Mark’s Reviews > Middlemarch > Status Update

Spinozistic Chapter 80. Climax. Dorothea's active thought and rational emotions (love, benevolence and what Eliot describes as "vivid sympathetic experience") outpower her grief and indignation, though they still somewhat remain but not in control of her. She yearns for Reason/Rightness to govern her being, asking herself the Socratic question, and experiences love of God/Nature, "part of that involuntary, palpit..."

Finished Part 7 (started Middlemarch in 1 January 2024), onwards to Part 8! Poor Bulstrode and Lydgate!

Awesome! Pg 582, on Bulstrode and his psy hology and cognitive dissonance is a real treat

Just finished chapter 58. HOTDAMN! What incredible writing! What nuance! How true to life and psychology and the human mind and condition it all is! THIS IS WHY LITERATURE IS AWESOME! This is why NOVELS ARE GREAT TYPES OF WORKS OF ART! To reread in the future after finishing Middlemarch!

Fun/boring-ish so far. But fun! But not much in the way of wisdom it seems. Or maybe it's just my ignorance.

Casaubon has died. Made me sad for some reason. Very relatable scholar. Cautionary tale of how not to live, and how easily a scholar-type like myself may slip into it by default if not careful.

My enjoyment of this masterpiece grows day by day!

So good so far! Little action and a lot of violations of "show don't tell" and yet, man, the psychological detail and insightfulness is second to none!