George Eliot (1819-1880)-

Pseudonym for Mary Ann Cross, also Marian Evans, original surname Evans


Victorian novelist who developed the method of psychological depiction characteristic of modern fiction - contemporary of Dostoyevsky (1821-1881), who at the same time in Russia developed his intuitive understanding of human heart. Eliot's liaison with the married writer and editor George Henry Lewes made her an outcast until her literary fame overcame the moralistic irritation.

'Marriage, which has been the bourne of so many narratives, is still a great beginning, as it was to Adam and Eve, who kept their honeymoon in Eden, but had their first little one among the thorns and thistles of the wilderness. It is still the beginning of the home epic - the gradual conquest or irremediable loss of that complete union which makes the advancing years as a climax, and age the harvest of sweet memories in common." (from Middlemarch, 1871-72)'
Eliot was born in Chilvers Coton, Warwickshire, where her father was a land agent. When she was a few months old, the family moved to Griff, a 'cheerful red-brick, ivory-covered house', and there Eliot spent 21 years of his life among people that he later depicted in her novels. She was educated at home and in several schools, and developed a strong evangelical piety at Mrs. Wallington's School at Neneaton. When her mother died in 1836, she took charge of the family household. In 1841 she moved with her father to Coventry, where she lived with him until his death in 1849. During this time she met Charles Bray, a free-thinking Coventry manufacturer. His wife, Caroline (Cara) was the sister of Charles Hennel, the author of a work entitled 'An Inquiry Concerning the Origin of Christianity' (1838).The reading of this and other rationalistic works influenced deeply Eliot's thoughts. After her father's death, Eliot travelled around Europe. She settled in London and took up work as subeditor of 'Westminster Review'.

In Coventry she met Charles Bray and later Charles Hennell, who introduced her to many new religious and political ideas. Under Eliot's control the 'Westminster Review' enjoyed success. She became the centre of a literary circle, one of whose members was George Henry Lewes, who would be her companion until his death in 1878. In 1854 she went to Germany with Lewes. Their unconventional union caused some difficulties because Lewes was still married when they met and unable to obtain divorce from his wife. Eliot did not inform her close friends Caroline and Sarah Hennell about her decision to live with Lewes - the both friends were shocked and angry because she had not trusted them.

Eliot's first collection of tales, 'Scenes of  Clerical  Life', appeared in 1858 under the pseudonym George Eliot - in those days writing was considered to be a male profession. It was followed by her first novel, 'Adam Bede', a tragic love story in which the model for the title character was Eliot's father. He was noted for his great physical strength, which enabled him to carry loads that three average men could barely handle. When impostors claimed authorship of 'Adam Bede', it was revealed that Marian Evans, the 'Westminster Reviewer', was George Eliot. Her other major works include 'The Mill on The Floss' (1860), 'Silas Marner' (1861). 'Middlemarch' (1871-72), her greatest novel, was probably inspired by her life at Coventry. Among Eliot's translation works are D.F. Strauss's 'Das Leben Jesu kritisch bearbeitet' (published anonymously in 1846), Ludwig Feuerbach's 'Das Wesen des Christentum', and Spinoza's Ethics (unpublished).

"'I know that I must expect trials, uncle. Marriage is a state of higher duties, I never thought of it as mere personal ease,' said poor Dorothea." (from Middlemarch)
'Middlemarch', a novel of English provincial life in the early nineteenth century, just before the Reform Bill of 1832, was called by the famous American writer Henry James a 'treasure-house of detail.' It fuses several stories and characters, creating a a network of parallels and contrasts. One of Eliot's main concerns is the way which the past moulds the present and the attempts of various characters to control the future. Dorothea, an idealistic young woman, marries the pedantic Casaubon. After his death she marries Will Ladislaw, Casaubon's young cousin, a vaguely artistic outsider. Doctor Tertius Lydgate is trapped with the egoistic Rosamond Vincy, the town's beauty. Lydgate becomes involved in a scandal, and he dies at 50, his ambitions frustrated. Other characters are Bulstrode, a banker and a religious hypocrite, Mary Garth, the practical daughter of a land agent, and Fred Vincy, the son of the mayor of Middlemarch.

In 1860-61 Eliot spent some time in Italy collecting material for her historical romance 'Romola'. It was published serially first in the 'Cornhill Magazine' and in book form in 1863. In 1871 she wrote to Alexander Main: "I have the conviction that excessive literary production is a social offence." When Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote admiringly of Silas Marner in 1869 Eliot began a correspondence with her. In a letter from 1876 she wrote about Daniel Deronda (1876). "As to the Jewish element in 'Deronda', I expected from first to last in writing it, that it would create much stronger resistance and even repulsion than it has actually met with. But precisely because I felt that the usual attitude of Christians towards Jews is - I hardly know whether to say more impious or more stupid when viewed in the light of their professed principles, I therefore felt urged to treat Jews with such sympathy and understanding as my nature and knowledge could attain to. Moreover, not only towards the Jews, but towards all oriental peoples with whom we English come in contact, a spirit of arrogance and contemptuous dictatorialness is observable which has become a national disgrace to us."

After Lewes's death Eliot married twenty years younger friend, John Cross, on May 6, 1880. They made a wedding trip to Italy, and returned to London, where she died on the same year on December 22. 'Silas Marner' (1861) - Silas Marner, a linen-weaver, has accumulated a goodly sum of gold. He was falsely judged guilty of theft 15 years before and left his community. Squire Cass' son Dunstan steals Marner's gold and disappears. Marner takes care of an orphaned little girl, Eppie and she becomes for him more precious than the lost property.

Sixteen years later the skeleton of Dunstan and Marner's gold is found. Godfrey Cass, Dunstal's brother, admits that he is the father of Eppie. He married the girl's mother, opium-ridden Molly Farren secretly before hear death. Eppie and Silas Marner don't wish to separate when Godfrey tries to adopt the girl. In the end Eppie marries Aaron Winthorp, who accepts Silas Marner as part of the household. George Henry Lewes (1817-1878). Born in London. Left school early. Started writing for the Penny Encyclopaedia and other journals, edited the Leader and the Fortnightly. His works include The Spanish Drama, Life and Works of Goethe, and Problems of Life and Mind.

For further reading: Life by G.S. Haigh (1940); The Art of George Eliot by B. Hardy (1959); George Eliot: Her Life and Art by J. Bennett (1962); George Eliot by Gordon Haight (1968); George Eliot: The Emergent Self by Ruby Redinger (1976); George Eliot by J. Uglow (1987); George Eliot by Alan W. Bellringer (1993); George Eliot: Voice of a Century by While Frederick Karl (1995); George Eliot: A Life by Rosemary Ashton (1997) ; George Eliot: The Last Victorian by Kathryn Hughes (1999) - Museums: Arbury Hall in Warwickshire, Nuneaton CV10 7PT, former home of George Eliot

Selected works:

  • 'Scenes of a Clerical Life', 2 vol., 1858
  • 'Adam Bede', 1859 - Rehdin miehen rakkaus
  • 'The Mill on The Floss', 3 vol., 1860 - Mylly joen rannalla - film 1937, dir. by Tim Whelan
  • 'Silas Marner', 1961 - Kankuri ja hänen aarteensa
  • 'Romola', 1863
  • 'Felix Holt, The Radical', 1866
  • 'The Spanish Gipsy', 1868
  • 'Agatha', 1869
  • 'Middlemarch' 1871-72 - Middlemarch
  • 'The Legend of Jubal', 1874
  • 'Daniel Deronda', 1876
  • 'Impressions of The Ophrastus Such', 1879
  • 'Essays And Leaves From a Notebook', 1884
  • 'Collected Works', 1908-11
  • 'Letters', 1954
  • 'Essays', 1963

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    Creada: 08/10/2000 Última Actualización: 28/10/2000