George Eliot

Mary Ann Evans, better known by the pen name George Eliot (22 November 1819 - 22 December 1880), was an English novelist. She was one of the leading writers of the Victorian era, whose novels, largely set in provincial England, are well known for their realism and psychological perspicacity.

Literary assessment

Eliot's most famous work, Middlemarch, is a turning point in the history of the novel. Making masterful use of a counterpointed plot, Eliot presents the stories of a number of denizens of a small English town on the eve of the Reform Bill of 1832. The main characters, Dorothea Brooke and Tertius Lydgate, each long for exceptional lives but are powerfully constrained by their own unrealistic expectations as well as conservative society. The novel is notable for its deep psychological insight and sophisticated character portraits.

Related Topics:
Middlemarch - Counterpoint - Reform Bill - 1832

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Throughout her career, Eliot wrote with a politically astute pen. From Adam Bede to The Mill on the Floss and the frequently-read Silas Marner, Eliot presented the cases of social outsiders and small town persecution of that which they consider alien. No author since Jane Austen had been as sharp in pointing out the hypocrisy of the country squires and socially conscious. Felix Holt, the Radical and The Legend of Jubal were overtly political novels, and political crisis is at the heart of Middlemarch. By the time of Daniel Deronda, Eliot's sales were falling off, and she faded from public view to some degree.

Related Topics:
Adam Bede - The Mill on the Floss - Silas Marner - Jane Austen - Felix Holt, the Radical - The Legend of Jubal - Middlemarch - Daniel Deronda

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As an author, Eliot was not only very successful in sales, but she was, and remains, one of the most widely praised for her style and clarity of thought. Eliot's sentence structures are clear, patient, and well balanced, and she mixes plain statement and unsettling irony with rare poise. Her commentaries are never without sympathy for the characters, and she never stoops to being arch or flip with the emotions in her stories. Villains, heroines and bystanders are all presented with awareness and full motivation.

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