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George Eliot: The emergent self
8vo. Wear to lower edge of front board. Slight bow to front board. Slight tanning to edges of endpapers. Dw has light wear to edges. Slight strip of stain to top rear edge. Pc.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1975
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June 26, 2018
This is the only biography of George Eliot I've read so far, which is a bit of a surprise to me since she is very high on my list of well-loved writers. Gordon Haight's 1968 biography is widely considered the definitive modern one, and I had vaguely planned to read that one first. However, Ruby Redinger's biography, published in 1975, was the (only) one my library had, so Redinger's is the one I read. And I'm glad I did, because it's excellent.
George Eliot: The Emergent Self takes a psychological approach to Eliot's life. Arguably the most important writer of the 19th century, George Eliot -- born Mary Ann Evans in 1819 -- did not write anything significant until her late 30s. Her first book was Scenes of Clerical Life, but that was three short stories, not a novel. She was 40 when her first novel, Adam Bede, was published.
The reasons for that were buried deep in Mary Ann Evans's childhood, in her struggle to win the love and acceptance of her father, Robert Evans -- a rather rigid, distant, narrowly religious clergyman -- and of her older brother, Isaac. Mary Ann adored Isaac, but he was a cold, critical, rejecting person, and Mary Ann fought in vain to win his love and acceptance.
It wasn't until she met George Henry Lewes, in 1853, that she found the male love and approval that she craved. She and Lewes -- who was married and was prevented by law from getting a divorce -- nevertheless lived together, as husband and wife, for almost 30 years -- until his death at the end of 1878.
It was Lewes who helped Mary Ann Evans exorcise the demons of her past and become George Eliot -- not just the pseudonym, but the complete personal and professional identity of the woman who became one of the most successful and beloved authors of her time. In her "perfect union" with the man who believed in her unstintingly and devotedly, who encouraged her and protected her from everyone and everything that could shake her confidence, George Eliot began to channel into her fictional characters her emotional need to "confess and justify" her painful past. Eventually, through autobiographical novels like The Mill on the Floss, in which she wrote about Maggie Tulliver (Mary Ann) and her brother Tom (Isaac), Mary Ann Evans was able to heal the mental paralysis that had kept her from writing. And in doing so, the new self that emerged -- George Eliot -- went on to write later, more mature and fully realized novels like Middlemarch and Daniel Deronda -- her final novel, whose main female character, Gwendolyn Harleth, helped inspire Henry James's Isabel Archer in The Portrait of a Lady.
This is a fascinating, intelligent, deeply researched biography that even readers who already know a lot about George Eliot can learn from.
George Eliot: The Emergent Self takes a psychological approach to Eliot's life. Arguably the most important writer of the 19th century, George Eliot -- born Mary Ann Evans in 1819 -- did not write anything significant until her late 30s. Her first book was Scenes of Clerical Life, but that was three short stories, not a novel. She was 40 when her first novel, Adam Bede, was published.
The reasons for that were buried deep in Mary Ann Evans's childhood, in her struggle to win the love and acceptance of her father, Robert Evans -- a rather rigid, distant, narrowly religious clergyman -- and of her older brother, Isaac. Mary Ann adored Isaac, but he was a cold, critical, rejecting person, and Mary Ann fought in vain to win his love and acceptance.
It wasn't until she met George Henry Lewes, in 1853, that she found the male love and approval that she craved. She and Lewes -- who was married and was prevented by law from getting a divorce -- nevertheless lived together, as husband and wife, for almost 30 years -- until his death at the end of 1878.
It was Lewes who helped Mary Ann Evans exorcise the demons of her past and become George Eliot -- not just the pseudonym, but the complete personal and professional identity of the woman who became one of the most successful and beloved authors of her time. In her "perfect union" with the man who believed in her unstintingly and devotedly, who encouraged her and protected her from everyone and everything that could shake her confidence, George Eliot began to channel into her fictional characters her emotional need to "confess and justify" her painful past. Eventually, through autobiographical novels like The Mill on the Floss, in which she wrote about Maggie Tulliver (Mary Ann) and her brother Tom (Isaac), Mary Ann Evans was able to heal the mental paralysis that had kept her from writing. And in doing so, the new self that emerged -- George Eliot -- went on to write later, more mature and fully realized novels like Middlemarch and Daniel Deronda -- her final novel, whose main female character, Gwendolyn Harleth, helped inspire Henry James's Isabel Archer in The Portrait of a Lady.
This is a fascinating, intelligent, deeply researched biography that even readers who already know a lot about George Eliot can learn from.
Want to read
May 5, 2008A predecessor to Fredrick Karl's wonderful biography of George Eliot and a book that he acknowledges gratefully in his introduction. I've owned the book for some years now, and it's high time that I read it. Sooo many books .... but isn't that a wonderful state of affairs.
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