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= Middlemarch =
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Introduction
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'Middlemarch, A Study of Provincial Life' is a novel by English author
George Eliot, the pen name of Mary Ann Evans. It appeared in eight
installments (volumes) in 1871 and 1872. Set in Middlemarch, a
fictional English Midlands town, from 1829 to 1832, it follows
distinct, intersecting stories with many characters. Issues include
the status of women, the nature of marriage, idealism, self-interest,
religion, hypocrisy, political reform, and education. Leavened with
comic elements, 'Middlemarch' approaches significant historical events
in a realist mode: the Reform Act 1832, early railways, and the
accession of King William IV. It looks at medicine of the time and
reactionary views in a settled community facing unwelcome change.
Eliot began writing the two pieces that formed the novel in 1869-1870
and completed it in 1871. Initial reviews were mixed, but it is now
seen widely as her best work and one of the great English novels.
Background
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'Middlemarch' originates in two unfinished pieces that Eliot worked on
during 1869 and 1870: the novel "'Middlemarch' (which focused on the
character of Lydgate) and the long story "Miss Brooke" (which focused
on the character of Dorothea). The former piece is first mentioned in
her journal on 1 January 1869 as one of the tasks for the coming year.
In August she began writing, but progress ceased in the following
month amidst a lack of confidence in it and distraction by the illness
of George Henry Lewes's son Thornie, who was dying of tuberculosis.
(Eliot had been living with Lewes since 1854.) After Thornie's death
on 19 October 1869, all work on the novel stopped; it is uncertain
whether Eliot intended at the time to revive it at a later date.
In December she wrote of having begun another story, on a subject that
she had considered "ever since I began to write fiction". By the end
of the month she had written 100 pages of this story and entitled it
"Miss Brooke". Although a precise date is unknown, the process of
incorporating material from "'Middlemarch' into the story she had been
working on was ongoing by March 1871. While composing, Eliot compiled
a notebook of hundreds of literary quotations, from poets, historians,
playwrights, philosophers, and critics in eight different languages.
By May 1871, the growing length of the novel had become a concern to
Eliot, as it threatened to exceed the three-volume format that was
then the norm in publishing. The issue was compounded because Eliot's
most recent novel, 'Felix Holt, the Radical' (1866) - also set in the
same pre-Reform Bill England - had not sold well. The publisher John
Blackwood, who had made a loss on acquiring the English rights to that
novel, was approached by Lewes in his role as Eliot's literary agent.
He suggested that the novel be brought out in eight two-monthly parts,
borrowing the method used for Victor Hugo's novel 'Les Misérables'.
This was an alternative to the monthly issues that had been used for
such longer works as Dickens's 'David Copperfield' and Thackeray's
'Vanity Fair', and avoided Eliot's objections to slicing her novel
into small parts. Blackwood agreed, although he feared there would be
"complaints of a want of the continuous interest in the story" due to
the independence of each volume. The eight books duly appeared during
1872, the last three instalments being issued monthly.
With the deaths of Thackeray and Dickens in 1863 and 1870,
respectively, Eliot became "recognised as the greatest living English
novelist" at the time of the novel's final publication.
Plot
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Set in the years immediately before the 1832 Reform Act, 'Middlemarch'
follows the intertwined lives of several inhabitants of a Midlands
town. The main strands concern Dorothea Brooke’s search for purpose,
the medical ambitions of Dr Tertius Lydgate, the romantic fortunes of
Fred Vincy and Mary Garth, and the eventual downfall of the banker
Nicholas Bulstrode.
Dorothea Brooke, a wealthy young woman of strong religious idealism,
lives with her sister Celia under the guardianship of their uncle Mr
Brooke. Though admired by the baronet Sir James Chettam, Dorothea
instead marries the much older clergyman and scholar Edward Casaubon,
hoping to dedicate herself to his research. On their honeymoon in
Rome, she discovers the sterility of the marriage and befriends
Casaubon’s disinherited cousin, Will Ladislaw. Casaubon grows jealous
of Ladislaw’s friendship with Dorothea, and his insecurity deepens as
his health declines.
Meanwhile, the Vincy family occupies an important place in Middlemarch
society. Fred Vincy, the mayor’s son, is charming but feckless,
relying on the expectation of inheriting from his wealthy uncle, Peter
Featherstone. He is in love with Mary Garth, the practical and
principled niece who keeps house for Featherstone, but she refuses him
while he remains irresponsible. Fred’s debts lead him to involve
Mary’s father, Caleb Garth, in financial loss, straining his hopes of
winning her. When Featherstone dies, the inheritance goes not to Fred
but to an illegitimate son, leaving Fred humiliated and forced to
reconsider his path.
Fred’s illness during this period brings him under the care of Dr
Tertius Lydgate, a talented young physician new to Middlemarch.
Lydgate hopes to reform medical practice through science and
sanitation, and finds support from the wealthy, evangelical banker
Nicholas Bulstrode, who funds a new hospital. Lydgate’s dedication
earns him respect, but his courtship of Rosamond Vincy, Fred’s
beautiful but vain sister, leads to marriage and financial strain.
Rosamond’s extravagance draws Lydgate into debt, undermining his
professional independence.
Casaubon, increasingly ill, tries to bind Dorothea to his control,
asking her to promise obedience to his wishes after his death. When he
dies, his will reveals a clause disinheriting her if she marries
Ladislaw. The provision fuels gossip in Middlemarch and complicates
their relationship. Dorothea continues to struggle between duty and
affection, while Ladislaw remains in town as a journalist, supporting
Mr Brooke’s unsuccessful parliamentary campaign on a Reform platform.
Bulstrode’s past eventually returns to haunt him. The arrival of John
Raffles exposes how Bulstrode had profited dishonourably in his youth,
concealing the existence of Ladislaw’s mother, the rightful heir to
his first wife’s fortune. Fearful of exposure, Bulstrode hastens
Raffles’s death while attempting to cover his tracks. His disgrace
spreads to Lydgate, who has recently accepted Bulstrode’s financial
help; many in Middlemarch assume the doctor complicit in corruption.
Though Dorothea defends his honour, public opinion forces Lydgate and
Rosamond to leave, his ambitions for medical reform destroyed.
As scandals and disappointments reshape the town, Fred redeems himself
by training as a land agent under Caleb Garth. With the guidance of
the kindly Rev. Farebrother, who suppresses his own love for Mary,
Fred matures and eventually marries her. Dorothea, after recognising
her feelings for Ladislaw, rejects the security of Casaubon’s fortune
and chooses to marry him, despite her family’s disapproval.
The novel concludes with a brief “Finale” summarising later lives.
Fred and Mary live contentedly with their children. Lydgate prospers
in a conventional career but dies at 50, leaving Rosamond to remarry a
wealthy physician. Dorothea and Ladislaw raise two children, their son
inheriting Mr Brooke’s estate, while Dorothea devotes herself to her
husband and to reformist causes. Each character’s fate reflects the
mixture of compromise, limitation, and idealism that defines life in
Middlemarch.
Characters
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* Dorothea Brooke: An intelligent, wealthy woman with great
aspirations, Dorothea avoids displaying her wealth and embarks upon
projects such as redesigning cottages for her uncle's tenants. She
marries the elderly Reverend Edward Casaubon, with the idealistic idea
of helping him in his research, 'The Key to All Mythologies'. However,
the marriage was a mistake, as Casaubon fails to take her seriously
and resents her youth, enthusiasm, and energy. Her requests to assist
him make it harder for him to conceal that his research is years out
of date. Faced with Casaubon's coldness on their honeymoon, Dorothea
becomes friends with his relative, Will Ladislaw. Some years after
Casaubon's death she falls in love with Will and marries him.
* Tertius Lydgate: An idealistic, talented, but naive young doctor, is
relatively poor, but of good birth. He hopes to make big advances in
medicine through his research, but ends up in an unhappy marriage with
Rosamond Vincy. His attempts to show he is answerable to no man fail,
and he eventually has to leave town, sacrificing his high ideals to
please his wife.
* Rev. Edward Casaubon : A pedantic, selfish, clergyman (in his mid
40s) who is so taken up with his scholarly research that his marriage
to Dorothea is loveless. His unfinished book, 'The Key to All
Mythologies', is intended as a monument to Christian syncretism, but
his research is out of date as he cannot read German. He is aware of
this but admits it to no one.
* Mary Garth: The plain, kind daughter of Caleb and Susan Garth serves
as Mr Featherstone's nurse. She and Fred Vincy were childhood
sweethearts, but she will not let him woo her until he shows himself
willing and able to live seriously, practically and sincerely.
* Arthur Brooke: The oft-befuddled, none-too-clever uncle of Dorothea
and Celia Brooke has a reputation as the worst landlord in the county,
but stands for Parliament on a Reform platform.
* Celia Brooke: Dorothea's younger sister is a beauty. She is more
sensual than Dorothea and does not share her idealism and asceticism.
She is only too happy to marry Sir James Chettam when Dorothea rejects
him.
* Sir James Chettam: A neighbouring landowner, he is in love with
Dorothea and helps with her plans to improve conditions for the
tenants. When she marries Casaubon, he marries Celia Brooke.
* Rosamond Vincy: Vain, beautiful and shallow, Rosamond has a high
opinion of her own charms and a low opinion of Middlemarch society.
She marries Tertius Lydgate, believing he will raise her social
standing and keep her comfortable. When her husband meets financial
difficulties, she thwarts his efforts to economise, seeing such
sacrifices as beneath her and insulting. She cannot bear the idea of
losing social status.
* Fred Vincy: Rosamond's brother has loved Mary Garth from childhood.
His family hopes he will advance socially by becoming a clergyman, but
he knows Mary will not marry him if he does. Brought up to expect an
inheritance from his uncle, Mr Featherstone, he is a spendthrift, but
later changes through his love for Mary and finds by studying under
Mary's father a profession that gains Mary's respect.
* Will Ladislaw: This young cousin of Mr Casaubon has no property, as
his grandmother married a poor Polish musician and was disinherited.
He is a man of verve, idealism and talent, but no fixed profession. He
is in love with Dorothea, but cannot marry her without her losing Mr
Casaubon's property.
* Humphrey Cadwallader and Elinor Cadwallader: Neighbours of the
Brookes, Mr Cadwallader is a rector and Mrs Cadwallader a pragmatic
and talkative woman who comments on local affairs with wry cynicism.
She disapproves of Dorothea's marriage and Mr Brooke's parliamentary
endeavours.
* Walter Vincy and Lucy Vincy: A respectable manufacturing couple,
they wish their children to advance socially and are disappointed by
Rosamond's and Fred's marriages. Vincy's sister is married to Nicholas
Bulstrode. Mrs Vincy was an innkeeper's daughter and her sister the
second wife of Mr. Featherstone.
* Caleb Garth: Mary Garth's father is a kind, honest, generous
surveyor and land agent involved in farm management. He is fond of
Fred and eventually takes him under his wing.
* Camden Farebrother: A poor but clever vicar and amateur naturalist,
he is a friend of Lydgate and Fred Vincy and loves Mary Garth. His
position improves when Dorothea appoints him to a living after
Casaubon's death.
* Nicholas Bulstrode: A wealthy banker married to Vincy's sister,
Harriet, he is a pious Methodist keen to impose his beliefs in
Middlemarch society. However, he has a sordid past he is desperate to
hide. His religion favours his personal desires and lacks sympathy for
others.
* Peter Featherstone: An old landlord of Stone Court, he is a
self-made man, who has married Caleb Garth's sister. On her death he
takes Mrs Vincy's sister as his second wife.
* Jane Waule: A widow and Peter Featherstone's sister, she has a son,
John.
* Mr Hawley: A foul-mouthed businessman, he is an enemy of Bulstrode.
* Mr Mawmsey: A grocer
* Dr Sprague: A Middlemarch physician
* Mr Tyke: A clergyman favoured by Bulstrode
* Joshua Rigg Featherstone: Featherstone's illegitimate son, he
appears at the reading of Featherstone's will and receives a fortune
instead of Fred. He is also the stepson of John Raffles, who comes
into town to visit Rigg, but instead reveals Bulstrode's past. His
appearance in the novel is crucial to the plot.
* John Raffles: Raffles is a braggart and a bully, a humorous
scoundrel in the tradition of Sir John Falstaff, and an alcoholic. But
unlike Falstaff, Raffles is a truly evil man. He holds the key to
Bulstrode's dark past and Lydgate's future.
Historical novel
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The action of 'Middlemarch' takes place "between September 1829 and
May 1832", or 40 years before its publication in 1871-1872, a gap not
so pronounced for it to be regularly labelled as a historical novel.
By comparison, Walter Scott's 'Waverley' (1814) - often seen as the
first major historical novel - takes place some 60 years before it
appears. Eliot had previously written a more obviously historical
novel, 'Romola' (1862-1863), set in 15th-century Florence. The critics
Kathleen Blake and Michael York Mason argue that there has been
insufficient attention given to 'Middlemarch' "as a historical novel
that evokes the past in relation to the present".
The critic Rosemary Ashton notes that the lack of attention to this
side of the novel may indicate its merits: "'Middlemarch' is that very
rare thing, a successful historical novel. In fact, it is so
successful that we scarcely think of it in terms of that subgenre of
fiction." For its contemporary readers, the present "was the passage
of the Second Reform Act in 1867"; the agitation for the Reform Act
1832 and its turbulent passage through the two Houses of Parliament,
which provide the structure of the novel, would have been seen as the
past.
Though rarely categorised as a historical novel, 'Middlemarch's'
attention to historical detail has been noticed; in an 1873 review,
Henry James recognised that Eliot's "purpose was to be a generous
rural historian". Elsewhere, Eliot has been seen to adopt "the role of
imaginative historian, even scientific investigator in 'Middlemarch'
and her narrator as conscious "of the historiographical questions
involved in writing a social and political history of provincial
life". This critic compares the novel to "a work of the ancient Greek
historian Herodotus", who is often described as "The Father of
History".
''A Study of Provincial Life''
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The fictional town of Middlemarch, North Loamshire, is probably based
on Coventry, where Eliot had lived before moving to London. Like
Coventry, Middlemarch is described as a silk-ribbon manufacturing
town.
The subtitle--"A Study of Provincial Life"--has been seen as
significant. One critic views the unity of 'Middlemarch' as achieved
through "the fusion of the two senses of 'provincial'": on the one
hand it means geographically "all parts of the country except the
capital"; and on the other, a person who is "unsophisticated" or
"narrow-minded". Carolyn Steedman links Eliot's emphasis on
provincialism in 'Middlemarch' to Matthew Arnold's discussion of
social class in England in 'Culture and Anarchy' essays, published in
1869, about the time Eliot began working on the stories that became
'Middlemarch'. There Arnold classes British society in terms of
Barbarians (aristocrats and landed gentry), Philistines (urban middle
class) and Populace (working class). Steedman suggests 'Middlemarch'
"is a portrait of Philistine Provincialism".
It is worth noting that Eliot went to London, as her heroine Dorothea
does at the end of the book. There Eliot achieved fame way beyond most
women of her time, whereas Dorothea takes on the role of nurturing
Will and her family. Eliot was rejected by her family once she had
settled in her common-law relationship with Lewes, and "their profound
disapproval prevented her ever going home again". She omitted Coventry
from her last visit to the Midlands in 1855.
The "Woman Question"
======================
Central to 'Middlemarch' is the idea that Dorothea Brooke cannot hope
to achieve the heroic stature of a figure like Saint Teresa, for
Eliot's heroine lives at the wrong time, "amidst the conditions of an
imperfect social state, in which great feelings will often take the
aspect of error, and great faith the aspect of illusion". Antigone, a
figure from Greek mythology best known from Sophocles' play, is given
in the "Finale" as a further example of a heroic woman. The literary
critic Kathleen Blake notes Eliot's emphasis on St Teresa's "very
concrete accomplishment, the reform of a religious order", rather than
her Christian mysticism. A frequent criticism by feminist critics is
that not only is Dorothea less heroic than Saint Teresa and Antigone,
but George Eliot herself. In response, Ruth Yeazell and Kathleen Blake
chide these critics for "expecting literary pictures of a strong woman
succeeding in a period [around 1830] that did not make them likely in
life". Eliot has also been criticised more widely for ending the novel
with Dorothea marrying Will Ladislaw, someone so clearly her inferior.
The novelist Henry James describes Ladislaw as a 'dilettante' who "has
not the concentrated fervour essential in the man chosen by so nobly
strenuous a heroine".
Marriage
==========
Marriage is one of the major themes in 'Middlemarch'. According to
George Steiner, "both principal plots [those of Dorothea and Lydgate]
are case studies of unsuccessful marriage". This suggests that these
"disastrous marriages" leave the lives of Dorothea and Lydgate
unfulfilled. This is arguably more the case with Lydgate than with
Dorothea, who gains a second chance through her later marriage to Will
Ladislaw, but a favourable interpretation of this marriage depends on
the character of Ladislaw himself, whom numerous critics have viewed
as Dorothea's inferior. In addition, there is the "meaningless and
blissful" marriage of Dorothea's sister Celia Brooke to Sir James
Chettam, and more significantly Fred Vincy's courting of Mary Garth.
In the latter, Mary Garth will not accept Fred until he abandons the
Church and settles on a more suitable career. Here Fred resembles
Henry Fielding's character Tom Jones, both being moulded into a good
husband by the love they give to and receive from a woman.
Dorothea is a St Teresa, born in the wrong century, in provincial
Middlemarch, who mistakes in her idealistic ardor, "a poor dry
mummified pedant... as a sort of angel of vocation". 'Middlemarch' is
in part a 'Bildungsroman' focusing on the psychological or moral
growth of the protagonist: Dorothea "blindly gropes forward, making
mistakes in her sometimes foolish, often egotistical, but also
admirably idealistic attempt to find a role" or vocation that fulfils
her nature. Lydgate is equally mistaken in his choice of a partner, as
his idea of a perfect wife is someone "who can sing and play the piano
and provide a soft cushion for her husband to rest after work". So he
marries Rosamond Vincy, "the woman in the novel who most contrasts
with Dorothea", and thereby "deteriorates from ardent researcher to
fashionable doctor in London".
Contemporary reviews
======================
'The Examiner', 'The Spectator' and 'Athenaeum' reviewed each of the
eight books that comprise 'Middlemarch' as they were published from
December 1871 to December 1872; such reviews speculated on the
eventual direction of the plot and responded accordingly. Contemporary
response to the novel was mixed. Writing as it was being published,
the 'Spectator' reviewer R. H. Hutton criticised it for what he saw as
its melancholic quality. 'Athenaeum', reviewing it after
"serialisation", found the work overwrought and thought it would have
benefited from hastier composition. 'Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine'
reviewer W. L. Collins saw as the work's most forceful impression its
ability to make readers sympathise with the characters. Edith Simcox
of 'Academy' offered high praises, hailing it as a landmark in fiction
owing to the originality of its form; she rated it first amongst
Eliot's œuvre, which meant it "has scarcely a superior and very few
equals in the whole wide range of English fiction".
Henry James presented a mixed opinion. 'Middlemarch', according to
him, was "at once one of the strongest and one of the weakest of
English novels ... 'Middlemarch' is a treasure-house of details, but
it is an indifferent whole". Among the details, his greatest criticism
("the only eminent failure in the book") was of the character of
Ladislaw, who he felt was an insubstantial hero-figure as against
Lydgate. The scenes between Lydgate and Rosamond he especially praised
for their psychological depth - he doubted whether there were any
scenes "more powerfully real... [or] intelligent" in all English
fiction.
Thérèse Bentzon, for the 'Revue des deux Mondes', was critical of
'Middlemarch'. Although finding merit in certain scenes and qualities,
she faulted its structure as "made up of a succession of unconnected
chapters, following each other at random... The final effect is one of
an incoherence which nothing can justify." In her view, Eliot's
prioritisation of "observation rather than imagination... inexorable
analysis rather than sensibility, passion or fantasy" means that she
should not be held amongst the first ranks of novelists. The German
philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who read 'Middlemarch' in a
translation owned by his mother and sister, derided the novel for
construing suffering as a means of expiating the debt of sin, which he
found characteristic of "little moralistic females à la Eliot".
Despite the divided contemporary response, 'Middlemarch' gained
immediate admirers: in 1873, the poet Emily Dickinson expressed high
praise for the novel, exclaiming in a letter to a friend: "What do I
think of 'Middlemarch'? What do I think of glory."
In separate centuries, Florence Nightingale and Kate Millett remarked
on the eventual subordination of Dorothea's own dreams to those of her
admirer, Ladislaw. Indeed, the ending acknowledges this and mentions
how unfavourable social conditions prevented her from fulfilling her
potential.
* 'Athenaeum', 7 December 1872
* Bentzon, TH. 'Revue des deux Mondes', February 1873
* Broome, F. N. 'The Times', 7 March 1873
* Collins, W. L. 'Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine', December 1872
* Colvin, Sidney, 'The Fortnightly Review', 1 January 1873
* Hutton, R. H. 'The Spectator', 1 June 1872
* Hutton, R. H. 'British Quarterly Review', 1 April 1873
* Simcox, Edith, 'The Academy', 1 January 1873
Later responses
=================
In the first half of the 20th century, 'Middlemarch' continued to
provoke contrasting responses; while Leslie Stephen dismissed the
novel in 1902, his daughter Virginia Woolf described it in 1919 as
"the magnificent book that, which with all its imperfections, is one
of the few English novels written for grown-up people." However, Woolf
was "virtually unique" among the modernists in her unstinting praise
for 'Middlemarch', and the novel also remained overlooked by the
reading public of the time.
F. R. Leavis's 'The Great Tradition' (1948) is credited with having
"rediscovered" the novel:
The necessary part of great intellectual powers in such a success as
'Middlemarch' is obvious ... the sheer informedness about society, its
mechanisms, the ways in which people of different classes live ... a
novelist whose genius manifests itself in a profound analysis of the
individual.
Leavis' appraisal of it has been hailed as the beginning of a critical
consensus that still exists towards the novel, in which it is
recognised not only as Eliot's finest work, but as one of the greatest
novels in English. V. S. Pritchett, in 'The Living Novel', two years
earlier, in 1946 had written that "No Victorian novel approaches
'Middlemarch' in its width of reference, its intellectual power, or
the imperturbable spaciousness of its narrative ... I doubt if any
Victorian novelist has as much to teach the modern novelists as George
Eliot ... No writer has ever represented the ambiguities of moral
choice so fully".
In the 21st century, the novel is still held in high regard. The
novelists Martin Amis and Julian Barnes have both called it probably
the greatest novel in the English language, and today 'Middlemarch' is
frequently included in university courses. In 2013, the then British
Education Secretary Michael Gove referred to 'Middlemarch' in a
speech, suggesting its superiority to Stephenie Meyer's vampire novel
'Twilight'. Gove's comments led to debate on teaching 'Middlemarch' in
Britain, including the question of when novels like 'Middlemarch'
should be read, and the role of canonical texts in teaching. The novel
has remained a favourite with readers and scores high in reader
rankings: in 2003 it was No. 27 in the BBC's The Big Read, and in 2007
it was No. 10 in "The 10 Greatest Books of All Time", based on a
ballot of 125 selected writers. In 2015, in a BBC Culture poll of book
critics outside the UK, the novel was ranked at number one in "The 100
greatest British novels".
On 5 November 2019, the 'BBC News' reported that 'Middlemarch' is on
the BBC list of 100 "most inspiring" novels.
Legacy and adaptations
======================================================================
'Middlemarch' has been adapted several times for television and the
stage. In 1968 it appeared as a BBC-produced TV mini-series of the
same name, directed by Joan Craft, starring Michele Dotrice. The first
episode, "Dorothea", is missing from the BBC Archives, while the third
episode, "The New Doctor", can be viewed online, although only as a
low-quality black and white telerecording owned by a private
collector. The other five episodes have been withheld from public
viewing. In 1994 it was again adapted by the BBC as a television
series of the same name, directed by Anthony Page with a screenplay by
Andrew Davies. This was a critical and financial success and revived
public interest adaptating the classics. In 2013 came a stage
adaptation, and also an Orange Tree Theatre Repertory production
adapted and directed by Geoffrey Beevers as three plays: 'Dorothea's
Story', 'The Doctor's Story', and 'Fred & Mary'. The novel has
never been made into a film, although the idea was toyed with by the
English director Sam Mendes. In April 2022, Dash Arts produced 'The
Great Middlemarch Mystery', an immersive theatre experience staged
across three locations in Coventry, including Drapers Hall.
The opera 'Middlemarch in Spring' by Allen Shearer, to a libretto by
Claudia Stevens, has a cast of six and treats only the central story
of Dorothea Brooke. It was first staged in San Francisco in 2015. In
2017, a modern adaptation, 'Middlemarch: The Series', aired on YouTube
as a video blog.
Bibliography
======================================================================
*
*
*
*
*
*
* Eliot, George. , Eliot, George
[
https://archive.org/details/middlemarchstudy02eliouoft Volume 2],
[
https://archive.org/details/middlemarchstudy03eliouoft Volume 3],
[
https://archive.org/details/middlemarchstudy04eliouoft Volume 4]
* Eliot, George. '[
https://georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/13
Middlemarch]' free PDF of Blackwood's 1878 Cabinet Edition (the
critical standard with Eliot's final corrections) at the
[
https://georgeeliotarchive.org/ George Eliot Archive]
*
*
*
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*
*
*
*
Further reading
======================================================================
* Adam, Ian, ed. (1975). 'This Particular Web: essays on Middlemarch.'
Toronto: University of Toronto Press
* Bloom, Harold, ed. (2009).
'[
https://books.google.com/books?id=OxTrretGuNgC George Eliot]'.
Philadelphia, PA: Chelsea .
*
* Carroll, David, ed. (1971). 'George Eliot: The Critical Heritage.'
London: Routledge & K Paul.
* Chase, Karen, ed. (2006). 'Middlemarch in the Twenty-First Century'.
Oxford: Oxford University Press
* Daiches, David (1963). ' George Eliot: Middlemarch.' London: Arnold
* Dentith, Simon (1986). 'George Eliot'. Brighton, Sussex: Harvester
Press.
* Garrett, Peter K (1980). 'The Victorian Multiplot Novel: Studies in
Dialogical Form'. New Haven: Yale University Press.
* Graver, Suzanne (1984). 'George Eliot and Community: A Study in
Social Theory and Fictional Form.' Berkeley: University of California
Press..
* Harvey, W. J. (1961). 'The Art of George Eliot'. London: Chatto
& Windus
* Harvey, W. J. (1967). "Criticism of the Novel: Contemporary
Reception". In Hardy, Barbara Nathan. 'Middlemarch: Critical
Approaches to the Novel' (2013 ed.). London: Bloomsbury.
* Kettle, Arnold (1951). 'An Introduction to the English Novel, Volume
I: To George Eliot'. London: Hutchinson
* Mead, Rebecca (2014). 'My Life in Middlemarch'. New York: Crown.
* Neale, Catherine (1989). 'George Eliot, Middlemarch'. London:
Penguin Books.
* Tillotson, Geoffrey(1951). 'Criticism and the Nineteenth Century
Novel'.
* Trainini, Marco, 'Vendetta, tienimi compagnia. Due vendicatori in
"Middlemarch" di George Eliot e "Anna Karenina" di Lev Tolstoj',
Milano, Arcipelago Edizioni, 2012, .
Later reviews
===============
* Woolf, Virginia,
[
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/woolf/VW-Eliot.html "George
Eliot"], 'The Times Literary Supplement', 20 November 1919
External links
======================================================================
*
* '[
https://georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/13 Middlemarch]' free
PDF of Blackwood's 1878 Cabinet Edition (the critical standard with
Eliot's final corrections) at the '[
https://georgeeliotarchive.org
George Eliot Archive]'
* Manuscript of
[
http://www.bl.uk/collection-items/manuscript-of-middlemarch-by-george-eliot
'Middlemarch'] at the British Library
* [
http://www.bl.uk/works/middlemarch 'Middlemarch'] on the British
Library's Discovering Literature website
*
*
*
[
http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/eliot/middlemarch/middlemarchov.html
'Middlemarch'] at Victorian Web
License
=========
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License URL:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middlemarch
