting that my last public duty, albeit as ex-Curator, should be connected with George Eliot. Over the years I have listened with interest to the various speakers, each with their own particular reason for being honoured with the responsibility for laying the Fellowship tribute.

I have heard Lewes and Evans descendants recount family memories handed down with pride. Last year we heard John Letts tell us of the close bond which …

Treasurer's Report 1985

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

You wiII see from the Statement that our finances are healthy despite high expenses last year. The loss of almost £94 on the Annual Readings was both unexpected and disappointing. For years we have benefited financially from Gabriel Woolf's Readings and we welcome his wiIIingness to come again this year, when we hope to be able to show our appreciation of his continued support. We are fortunate to have many generous members, whose help has been invaluable. We had a bequest of £ 100 from the late Mrs. Reeve and donations of £260. 67p.

Dr. Ezell continues, at his own …

Annual Report- 1986

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

1986 was undoubtedly the Year of the Statue and the erection and unveiling in March was the highlight of our work in promoting and honouring George Eliot. A full report appeared in the 1986 Review and it is not necessary to include any more in this report, except to say that, after all the public ceremony of the day before, the Fellowship met at the George Eliot Hotel on Sunday, March 23rd for a Celebration Luncheon. This was informal and extremely pleasant, and it proved to be a real 'family' affair. Jonathan and Marjorie Ouvry stayed over to be with …

George Eliot And The 1832 Election, Geoffrey D.M. Block

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

This article is an examination of some political aspects of George Eliot's Felix Holt.

The very first Iine of the first chapter of the novel makes it clear that the action takes place in 1832. This was the year of the Reform Act - the year too of the first general election to be held under the provisions of that Act. When she began writing her book in 1865-66 George Eliot did some painstaking research into the happenings and into the electoral practices of the 1832 election. (See her oft-quoted Journal and the Quarry usefully abstracted in the Clarendon edition …

Obituary 2: Gordon Haight, Margaret Wolfit

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

In the spring of 1972 when I was making plans to take my one woman version of “The Mill of the Floss” to the Edinburgh Festival fringe I plucked up courage and wrote a letter to Gordon Haight asking his help with some programme notes. I had, of course, read and greatly admired his definitive biography of George Eliot, but I had never met him. Some weeks later I received a telephone call from him. He told me he was in London, he didn’t know how he could help m but suggested that I might like to see him at …

Respond To The Speech At The Unveiling Of George Eliot Statue, Kathleen Adams

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

The George Eliot Fellowship feels a great sense of achievement today, for. after two years of work and effort, we now have George Eliot in the heart of 'Milby' - the name she chose for Nuneaton. We are proud to have played so Iarge a part in having this fine memorial statue erected as a token of our admiration of a great but warm and human woman. What she would have thought of the statue we have no way of knowing. But, although she was a diffident person, I Iike to think she would have been warmed and touched that …

Book Review: Silas Marner- Not Quite A "Common Ol' Workin' Man", Kathleen Porter

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

To compile a programme of Readings about 'the curse of the drinking classes' (Oscar Wilde) which is both· satisfying and moving, requires some diligence and industry. This belies Gabriel Woo If's statement, as he introduced himself to his audience, that, apart from two whole weeks in an office, he had spent his life not doing a day's work, in Mr. Lawrence senior's sense of the word. As a matter of fact, we were moved, in a most satisfying way, sometimes to laughter, sometimes to tears, by passages read with such feeling that it was hard to believe that our reader …

The George Eliot Fellowship Review- 1986, Kathleen Adams, Graham Handley

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

President's Message 6

Annual Report - 1985 7

Accounts - 1985 18

Treasurer's Report - 1985 19

George Eliot Memorial Lecture - 1985: George Eliot and G. H. Lewes: Their conception of literature as seen from the 1980's, by Michael Bell 20

Westminster Abbey Wreath-laying June 1985 27

George Eliot and the 1832 Election by Geoffrey D. M. Block 30

Book Reviews: Female Friendships Cl Communities - Charlotte Bronte, George Eliot Cl Elizabeth Gaskell by Pauline Nestor A Mid-Victorian Feminist, Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon by Sheila R. Herstein George Eliot and Blackmail Alexander Welsh 38

The Clarendon Edition of by …

Book Review: The Clarendon Edition Of Scenes Of Clerical Life, Kathleen Porter

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

The editor's Introduction to an author's first work of fiction published in a new edition is of very special interest, since it is concerned with the foundations of a writer's art. The story of the transformation of Marian Lewes, nee Mary Ann Evans, into George Eliot is well known, and she has never appeared more charming than in her own account of how she came to write fiction. Thomas A. Noble's Introduction quotes freely from George Eliot's Autograph Journal and from letters, bringing vividly to life the new author of fiction and her generous publisher, John Blackwood. She was already …

What Is A Pole Doing In Middlemarch?, David Malcolm

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

“’ His name is Ladislaw. He is said to be of foreign extraction.’

“’ I know the sort,’ said Mr. Hawley; ‘some emissary. He’ll begin with flourish about the Rights of Man and end with murdering a wench. That’s the style.’”

The first shock in Poland for a native Enlgish- speaking reader of Middlemarch is to discover that Will Lnadislaw’s surname should probably be Wladyslaw, and be pronounced /vwa:disqa:v/. Subsequently, a heightened awareness of Polish history suggests that the Polish aspect of the character of Will and his role within Middlemarch may be a fruitful object of study.

The following …

Adam Bede And Riehl's "Social-Political-Conservatism", A.G. Van Den Broek

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

George Eliot's Adam Bede is seen frequently to be a good, but flawed novel, an interesting precursor to the much finer Middlemarch and other later novels. U. C. Knoepflmacher, in George Eliot's Early Novels: The Limits of Realism, considers that, essentially, Eliot shared John MiIton's purpose of justifying "Man's lot in the temporal world." Knoepflmacher adds: "Her own belief in scientific veracity did not allow her to create a supernatural world of essences; yet in her way she shared Milton's purpose. 11 But then he says:

The epic strain that was to find its most complex embodiment in Middlemarch is …

The Identity Of Klesmer In Daniel Deronda, Rupert Christiansen

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

The identification of a source for Julius Klesmer, the expatriate pianist-composer in Daniel Deronda, has long provided a mild tease for readers and scholars. In 1885 Lord Acton pronounced him 'the embodiment of Liszt, in the knowledge that George Eliot and Lewes had met the great virtuoso during their visit to Weimar in 1854-5. Broadly, the parallels between the two are obvious, and the matching generally held until in 1968 the late Gordon Haight published an essay in Imagined Worlds (ed. Maynard Mack), which made a strong case for the Russian Jew Anton Rubinstein, another Weimar acquaintance, who shared Klesmer's …

Octavia Hill And George Eliot- Coincidences, Margaret Wolfit

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

For a long time I have been performing two one-woman shows based on the Victorian novelist George Eliot - Firstly, "The Mill on the Floss", and later a biographical portrait of George Eliot herself. About three years ago, I began to feel that perhaps it was time to move on, and I searched around for another Victorian who might be of interest. One of the names that came to mind was that of Octavia Hill. As it happened, I had confused her with someone else, and when I came to research, discovered that I really knew nothing at all about …

The Fifteenth George Eliot Memorial Lecture- 1986, Loius Marks

The George Eliot Review Online, ISSN: 2831-5375

To make a film of such a well-loved classic book as Silas Marner could be called a calculated risk. To venture into the home territory of George Eliot and talk about it to an audience of experts in the subject seems frankly foolhardy. So, while expressing my gratitude to the George Eliot Fellowship for inviting me to address you, I cannot deny that my awareness of the great honour you do me is mixed with more than a dash of trepidation.

First let me say that I do not think I have anything profound to add to the perennial debate …