Eliot, George

Middlemarch: Part 1 (Classic Books on Cassettes Collection)

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A fun read and a good story
Brilliant!
too much for me
Best Victorian Novel?
One of the Greatest Novels

Middlemarch: Part 1 (Classic Books on Cassettes Collection)
George Eliot
Manufacturer: Audio Book Contractors
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette

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ASIN: 1556850182

Book Description

Vast and crowded, rich in irony and suspense, Middlemarch is richer still in character, with two of the era's most enduring characters, Dorothea Brooke, trapped in a loveless marriage, and Lydgate, an ambitious young doctor.

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On April 10, 1994, PBS stations nationwide will air the first episode of a lavish six-part Masterpiece Theatre production of Eliot's brilliant work, Middlemarch, hosted by Russell Baker and produced by Louis Marks. The Modern Library is pleased to offer this official companion edition, complete with tie-in art and printed on acid-free paper. Unabridged.

Customer Reviews:

A fun read and a good story.......2007-06-20

Remember the first time you read a classic, expecting it to be hard work, dreary "educational" stories, and abstruse language? And then you read it and found out to your delight that good writing meant it was easy to read and kept your interest? Middlemarch is simply fun to read. The language is high, and for some readers perhaps "wordy," but not the type of wordiness that has too many descriptions of things. It's thoughtful. Middlemarch is really an elevated soap opera, with completely filled out and amusing characters, angst filled situations, and lots of interesting history. If you like to read about the Victorian era, enjoy the repression they live under, and like to long for people to speak their hearts when they feel they can't, then you'll like this book. It is very long, but I always appreciate that when it's a good story, and this is definitely a good story.

Brilliant!.......2007-05-29

This one deserves 10 stars, it is really one of the most incredible books I've ever read. I think I've only given a brilliant rating to the Count of Monte Cristo and Bleak House. This is a fascinating character study of the people of Middlemarch, a town in Victorian England. I can't even begin to try to describe the story -- there is Dorothea who makes a dreadful first marriage to an older man, Dr. Lydgate and his disastrous relationship and marriage to the self-centered Rosamund, Fred Vincy and Mary, and much much more.

The way the author pulls her story and characters together is incredible, and the insight into the characters is nothing short of brilliant. To quote from the book jacket and Virginia Wolf "one of the few English novels written for grown-up people."

Just be warned, this is not a sit on the edge of your seat, can't put it down until it's finished type of novel. This is a story to savour and enjoy the multi-faceted characters and the author's glorious prose like a fine red wine or a box of chocolates (or both). If you are looking for high action and adventure, this is not the book for you. Highly recommended for any lover of 19th century English literature, not as dark and brooding as Hardy can be, but the prose is just as lovely, if not better.

too much for me.......2007-05-13

I am an avid reader of many different types of literature, and am used alot of different styles of prose. Despite my past readings however I simply could not enjoy this book. It has a style all of itself. Perhaps other readers enjoyed this highly rated novel, but I did not care for the overall style and the excessive wordiness.

Best Victorian Novel?.......2007-04-13

Most people consider Dickens the greatest English novelist or the greatest Victorian novelist at the very least. While I admire Dickens' abilities, none of his novels that I've read comes close to MIDDLEMARCH in terms of accessibility, wisdom, character development or coherant plotting.

This is not to argue that MIDDLEMARCH is a perfect work of literary art, or at least not in the eyes of today's readers. Many a modern reader will be put off by its length, the challenging vocabulary and complex sentences, Eliot's frequent allusions to political, religious, literary, artistic and philosophical esoterica, her characters' hyperbolic fear of "scandals" (laughable by today's standards), their views on the place of women in society, and Eliot's fussy Victorian "not" phrases that overflow throughout. (A random turn of the pages yields the following examples: "One fine morning a young man whose hair was not immoderately long ...." Same paragraph: "He was sufficiently absorbed not to notice ...." Next paragraph: "... a breathing blooming girl whose form, not shamed by ....") These begin to NOT thrill the reader before too long.

But my litany of minor criticisms aside (and they are minor), Eliot's masterwork certainly challenges GREAT EXPECTATIONS, BLEAK HOUSE and DAVID COPPERFIELD for sheer reading pleasure, and far exceeds Dickens' novels in seriousness of topic and tone. As Virginia Woolf famously observed, MIDDLEMARCH was written for grownups.

The one area in which Eliot clearly cannot challenge Dickens is humor. Dickens was a gifted humorist and created many a character simply to make his readers laugh, whereas Eliot appears to have been mostly uninterested in such trivial pursuits. Perhaps serious Victorian grownups weren't supposed to laugh?

But fear not, if you give it a chance, you too will be swept up into Eliot's MIDDLEMARCH world, and you will find yourself caring a great deal about the fate of Dorothea Brooke, Tertius Lydgate, Will Ladislaw, Mary Garth, and the rest of her pantheon of characters, all of whom, far more than any of Dickens' creations, seem of flesh and blood rather than caricatures on a page.

So, to answer the title question: is MIDDLEMARCH the best Victorian novel? Hard to say, but it gives GREAT EXPECTATIONS an excellent run for the money.

High on my lengthy soon-to-read list: Eliot's DANIEL DERONDA, THE MILL ON THE FLOSS and ADAM BEDE.

One of the Greatest Novels.......2007-01-29

George Eliot was the greatest sculptor of characters. She could do grand magic with words. Through the words of George Eliot, we know each and everyone of the characters in her novel with intimate details and deep sympathy - we could see their faces up close: now they blushed, or darkened, or twitched, or pouted, or lighted up, or looked bewildered. She expressed the most difficult, the most ambiguous, and the most awkward feelings with precision, charm and force. In Middlemarch, the story had a simple, rambling plot, put together to support the cast of characters Eliot lovingly sculpted. Many argue that Middlemarch is one of the greatest novels of all times. Yes, I agree.

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Cuts to the Heart of Things
George Eliot's timeless short novel of a miser who finds gold in the gift of parental love
Silas Marner
Silas Marner
Silas Marner: Regeneration Is The Theme

Silas Marner (Bantam Classics)
George Eliot
Manufacturer: Bantam Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 055321229X
Release Date: 1981-09-01

Book Description

Embittered by a false accusation, disappointed in friendship and love, the weaver Silas Marner retreats into a long twilight life alone with his loom. . . and his gold. Silas hoards a treasure that kills his spirit until fate steals it from him and replaces it with a golden-haired founding child. Where she came from, who her parents were, and who really stole the gold are the secrets that permeate this moving tale of guilt and innocence. A moral allegory of the redemptive power of love, it is also a finely drawn picture of early nineteenth-century England in the days when spinning wheels hummed busily in the farmhouses, and of a simple way of life that was soon to disappear.

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Exiled by superstition and betrayal from Lantern Yard, and cut off from faith and human love, for fifteen years the solitary simple-hearted weaver Silas Marner has plied his loom in Raveloe and devoted himself to the amassing of a hoard of golden guineas. Silas's chance of redemption, when it appears one New Year's Eve, is intimately connected with the fate of Godfrey Cass, son of the village Squire. Clandestinely married, then blackmailed by his dissolute brother Dunstan, Godfrey like Silas has been trapped by his past, from which he is seeking to escape. Humorous, richly symbolic, subtly characterized and meticulously plotted, George Eliot's 'sudden inspiration' in this slim novel of rural England cut across her plans for Romola, her vast Italian Renaissance epic.

Customer Reviews:

Cuts to the Heart of Things.......2007-06-09

Like some of the other reviewers, I found this a heartwarming story about Silas Marner, a solitary hermit who discovers things about himself he has forgotten, or may never have known. When his solitary existence is turned upside down by the departure of his treasure and the arrival of an unexpected guest, Silas takes the opportunity to examine his life and make the best of what life has given him. I felt this was an uplifting story telling how much the choices we make define who we are, and that it's never too late to decide to be something more.

George Eliot's timeless short novel of a miser who finds gold in the gift of parental love.......2006-11-30

Silas Marner is a nineteenth century Englishman. He belongs to a religious community; is falsely accused of theft and repairs to the isolated midland village of Raveloe. He is considered an alien by the clannish townsfolks. Marner is a Midas who enjoys collecting gold coins earned through long hours of weaving. One day the money is stolen by the dissolute Duncan Cass the son of the wealthy Squire Cass.
Marner is devastated by this theft. And then love enters his life. Love is incarnated in little Effie the child who is orphaned by the death of her opium eating mother who dies on her way to confront Godfrey Cass with the child he and she have had together. Effie's mother was abandoned by Cass who seeks to wed the rich znd lovely Nancy.
Through a series of plot machinations the ending is resolved when Effie is wed and is able to live with Silas. Godfrey Cass repents of his sordid past; acknowledges his parentage of Effie and confesses all to his forgiving wife Nancy.
George Eliot wrote this short novel in 1861 prior to beginning her long and largely forgotten novel "Romola "The novel reminds this reviewer of the tale woven on the loom of Dickens imagination called "A Christmas CArol" dealing with the redemption of the miser Ebeneezer Scrooge. Scrooge is redeemed by the ghosts of Christmas and the sick lad Tiny Tim.
George Eliot was a freethinker who held to a high moral standard of behavior. She knew rural England and its folkways well for it was here she grew to womanhooid. Her use of the customs, dialects and culture of the British peasantry is superb. She was before Thomas Hardy on the literary landscape and surpasses that great author in her ability to delve deeply into the human heart in conflict with itself.
Many readers may have been turned off to Eliot through being forced to read "Silas Marner" in high school. These readers deserve to reread this beautiful parable of love and redemption. "Silas Marner" was the favorite novel by George Eliot. It deserves to live as long as the English language. Its message of loving hope is eternal.

Silas Marner.......2006-11-23

Silas Marner spends his days weaving for the village-folk of Raveloe, weaving and saving, hiding his money in leather bags in the floor of his home. At nights, he counts the money, tinkling it between his hands, memorising the increasing total. He spends little, and has no friends or family. His life consists of waiting to leave his life, an endless weave that seems to have no beginning and no end.

But Silas was not always a weaver. As a young man, he was engaged, and living in another town. But his best friend, William Dane, who was jealous of his good fortune and hopeful prospects, engendered a plan to strip Silas of everything he held dear. His hometown, convinced he was involved with the robbery of a senior deacon, accused him of theft and he was forced to leave. He stumbles upon Raveloe and begins to weave, and fifteen years past.

It is to George Eliot's credit that a story with such fairy tale qualities is so successful. From the very beginning we are made aware of character-types and ideas, with Silas being an innocent man wrongly accused, and then, as a weaver, a giant metaphor of toil and struggle in an unfair world. The townsfolk of Raveloe, as they are outlined, remain simply that - a thick line that purports to show the broad details of a person, but in no way offers the subtle shading that makes a character come to life and become a person. But this is to the story's credit, for we are not interested so much in depth of character and complexity of situation, as we are in the constant weaving, the endless sadness, of Silas Marner's self-imposed exile.

While we learn of Marner's new life as a hoarder, a miser, a weaver, we come to see other characters and situations. There is a young man, Godfrey, who is running out of money and seeks a desperate measure to fix his worries. There is his father, who disapproves of his life and choices. One New Year's, the two stories intersect, and after Silas is robbed of all his money, a young girl, blonde and innocent and nameless, is found on his doorstep. Her mother, an opium addict, is discovered nearby, frozen to death. A father, if there is one, does not step forward.

Here, Eliot allows us to know the secret well before Silas or Eppie, his newly christened adopted daughter. Godfrey is the father, and it is a secret he carries with him well past necessary. His duplicitous action is flagged at a very early stage, which sets in our mind the idea that a comeuppance, or a truth revealing set piece, is somewhere along the line. Because this is known - for what fairy tale does not, in the end, end in goodness and retribution and justice for those who deserve it? - we are able to enjoy the experience of Silas as he becomes a good father, and learns how to love.

In a sense, the themes surrounding Silas are trite and over-used. The idea of a sad, lonely man discovering the beauty of the world again through love, is nothing new. Yet Eliot's mastery of character and evocation of place allow us to sail along with Silas as he sheds the hard carapace of armour that he has placed around himself. He becomes, as we do, devoted to Eppie. She is a caricature, a purely good and ultimately pure girl who, through the tutelage of her father, understands the meaning of love even where Godfrey, her real father, does not.

Eliot makes heavy use of dialect in Silas Marner. As a personal taste, I distinctly dislike dialect, because I find I spend more time translating what is being said than enjoying and understanding the character as they are presented. Yes, it can aid in characterisation and 'realism', but at what cost? Much like Wuthering Heights, several characters in Silas Marner were ruined for me, purely because I had to work so hard at what they were saying. And of course, upon figuring out their obscure words, I realised that they were saying nothing meaningful at all. A great disappointment, that.

Throughout, various characters are introduced and then pushed to the background, as needed by the story. When Silas is in difficulties concerning the raising of a child, a goodwife is found, Dolly Winthrop, who provides him with advice and stresses that the child must be christened. Later, a love interest is given to Eppie, because what happy ending does not finish with a wedding?

But these are minor quibbles. As a fairy tale, Silas Marner excels. There are good people done wrong, and bad people who come right in the end. There is a happy - or mostly happy - ending for everyone who deserves it, and a few that don't. But more than that, there is the construction of a wholly sympathetic man, and that is Silas Marner himself. Eliot does not stray down an easy route with him - when he becomes a miser, there is sadness, not avarice, in our minds as we sympathise.

This novel is considered minor Eliot; it is not hard to fault that estimation. Middlemarch is a towering literary achievement, whereas Silas Marner is merely a single flower in a garden of like experiments with words. But what flower does not deserve to be smelled, at least once?

Silas Marner.......2006-11-08

A great book that shows how no matter what people still change given the right situations.

Silas Marner: Regeneration Is The Theme.......2006-08-22

With the publication of SILAS MARNER in 1861, George Eliot countered the rise of what she saw as the patently false view of life that the conventional pastoral engendered. Eliot opposed the cheery images of villagers happily frolicking in their quaint but comely homes. She intended to inject a lasting note of rustic realism in the person of Silas, a character deliberately conceived as a fairy tale creation. By depicting the metamorphosis of Silas from one of twisted values to one of traditional humanistic ones amidst the background of the pastoral fairy tale, Eliot was able to present a believable tale of personal redemption that made use of the political, economic, and social changes that were transforming England from a rural to an industrial based economic system.

Silas is initially seen as a sympathetic character who suffers from a false accusation of theft in his small rural village. It is this village that connotes a totality of pre-industrial images of which much of England's older population still retained vivid memories. After his journey to Raveloe, he lives in a small cottage where he works as a weaver and slowly accumulates a hoard of gold which he keeps buried in the floorboards. He likes to play with his gold in a non-productive manner that now calls to mind the similar antics of the cartoon character Scrooge McDuck, both of whom saw their treasure only in terms of watching it grow. This gold is the central symbol of the book, for when he encounters the golden haired Eppie, he transfers his fascination from coin to strand, a changeover which mirrors a similar melding of gold as non-functional to gold as human functional in that a growing capitalist society began to include increasing numbers of newly rich middle class entrepreneurs who put their gold to productive use. As Silas raises Eppie from baby to young woman, he similarly raises his own consciousness so that the bitterness that led him to Raveloe he now sees as but the first step in his redemption. It is not only his ability to shed his bitterness that marks his emotional growth. He now can reintegrate himself into the community of men that he symbolically discarded when he entered the isolation of his secluded home. He further comes to trust in a Higher Power that he was sure had discarded him earlier. Finally, through Silas, Eliot shows that personal redemption also includes the belief that justice delayed is not justice denied. Contrapuntally, the one who stole the treasure for which Silas was blamed did not escape justice. He was killed by falling into a stone pit. Godfrey Cass, who refuses to identify himself as the true father of Eppie, is punished for doing what Silas does willingly. Godfrey must endure seeing his daughter raised by the very one whose purse is dwarfed by Godfrey but whose heart dwarfs Godfrey's. In the regeneration of Silas' nearly lost humanity, Eliot shows that as long as one has someone to care for, then the giving of care results in its return with interest, sort of like investing gold rather than hoarding it.

The Mill on the Floss (Penguin Classics)

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unequivocally a great company in times of perplexity
Nature repairs her ravages
George Eliot's most autobiographical novel is a literary masterpiece
wow
A work of great beauty, depth & an outstanding literary classic!

The Mill on the Floss (Penguin Classics)
George Eliot
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0141439629
Release Date: 2003-04-29

Book Description

New chronology and updated further reading.

Edited with an Introduction by A. S. Byatt.

Customer Reviews:

unequivocally a great company in times of perplexity.......2007-04-02

George Eliot with her keen observation of human attribute, had written another novel about man's struggle with ephemeral follies and victorious governance of emotion towards what is right.

This story preludes with sibling fondness of Tom and Maggie Tulliver with each other marred by the former's occassional bullyness and the latter's childish peevishness. As manifested on the personality of the brother and sister, Tom's perusal of Latin in boarding school where Philip Wakem also attends and excells fuels his repugnance towards the deformed Philip. During her visits to Tom, Maggie meets Philip whose intellectual interest matches hers and instantly initiates friendship with the physically deformed lad.

To Maggie however, the feud between the Tullivers and Wakem clan doesn't put a damper on her clandestine meetings with Philip in the mill. Until she meets her cousin's lover Stephen Guest. Torn between Philip's undying love and Stephen's fleeting adoration, she finally succumbs to rendezvou with the young and handsome coxcomb.

It is not unusual for a woman of caliber to make indelible mistakes and for a learned man to let his boorishness seeps out of the cracks of his soul. Nonetheless, a woman of higher intellect on command can disengage liquid glue that travels short distance from her brain to mend a broken heart.

The novel ends with poetic justice. For relationships cultivated out of soil of deceit will bear sweet but poisonous fruit; and the toxic seeds will proliferate to feed the mouth hungry for misery.

Nature repairs her ravages.......2007-03-05

The merits of the novel deserve a more worthy arena to be debated and highlighted. It is specifically with the Penguin Classics Edition in mind that I write this review. A.S. Byatt offers an introduction that well-becomes the subject and the now absolutely essential appendix "The Placing of Stephen Guest". Anyone who has read the book or plans to do so in the near future, must read the said appendix for it proves to be of incredible and indelible insight into the awkward presence of Maggie's lover Stephen Guest.

George Eliot's most autobiographical novel is a literary masterpiece.......2006-06-23

George Eliot (1821-1880) is one of the great literary artists in the Victorian (or any!) era. In this novel she tells the tragic tale of Maggie and Tom Tulliver growing up on the Floss
River in the small village of St. Ogg's in Lincolnshire. Maggie and Tom have a complicated relationship which ends in tragedy.
Tom is non-intellectual, something of a bully and a braggart; he
is also loyal to his family assisting his father and looking out for what he thinks is best for his kid
sister Maggie.
Maggie is similar to George Eliot. She is plain, highly intellectual, a bookworm and a romantic who is courted by the
suave Stephen Guest and the physically frail Phillip Wakem. As in Romeo and Juliet the lovers are separated by a hatred between Maggie's father and the wealthy Mr. Waken who owns the Mill.
While I think Middlemarch is her greatest novel this one, in my opinion, is a close second! It is warmer in tone filled with
scenes of rural life in mid nineteenth century England. Some
readers will become irritated with her use of dialogue but I had
no trouble following the story.
Eliot is great in using the rich symbolism of the river as she weaves this classic story which will be perused as long as their are English readers to savor her poetical prose tale of provinical life. They don't write them like this anymore!
Don't miss this classic!

wow.......2005-09-27

This book is the reason I became a literature major.

That's all.

A work of great beauty, depth & an outstanding literary classic!.......2005-08-08

Powerful and moving, "The Mill on the Floss" is considered to be George Eliot's most autobiographical novel. Along with "Middlemarch" it is my favorite. Set in early 19th century England - St. Ogg's, Lincolnshire to be exact - this is the tale of gifted, free-spirited Maggie Tulliver and her selfish, spoiled brother, Tom, who were born and raised at Dorlcote Mill on the River Floss. Eliot's portrayal of sibling relationships is terribly poignant and plays a major part in the novel, as does the longstanding rivalry between two local families - the Tullivers and the Wakems.

From earliest childhood Maggie worships her brother Tom, and longs to win his approval, and that of her parents. However, her fierce intelligence and strong streak of independence bring her into constant conflict with her family. She finds, in literature, the kindness and love she longs for in life. "...everybody in the world seemed so hard and unkind to Maggie: there was no indulgence, no fondness, such as she imagined when she fashioned the world afresh in her own thoughts. In books there were people who were always agreeable or tender, and delighted to do things that made one happy, and who did not show their kindness by finding fault. The world outside the books was not a happy one Maggie felt. If life had no love in it, what else was there for Maggie?" Her nature, complex, passionate, sensuous, noble, intellectualized, and spiritualized, is of great importance to this novel, as is the pathos of her relationship with Tom.

Maggie's early years are brilliantly and unsentimentally portrayed from a child's perspective. The author structures a sequence of childhood's phases, which might appear, at first, to be random vignettes, but constitute an excellent psychological basis on which to build a character and motivation. Eliot once stated, "my stories always grow out of my psychological conception of the dramatis personae." Thus, the author chronicles Maggie's life as she grows from a precocious little girl to a strikingly attractive young woman, tall with full lips, and a "crown" of jet black hair. Her lack of social pretension makes her even more charming and likeable. As she matures, her conflicts with her brother, her family, even with her community, increase significantly. She, herself, feels torn between what is considered her "moral responsibility" and her search for self-fulfillment. Ultimately, she demonstrates honor and courage in the face of the disapproval of a narrow, tradition-bound society.

Parallel to, and intertwined with Maggie's story, is that of families Tullivur and Wakem. After Tullivur loses his mill and social respectability through bankruptcy, (a loss precipitated by a rash lawsuit he undertook), Wakem purchases it all. Mr. Tullivur agrees to stay on as manager. At first he seems resigned to his misfortune. However, within the space of a few pages he is swearing vengeance on the new owner and cursing him. He actually summons Tom to inscribe his curse on Wakem in the family Bible, and makes his son swear to uphold it. The feud becomes violent when Wakem, in the role of proprietor, appropriately corrects Tullivur's management of the mill. Of course the criticism is taken as an insult, and shortly afterward, upon meeting his boss on the road, Tullivur horsewhips him in "a frenzy of triumphant vengeance." Tom sees this uncontrolled outbreak of madness as the result of long repressed hatred. Mr. Tullivur never repents his beating of Wakem. His injured pride and sense of righteous indignation, justify him in his own mind. This lack of forgiveness is also demonstrated by Tom for his sister. In direct contrast, Maggie couples love with forgiveness.

As she reaches adulthood, Maggie finds herself torn between her relationships with three extremely different men: her proud, stubborn brother, Tom; Philip Wakem, a beloved friend who is also the son of her family's worst enemy; and a charismatic but unacceptable suitor. When Tom is thrown suddenly into the role of adult, after his father's death, he becomes obsessed with acquiring social status and power. He attempts to arrange a socially advantageous marriage for Maggie, and when she refuses, he severs ties with her.

I won't spoil your read with any further discussion of the novel's details, especially the dramatic conclusion. George Eliot writes with a keen sense of humor, especially when addressing the grotesque in the human character. Her narrative has great depth, as insight to character and social observations are more important to Eliot than pace and action. "The Mill On The Floss" is deeply romantic - a work of great beauty and a literary classic. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

"The Mill On The Floss" is based partially on Eliot's, (born Mary Ann Evans), own experiences with her family and her brother Isaac, who was three years older than she. Eliot's father, like Mr. Tulliver, was a businessman who had married a woman from a higher social class. His wife's sisters were rich, ultra-respectable, and self-satisfied. These maternal aunts provided the character models for the aunts in the novel. Like Maggie, Eliot was extremely intelligent, energetic, imaginative and unconventional. She did not fit traditional models of feminine beauty or behavior, causing her family a great deal of consternation. Eliot lived with a man who she had not married - a daring enterprise in Victorian England. By the time this novel was published, she had gained considerable notoriety as an "immoral woman."

In this edition writer and critic A. S. Byatt provides full explanatory notes and an Introduction further relating "Mill On The Floss" to George Eliot's own life and times.
JANA

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Fantastic Example of Fine Victorian Literature
WOW!
A Positive View of Judaism by one of the Victorian era's greatest authors
The last of one of the best- Courageous moral Literature
a good book

Daniel Deronda (Penguin Classics)
George Eliot , and Terence Cave
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0140434275

Book Description

George Eliot’s final novel and her most ambitious work, Daniel Deronda contrasts the moral laxity of the British aristocracy with the dedicated fervor of Jewish nationalists. Crushed by a loveless marriage to the cruel and arrogant Grandcourt, Gwendolen Harleth seeks salvation in the deeply spiritual and altruistic Daniel Deronda. But Deronda, profoundly affected by the discovery of his Jewish ancestry, is ultimately too committed to his own cultural awakening to save Gwendolen from despair.

This Modern Library Paperback Classic is set from the 1878 Cabinet Edition.

Customer Reviews:

Fantastic Example of Fine Victorian Literature.......2006-10-07

I read this book as part of a graduate class on the "study of the novel" and was absolutely blown away by it. This was my first attempt at George Eliot and though I had been wanting to read her for some time, the sheer girth of most of her works prevented me from adding them to my "leisure reading" list.
The character of Gwendolen Harleth is strong and commanding, Henleigh Grandcourt is perhaps one of the best villains ever written into literature, and Daniel Deronda is unequivocally the most inherently flawless character ever created who does not bore the reader with his goodness.
This is a big book to be sure, but it reads fast and there is much said about the appearances and prejudices of Victorian society. There are many recurring themes and parallels to be on the lookout for. This is an intensely "smart" read, and for that reason it is one of my favorite Victorian novels ever---next to Dickens' "Dombey and Son" and "David Copperfield," that is.
I look forward to reading more of Eliot's work in the future. She was a brilliant writer and observer.

WOW!.......2006-09-27

OHMYGOD- this book rocks! Quit work for a week and dive in- Every sentence will enrich your soul- She's THAT amazing.

A Positive View of Judaism by one of the Victorian era's greatest authors.......2006-07-05

Daniel Deronda was the final novel authored by George Eliot
(1819-1881) whose real name was Mary Ann Evans. In this novel
Eliot tells the story of two intriguing fictional characters:
Gwendolyn Harleth-egocentric, spoiled and rich husband hunting
young lady noted for her beauty, wit and charm. Her marriage to
the older aristocrat Grandcourt proves disastrous. Gwendolyn
emerges at the end of this 800 page three-decker as a more
mature person eager to live and grow.
Daniel Deronda is a young man raised as an English Protestant
who has a mysterious past. During the novel he learns of his
Jewish blood; becomes a good friend of Mordecai the prophetic
voice of the Jewish hope for a homeland in the Middle East.
Daniel falls in love with Mordecai's singing sister Mirah.
The novel is slow moving. Today it would have undergone editing
to reduce its numerous pages. It is a work which is sympathetic
to the beginnings of Zionism and has a postive view of the Jews.
All of this in a nineteenth century society which was very Anti-
Semitic.
George Eliot is more interested in the human mind and its many
labyrinthal peregrinations from youth to maturity. She is a forerunner of writers like Henry James who explores what underlies the surface behavior of fictional characters.
Eliot did not have the widescope of Dickens nor the practical relation of cold facts as did Trollope. She did have a massive intellect who told serious stories for thinking adults.
She is one of my favorite writers who is well worth knowing.

The last of one of the best- Courageous moral Literature .......2005-11-01

In her final novel George Elliot courageously tells the story of a young man , Daniel Deronda who raised in an assimilated family goes on to discover his Jewishness, and make it the center of his life. Eliot is a master portrayer and analyer of the moods of human character. As he is befriended by the hero Gwendollyn who is suffering in her unhappy marriage, he develops in exploring his Jewishness, and eventually comes to 'marry the girl ,'Mirah"and go on to make a life for himself.

a good book.......2005-10-26

Daniel Deronda was a great classic by George Eliot. It has a sense of wonder and life challenges. This book actually holds more than one story, but two maybe more.
First is the story of Gwendolen Harleth, a woman you is all about her. She gets anything she wants but when her family is suddenly out of money, she has to choose whether to become a governess or marry a man with a lot of money. Being the spoiled girl that she is, she chooses to marry even though she loves another.
This is where Daniel Deronda comes in. He is a gentleman in a society that he feels he doesn't belong to. He is blind sited by his life and is unsure of where he came from. One day Deronda comes across a woman trying to drown, named Mirah Lapidoth. He befriends her and helps her to find her long lost brother, then leading to him finding out more information of his true heritage and that he is a despised Jew. He accepts his heritage and is happy in knowing the truth
Gwendolen then suffers from her obscene marriage and is living an unhappy life while her husband, Mallinger Grandcourt who is happy in all of his glory and power over people including his wife. His story ends with a "tragic" death, while Gwendolen is suffering for the "loss" of her husband when Deronda comes to comfort her.
Both of their stories end happily while they end up not together but apart.
You get a history of life in the eighteen hundreds and the trials that are faced when you are not considered to be a gentleman because of their blood.
A grand classic that is brilliantly written. Fantastic!

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Birds of Arizona
Allan Phillips , Joe Marshall , and Gale Monson
Manufacturer: Univ of Arizona Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0816500126

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A love story as sophisticated as the author
Unqualified
Wonderful Storytelling
Adam is Good: Hetty Is A Flirt: They Have No Choice
"There's a sort of wrong that can never be made up for."

Adam Bede (Penguin Classics)
George Eliot , and Stephen Gill
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0140431217

Book Description

A Phoenix Recording

In the novel that Alexandre Dumas called "the masterpiece of the century," three unworldly people find themselves trapped by unwise love in the English midlands of the early 1800s.

Adam Bede, a simple carpenter, loves too blindly; Hetty Sorrel, a coquettish beauty, too recklessly; Arthur Donnithorne, a dashing squire, too carelessly. Their innocence, vanity and imprudence lead them into a triangle of seduction, murder and retribution.

"Eliot's growing number of fans will feast on her first full-length novel, which probes the uncommon heroics of commonplace people." (B-O-T Editorial Review Board)

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George Eliot takes the well-worn tale of a lovely dairy-maid seduced by a careless squire, and out if it creates a portrait of the lives of ordinary Midlands working people -- their labors and loves, their beliefs, their speech.

Customer Reviews:

A love story as sophisticated as the author.......2007-01-10

Anybody who had fallen deeply in love would be touched by the character of Adam Bede. George Eliot's fecund words are reminiscence of a first kiss .... unforgettable.

Unqualified.......2007-01-07

As the title indicates, I feel quite unqualified to review the writings of George Eliot. But I did like the edition that Penguin classics puts out. It's sturdy, held up well being hauled around (never go anywhere without a book). I thought the explanatory notes at the end were quite thorough, and I enjoyed the editor's introduction.

Wonderful Storytelling.......2006-12-09

This is the first book that I have read by George Eliot. I have serveral others of hers but I alway seemed to have another book I wanted to read. In fact, I started Adam Bede once and was about 150 pages into and put it down. After 6 months or so, I decided to pick it back up and I am glad that I did.

This is a wonderful story about a person who is true to himself and to those around him. This is also a story about how the actions of a person affect more than that person and those immediately involved.

The only problem I had with the story (and thus the 4 stars) was the dialect of the language used in the book. It is difficult to get used to the dialect and it is difficult to know what the character is trying to say. However, after the first 200 pages, I did get the hang of it but it was difficult going at first. In fact, it was because of that difficulty that I put the book down before.

I was glad to have read this book. It does have a shocking part to it though it is subtle at first. What really helped me was to read several chapters and then go the the sparknotes and read them to make sure I had not missed anything which was a big help in fully understanding the story. I would recommend that if you read this book, read the sparknotes after every 4 or 5 chapters.

I would also recommend this book to anyone that likes Thomas Hardy and espcially his "Far from the Madding Crowd." I loved "Madding Crowd" and this book reminded me of it.

I truly recommend this book to anyone that likes English Classic Literature. Once you get the hang of the dialect you will like this story. If you read this one and have not read Thomas Hardy's "Madding Crowd" I would recommend that you read that one as well.

Adam is Good: Hetty Is A Flirt: They Have No Choice.......2006-08-22

When George Eliot published her first novel ADAM BEDE in 1859, unknown to her reading public, she had just ushered in a new era of the English novel. Beginning with this novel, Eliot infused her novels with an overwhelming sense of determinism, a then popular philosophy that suggested that man's voyage through life, that when set by nature, society, or even by himself, was etched in stone. If literary characters were to pursue a course of action that was taken willingly, then that character had to live with the consequences, however unpleasant. The primary characters of the book, Adam himself, Arthur Donnithorne, and Hetty Sorrel, are seen as limited in their ability to avoid the ramifications of their actions.

Adam Bede is portrayed as the quintessential man of good. Indeed one of the problems that modern readers have with him is that in his goodness, he is essentially a flat character, whose goodness towards others and anger towards Donnithorne, all stem from that same well of virtue. Adam falls in love with the flighty and flirty Hetty Sorrel, and is prepared to marry her, until he catches her passionately embracing his childhood friend, the aristocratic Donnithorne. The two men fight, the consequences of which set in motion a sequence of events that do not allow for mitigation of circumstance. In Hetty Sorrel, Eliot has created a woman whom she seems to judge overly harshly. Hetty truly is a flirt, and a passionate one at that, but to subject her to a non-stop series of painful retributions merely because of Hetty's willingness to sleep with the object of her youthful dreams, Donnithorne, suggests that Eliot began the book with a deck stacked partially against Adam but totally against her. And then there is Donnithorne, one who is supposed to be the villain, yet he is far less the villain as Eliot tries mightily to portray him just as Adam is far less the understanding hero as Eliot tries just as mightily to depict him. As Adam and Donnithorne battle each other for possession of the fickle Hetty, the lovely preacher Dinah Morris has been patiently waiting for Adam to come to his senses and forget his infatuation with Hetty and recognize the virtuous treasure that Eliot wants the reader to see.

Readers today show a marked lack of patience with Eliot's frequent narrative intrusions. Editors call such intrusions the use of omniscient narrator, a style of writing popular in Eliot's day but passé today. Yet, there are many readers who enjoy the panoramic vistas and linguistic idiosyncrasies that Eliot draws of a countryside that even in her day was fixed in the roots of an earlier 18th century cultural milieu. For those who do not mind Eliot's sometimes all too frequent helpful and sometimes unwanted comments, ADAM BEDE can be a welcome read in that it is a living reminder of how people may not escape the consequences of their actions, no matter how hard they try.

"There's a sort of wrong that can never be made up for.".......2006-06-19

Adam Bede is a young carpenter living with his mother, father and younger brother in the quiet English village of Hayslope. Adam is a strong and stalwart individual and is greatly respected by everyone who knows him, both for his excellent character as well as his skill as a carpenter. He has been in love for quite some time with Hetty Sorrel, a young woman who lives with her Aunt and Uncle Poyser and helps them on their farm. Hetty is exquisitely beautiful but vain and extremely immature, and does not return Adam's affection though she enjoys his attentions to her.

As the novel opens, a young female Methodist preacher named Dinah Morris has arrived in Hayslope. Dinah's preaching is looked upon by the townsfolk as being something of a freak show until they actually hear her one evening in the Common and are struck by the gentleness of her manner and the quiet sincerity of her convictions. Dinah is related to Hetty and the Poysers and so takes up residence for a while at their farm.

Shortly after Dinah preaches in the Common, the local Squire's grandson and heir returns to Hayslope and immediately catches the eye of Hetty Sorrel. Arthur Donnithorne is an upstanding man of good character but he cannot remain aloof from Hetty, even though he knows that any flirtation with a woman so far beneath him socially can only lead to unhappiness for all concerned. Not only does it indeed lead to unhappiness but also to an unspeakable and shocking tragedy that will threaten to destroy Adam Bede.

George Eliot based this novel in part on an actual crime related to her by her aunt, who at one time was herself a Methodist preacher. I definitely recommend purchasing the Oxford World Classics edition of this book as there is included in it a reprint of a journal entry written by George Eliot about how she came to write Adam Bede. There are also reprints of three contemporary newspaper articles about the crime on which this novel was loosely based. It is fascinating reading!

This novel is definitely one of the best I've read this year. Through George Eliot's hand Adam and the rest of the villagers of Hayslope truly come alive, and when tragedy occurs it is not difficult to feel immense regret for the sorrow they must all endure. This is a very readable classic, a completely riveting story with a superb ending. Highly recommended!!

The Mill on the Floss: An Authoritative Text Backgrounds and Contemporary Reactions Criticism (Norton Critical Editions)

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The Mill on the Floss: An Authoritative Text Backgrounds and Contemporary Reactions Criticism (Norton Critical Editions)
George Eliot
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0393963322

Middlemarch (Everyman's Library Classics)

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Middlemarch (Everyman's Library Classics)
George Eliot
Manufacturer: Everyman's Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1857150066

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Great book, great reading
Caution: This is only HALF of Middlemarch.
Middlemarch Audiobook CD

Middlemarch: Part 1 & Part 2
George Eliot
Manufacturer: Tantor Media
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: 1400102162

Book Description

Complex social interrelationships, and the struggles to hold fast to personal integrity in a materialistic and mean spirited age in England during the 1830s, are the focus of this novel.

Customer Reviews:

Great book, great reading.......2007-01-09

I really enjoyed this performance of my favorite book of all time. I'm mostly writing a review because I think the star rating is excessively low and would like to tip the balance a little higher to say that it is worth listening to this audiobook. Also, there is a great article in the new york times by Verlyn Klinkenborg about listening to Middlemarch while driving across the united states. I like that there are places that I associate with moments in this book, having melded two sensory experiences into one sensation. Give it a whirl!

Also, please consider that the verynegative reviews of this product are more personal disappointments than fair critiques. It is a long book, but a rewarding one (I first heard this when I borrowed it from my local library--look for volume three there if you like--it's worth the trouble to hear the sublime end), and there is more than one way to read a book. I was surprised when I looked for maureen obrian's performance that the entire first page of google's maureen obrian middlemarch was the same review from this reviewer on different book vending sites expressing disappointment that kate reading is not maureen obrian. This performance must have been quite a disappointment, but this response doesn't seem quite fair to me. I'll check out that recording, though, because it sure sounds like it might be terrific. In case you're looking for it alongside me, her name appears to be obrien, not obrian.

Caution: This is only HALF of Middlemarch........2006-07-15

I had this for a month, looking forward to listening to it in the car, when I discovered that this is only PART 1 of Middlemarch, that there are TWO boxes, not one. Do I want to listen to only half of the book? NO! Do I want to pay $90 to listen to the whole thing? No! So what do I do?

Middlemarch Audiobook CD.......2006-07-11

If you were nurtured on the original cassette recording read by Maureen O'Brian, do not expect the same quality of presentation on this recording. Maureen O'Brian was no doubt an actress par excellence and her presentation was lively and enthusiastic. She captured the different characters with such an artistry that this recent recording by Kate Reading falls flat beside it.

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Silas Marner (The Classic Collection)
George Eliot
Manufacturer: Brilliance Audio on CD Unabridged
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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Silas Marner (Bantam Classics)
Lord of the Flies

ASIN: 1423310705
Release Date: 2006-06-25

Book Description

Embittered by a false accusation, disappointed in friendship and love, the weaver Silas Marner retreats into a long twilight life alone with his loom. . . and his gold.

Silas hoards a treasure that destroys his spirit until fate steals it from him and replaces it with a golden-haired child. Where she came from, who her parents were, and who really stole the gold are the secrets that fill this moving tale of guilt and innocence.

A moral allegory of the redemptive power of love, it is also a finely drawn portrait of early nineteenth-century England in the days when spinning wheels hummed busily in the farmhouses, and of a simple way of life that was soon to disappear.

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