The Life of George Eliot: A Critical Biography

The life of the Victorian novelist George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) is as dramatic as the plot of a novel: a brilliant but unattractive country girl moves to London, elopes with a married man and is ostracized by society until she begins writing novels under a male pseudonym and goes on to accumulate great wealth and fame.

George Eliot s dedication to realism renders the relationship between her life and her novels especially intriguing. Incorporating the very latest research in the field of George Eliot studies, this biography re–examines the story of her life, cross–referencing its fascinating narrative with analysis of her fiction and poetry. In doing so, the author reveals how Eliot s life provides insight into her art as well as how her art can enhance our understanding of her life. Informed by cutting–edge academic research, and including critical interpretations of her work from multiple theoretical perspectives, this new Life of George Eliot is a critical biography for the twenty–first century.

List of Illustrations ix

Acknowledgments xi

List of Abbreviations xiii

1 The History of a Writer: George Eliot and Biographies 1

2 Early Years: 1819 50 22

3 London and Lewes: 1850 4 64

4 Marian Lewes and George Eliot: 1855 60 95

5 Silas Marner and Romola: 1860 4 120

6 Felix Holt and The Spanish Gypsy: 1865 9 153

7 Middlemarch: 1870 2 181

8 Daniel Deronda: 1873 6 207

9 Impressions of Theophrastus Such: 1877 9 235

10 The Final Years: 1879 to Cross s Life 255

Bibliography 271

Index 287

Nancy Henry is Professor of English at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. She is the author of George Eliot and the British Empire (2002), and The Cambridge Introduction to George Eliot (2008), and co–editor of Victorian Investments: New Perspectives on Finance and Culture (2009). She is also the recipient of a 2014/15 NEH Fellowship.