Showing results by author "George Eliot" in All Categories

This multi-layered novel concerns complex social relationships in a provincial Victorian neighborhood and the struggle to hold fast to personal integrity in a materialistic environment.

Silas Marner is the third novel by George Eliot, published in 1861. An outwardly simple tale of a linen weaver, Eliot's celebrated novel is notable for its strong realism and its sophisticated treatment of a variety of issues ranging from religion to industrialisation to community.

This classic novel takes place in Lantern Yard, a slum street in an unnamed city in Northern England, during the early 19th century. There, Silas Marner, a weaver and a member of a small Calvinist congregation, is falsely accused of stealing the congregation's funds while watching over their very ill deacon. Two pieces of evidence are against Silas: his possession of a pocket knife and the bag that formerly contained the money.

Maggie and Tom, brother and sister, try to save their livelihood as their parents flounder in the face of modernization. Maggie befriends the disabled son of a family rival in an attempt to build bridges, and Tom fights hard to reclaim the family property. Having drifted apart, they are brought back together in the novel's dramatic and moving conclusion.

Praised by Virginia Woolf as one of the only novels "written for grown-up people", Middlemarch is a highly accomplished story, whose characters are involving and intriguing. Dorothea's story interlinks powerfully and tantalisingly with that of Lydgate's, a doctor, who joins her for a some of her journey towards making sense of her role in the world, both as a woman and as an idealist.

Considered one of the great English novels, George Eliot's Middlemarch, A Study of Provincial Life follows myriad characters and their lives in the eponymous town, Middlemarch, in the 1800s. Utilizing a realistic style, Eliot considers issues such as religion, education, and the status of women—to name just a few.

This 1859 novella by George Eliot takes a rather dramatic departure from her usual realistic fiction. Now canonized along with other great works of Victorian horror literature, The Lifted Veil plays with the theme of extrasensory perception. It discusses the power of fate in our everyday lives and even flirts with the possibilities of life after death.

In a hole under the floorboards Silas Marner the linen-weaver keeps his gold. Every day he works hard at his weaving, and every night he takes the gold out and holds the bright coins lovingly, feeling them and counting them again and again. The villagers are afraid of him and he has no family, no friends. Only the gold is his friend, his delight, his reason for living. But what if a thief should come in the night and take his gold away?

The George Eliot Library invites listeners into the quiet company of one of England’s most observant storytellers, where the smallest choices of ordinary lives reveal uncommon depth. Through complete readings of George Eliot’s novels and tales, this podcast lingers among village streets, restless minds, and the tender bonds that shape human character. Unhurried and reflective, it offers a listening experience attuned to sympathy, moral insight, and the enduring beauty of thoughtful prose. A library of voices meant not merely to be heard, but to be understood.

Scenes of Clerical Life, published in book form in 1858 after its initial serial release, marks the debut of George Eliot, the pen name of Mary Anne Evans. This collection features three poignant novellas that delve into the lives of country clergymen and their communities. Eliots fascination with these characters stems not from their religious beliefs—having moved away from traditional Christianity—but from their deeply human experiences. In these narratives, readers can discover the early emergence of Eliots distinctive narrative voice, her humanistic perspective, and the realism that ...

Dive into the musings and insights of a modest scholar as he navigates the complexities of thought and observation. - Summary by Mark Leder

In Brother Jacob, George Eliot delves into the complex dynamics between the ambitious and self-serving David Faux and his simple-minded brother, Jacob. This poignant short story, narrated by Lynne Thompson, invites listeners to reflect on the nature of ambition and the bonds of brotherhood.

Mary Anne Evans was born on 22nd November 1819, at Nuneaton in Warwickshire, England. Her first major literary work was completing an English translation of Strauss's ‘The Life of Jesus’ in 1846. Under the pseudonym of George Eliot that we know so well, ‘Adam Bede’ was published in 1859, followed by her other great novels: ‘Mill on the Floss’, ‘Silas Marner’ and ‘Middlemarch’. ‘The Lifted Veil’ is a both a beautiful story and typical of Eliot’s formidable powers of writing.

Here, Eliot explores ethical problems inherent in certain strands and styles of Christian evangelical teaching—particularly as displayed in the writings of one Dr. Cumming. While Eliot’s critique is focused on the work of this particular preacher, her insights are enduringly pertinent for those interested in the politics and ethics of religious discourse today. As always, Eliot’s authorial voice is abounding in pathos and concern for contexts of human relationality.

In this essay, originally published anonymously in The Westminster Review (1856), George Eliot examines the state of women’s fiction in her time. She lamentingly argues that absurd and banal novels, written by well-to-do women of her time, do great disservice for the overall appreciation of women’s intellectual capacities within society.

Among the many fatalities attending the bloom of young desire, that of blindly taking to the confectionery line has not, perhaps, been sufficiently considered. How is the son of a British yeoman, who has been fed principally on salt pork and yeast dumplings, to know that there is satiety for the human stomach even in a paradise of glass jars full of sugared almonds and pink lozenges, and that the tedium of life can reach a pitch where plum-buns at discretion cease to offer the slightest excitement.

Reputed as Eliot’s favourite novel "Silas Marner" is set in the early years of the 19th century. Marner, a weaver, is a member of a small congregation in Lantern Yard. Falsely accused of a crime he didn’t commit, he leaves his home and lives a solitary life near the village of Raveloe. Dedicating his life to weaving and hoarding gold for the next fifteen years, circumstances beyond his control shape his destiny and help to restore his faith in humanity.

George Eliot’s 1859 novella, "The Lifted Veil", departs radically from the grounded realism of her longer and better known works, such as "Middlemarch" and "Daniel Deronda". Its tone calls to mind the works of middlebrow Sensationists, like Wilkie Collins ("The Moonstone"), and of some of the better known authors of Victorian era horror writings, such as Bram Stoker ("Dracula") and Mary Shelley ("Frankenstein"). Eliot here explores mystical themes, considering the world of phenomena which are felt but not seen.

Latimer is convinced that he has a special power. According to him, he can see into the future and he can also read people's mind. Actually everybody’s but one; his brother’s wife Bertha's mind remains closed to him. Although he marries her after his brother’s death, he still cannot manage to read her thoughts. What he realizes however is that Bertha is manipulative and her heart is not pure.

L'action se situe dans les premières années du XIXe siècle. Silas Marner, tisserand, fait partie d'une petite congrégation calviniste à Lantern Yard, dans un faubourg déshérité d'une ville du nord de l'Angleterre. Il est accusé à tort d'avoir volé l'argent de la congrégation pendant qu'il veillait le diacre, gravement malade. Deux indices accusent Silas : un couteau de poche, et la découverte à son domicile du sac ayant contenu l'argent.