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    Middlemarch (Serapis Classics)
    Middlemarch (Serapis Classics)
    Middlemarch (Serapis Classics)
    Ebook1,128 pages35 hours

    Middlemarch (Serapis Classics)

    By George Eliot

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    Middlemarch, A Study of Provincial Life is a novel by the English author George Eliot, first published in eight installments (volumes) during 1871–72. The novel is set in the fictitious Midlands town of Middlemarch during 1829–32, and it comprises several distinct (though intersecting) stories and a large cast of characters. Significant themes include the status of women, the nature of marriage, idealism, self-interest, religion, hypocrisy, political reform, and education. Although containing comical elements, Middlemarch is a work of realism that refers to many historical events: the 1832 Reform Act, the beginnings of the railways, the death of King George IV, and the succession of his brother, the Duke of Clarence (the future King William IV). In addition, the work incorporates contemporary medical science and examines the deeply reactionary mindset found within a settled community facing the prospect of unwelcome change. Eliot began writing the two pieces that would eventually form Middlemarch during the years 1869–70 and completed the novel in 1871. Although the first reviews were mixed, it is now widely regarded as her best work and one of the greatest novels written in English.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSerapis Classics
    Release dateOct 1, 2017
    ISBN9783962558062
    Middlemarch (Serapis Classics)
    Author

    George Eliot

    George Eliot (1819–1880), born Mary Ann Evans, was an English writer best known for her poetry and novels. She grew up in a conservative environment where she received a Christian education. An avid reader, Eliot expanded her horizons on religion, science and free thinkers. Her earliest writings included an anonymous English translation of The Life of Jesus in 1846 before embracing a career as a fiction writer. Some of her most notable works include Adam Bede (1859), The Mill on the Floss(1860) and Silas Marner.

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    Reviews for Middlemarch (Serapis Classics)

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    • 4/5
      In Middlemarch, George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) examines life in the fictional Midlands town of Middlemarch, focusing on various characters and their intersecting narratives in order to examine women’s role in society, the place of religion, contemporary politics, and more. Eliot’s writing comments on the internalized misogyny of her time. In one instance, Mrs. Vincy says in conversation with Rosamond, “Oh, my dear, you must allow for young men. Be thankful if they have good hearts. A woman must lean to put up with little things. You will be married some day” (pg. 105). This view of marriage runs through most of the book, with both Dorothea and Lydgate experiencing failed marriages. Eliot continues, “[Mrs. Garth] was not without her criticism of [her neighbors] in return, being more accurately instructed than most matrons in Middlemarch, and… apt to be a little severe towards her own sex, which in her opinion was framed to be entirely subordinate. On the other hand, she was disproportionately indulgent towards the failings of men, and was often heard to say that these were natural” (pg. 262).In discussing the role of art, Will Ladislaw and Dorothea Casaubon debate the work of Tamburlaine, which Will argues represents “earthquakes and volcanoes” as well as “migrations of races and clearings of forests – and America and the stream-engine” (pg. 231). Change runs as a through-line in the book, specifically the Reform Act of 1867, which doubled the adult male enfranchisement rate in England and Wales. Eliot begins hinting at this as she discusses the role of politics in rural life (chapter 18). Further discussions of art include references to significant authors of the day, including Sir Walter Scott, Lady Blessington, and L.E.L. (Letitia Elizabeth Landon), the poet (pg. 291).In a lengthy aside on politics, Eliot writes, “The doubt hinted by Mr. Vincy whether it were only the general election or the end of the world that was coming on, now that George the Fourth was dead. Parliament dissolved, Wellington and Peel generally depreciated, and the new king apologetic was a feeble type of the uncertainties in provincial opinion at that time. With the glow-worm lights of country places, how could men see which were their own thoughts in the confusion of a Tory ministry passing Liberal measures, of Tory nobles and electors being anxious to return Liberals rather than friends of the recreant ministers, and of outcries for remedies which seemed to have a mysteriously remote bearing on private interest and were made suspicious by the advocacy of disagreeable neighbours?” (pg. 383). Here, then, is material that sheds light on the rapid political changes occurring in the latter half of the nineteenth century. While the book can be slow at times, Eliot’s commentary on social issues, in particular the dynamics of marriage and political change, will be of interest to anyone studying the late-Victorian era.
    • 4/5
      A very nicely written book that gives a rounded view of the town of Middlemarch by bringing together the points of view of a cast of different characters. The book went deep into the psychology of each character which was intriguing, and I really loved the characters of Dorothea and Mary. The book has a strong thoughtful streak, and George Eliot has a lot of insightful things to say about the world. It is also a very realistic book, no wild gothic drama.

      On the downside, it is a very long book, and I did lose interest in some parts, particularly in Bulstrode & Lydgate's chapters. And the ending was a little unsatisfying.

      What books would I compare this to? Well, it has a dash of Vanity Fair in its past perspective & ambition, a streak of Le Miserable in its ensemble cast, a dollop of Dickens with its ideology, and a hint of Austen in its wit.

      I wouldn't recommend this as light reading, but if you have the time to commit to it, it is really a quite special book.
    • 5/5
      A thoughtful yet entertaining read about the people and customs of an English town from the earlier part of the 19th century. The characters are very well drawn, their personalities are not superficial, and I was willingly dragged into the story, something I expect a very well-written book should do. This tale is never boring, but as the sentences often have deeper meanings one needs to take time to read this work slowly, unhurried, and without distraction. Quite good and worth the time and effort. Solid.
    • 4/5
      It's most interesting in the ways she differs from Austen. Much more political and philosophical and concerned with morals and the class system. I liked how it swept over many of the citizens of Middlemarch. It was about the whole town.
    • 5/5
      Trollope loved george eliot & g. lewes, that's enough for me.
    • 2/5
      Is it blasphemous to say this book disappointed me?

      Listen. It's a fine story. There's nothing inherently wrong with it. It's a lovely look at provincial life, full of the drama and romantic tension one expects from 19th century literature. But that's-- all it was to me. It was nothing special, nothing life hanging.

      I liked it, sure, but maybe I wasn't in the mood to appreciate it.

      I'm glad I read it, but I doubt I'll be picking it up again any time soon.
    • 5/5
      I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. It was not a good idea to read this book alongside The red and the black, that cold research lab where only the main character is real and all the others are plot devices to trigger psychological and/or political observations. It made Stendhal’s books look so much worse, and Eliot’s book so much superior. But Middlemarch isn’t just great in comparison, it’s great, full stop. Eliot's quiet snarkiness worked its magic on me from the first few pages, where there are plenty of leisurely descriptions of country life that she then undercuts with a precisely timed placing of a tongue in her cheek. Expertly done, and it works on two levels -- "let me tell you how these people think things work", and "I'll make a joke so you and I both know that things are actually more complex than that; but we still understand why these people think so". Good stuff. Most of this book centres around the travails of four couples and their immediate families (or lack thereof). That means there’s a fairly large cast to keep track of, but that is exactly where this book’s strength lies: their interactions and conflicts are brilliantly developed. All her characters feel like real, three-dimensional people who act in accordance with their convincingly-portrayed psychological makeup. Relatively few of the conflicts in this book are due to coincidence; it’s real-seeming characters behaving in uncontrived but conflicting ways. Very well done, that. Eliot also makes this seem so effortless and genuine and unartificial, which is another big mark in her favour. And finally, while she cares about all her characters (the omniscient authorial voice will sometimes straight-up tell readers as much), she does not shrink back from subjecting them to ruin and despair -- her caring for these characters does emphatically not trump the consequences of their unfavourable (in)actions or incompatible desires. This was a wonderful read by an author who knows what they are doing. Those are the best books.
    • 3/5
      Tales of people, how other's expectations don't match the reality.
    • 4/5
      I've been meaning to read this book for a long time (& by that I mean decades) but somehow Eliot never drew me in. It took me a few months to finish once I started - the first half was slow going although somewhere around the middle it caught and I finished it up in a few nights reading.

      This very personal introduction is to encourage anyone who reads this review not to wait as long as I. Great literature is defined by creating a world you feel you are inhabiting, by creating characters as real as anyone you know and by making the reader care deeply about the fate of those characters. The truly great books also teach you truths about the human condition & help you reflect on your own life. On all four of those characteristics this books excels and shows Eliot is indeed one of the great writers.

      Now that I'm done I can say the biggest problem with her writing is its complexity- her sentences can often be more convoluted than Proust's and you have to sit there and puzzle out what exactly was her intentions. And unlike Proust there is no lyricism to make those twists & turns soar into something poetic. Hence the prose can be heavy at times. Surprisingly, unlike other 19th or even 18th century writers a lot of her language seems archaic - I was very glad to have chosen this edition which has great footnotes as well as an interesting introduction.

      Because of the heaviness of her prose I had to deduct one star, but that does not deduct from my strong recommendation for everyone to read this great classic.

    • 5/5
      Classic sweeping amusing
    • 5/5
      Excellent. A traditional novel with a lot of psychological truth, a great panorama of the society, some humour mixed in, and no easy exits.
    • 4/5
      I cannot say I was overly impressed by this book. I thought the ending weak, compared to the gripping melodrama of The Mill on the Floss. But the develoment, in retrospect, was a delight to review. Only Dorothea Causabon was a character one could have very especial feeling for. Will Ladislaw certainly never became real for me. Both Vincy children--Fred and Rosamund--made me tired. Bulstrode didn't bother me particularly. Lydgate also made me tired. I have trouble being sympathetic to prodigals. I was struck by this instructive passage on Causabon: "hence he determined to abandon himself to the stream of feeling, and perhaps was surprised to find what an exceedingly shallow rill it was. As in droughty regions baptism by immersion could only be performed symbolically, so Mr. Causabon found that sprinkling was the utmost approach to a plunge which his stream would afford him, and he concluded that the poets had much exaggerated the force of masculine passion..." Really the drawing of Causabon was well-done, and I thought him one of the most intriguing characters in this long book! (Longest book I have read since I read Martin du Gard's books in February 1963--books, I might add, which really lived in and have grown in my memory
    • 2/5
      This is one of the most tedious works ever written. The story is not bad, but it is also nothing special. Perhaps if it were a bit shorter, I would give it a higher rating. But this just drags on and on.Now, don't get me wrong: I have no problem ploughing through tedious descriptions and plot set-ups. But there must be some reward at the end. By the time the book ends, the tediousness should make me feel like I accomplished something by getting through it. This book does nothing of the sort. The only compliment I could give (if it is a compliment) is that George Eliot writes like a man.In short, there are many classics out there. Don't waste your time on this one.
    • 5/5
      To be candid, in Middlemarch phraseology, meant, to use an early opportunity of letting your friends know that you did not take a cheerful view of their capacity, their conduct, or their position; and a robust candour never waited to be asked for its opinion. Then, again, there was the love of truth -- a wide phrase, but meaning in this relation, a lively objection to seeing a wife look happier than her husband's character warranted, or manifest too much satisfaction in her lot: the poor thing should have some hint given her that if she knew the truth she would have less complacency in her bonnet, and in light dishes for a supper-party. Stronger than all, there was the regard for a friend's moral improvement, sometimes called her soul, which was likely to be benefited by remarks tending to gloom, uttered with the accompaniment of pensive staring at the furniture and a manner implying that the speaker would not tell what was on her mind, from regard to the feelings of her hearer. On the whole, one might say that an ardent charity was at work setting the virtuous mind to make a neighbor unhappy for her good.In the small community of Middlemarch, much is happening. Three love stories; one involving a triangle, one a terribly mis-matched couple and one that sounds based on a certain kind of romance novel, involving as it does an irrepressible rake and a strong-minded, but poor girl who works as a companion to dying curmudgeon. There are no less than two wills written in spite, which have long-reaching consequences for the relatives of the dead men. There are a few secrets desperately protected and many impediments to love. The plot is an intricate web of intrigue and misunderstandings, but the real strength of George Eliot's masterpiece lies in how skillfully she draws the personalities of every character in Middlemarch. Dorothea is a spiritual and passionate young lady living with her sister in her uncle's house. She longs for a Great Work to give her life a purpose and whiles the time away plotting improvements to the lives of the inhabitants of her uncle's estate until she meets the important and self-important scholar, Edward Casaubon. He is older and surprised to have the attention of a young woman, but is eager enough to marry her. Dorothea expects to become his helpmeet in all areas, in order to facilitate his research and writing, but marriage turns out not to be the spiritual meeting of minds that she had anticipated and Casaubon is likewise unsettled by the interruption to his work. Fred Vincy is the only son of a well-to-do family, who was educated at some expense, to enter the church. Fred's a likeable and fun-loving guy, one who is disinclined to become a clergyman. His father is disinclined to give him anymore money however, so Fred will have to find some employment, or at least a way of paying his debts, until he inherits Stone Hall. He has loved from childhood Mary Garth, whose background is not what Fred's family finds acceptable. His sister, Rosamond, is the town beauty. She meets Tertius Lydgate, recently settled in Middlemarch to take over the running of a new hospital, and is smitten. Lydgate enjoys her company, but is consumed with a determination to make a success of himself. He doesn't see himself marrying for some years, but Rosamond has other ideas.The three relationships form the backbone of Middlemarch, but there are many more stories being told; strands of an intricate web that comes together only in the final pages of the book. Dorothea's uncle becomes involved in politics, and while he is not given to sustained effort, he does have the sense to hire Will Ladislaw, Casaubon's cousin, as an aide and to take charge of a local newspaper. Mr. Bulstrode is prominent in Middlemarch. A religious man, he has founded and is funding a new fever hospital and hires an eager young doctor to put new treatments and medical principles into practice. Bulstrode isn't a popular man and the new doctor, Lydgate, is challenged to build a medical practice when he also works for Bulstrode. Eliot brilliantly weaves together all the different stories and manages along the way to make each character entirely themselves, from the flawed by impressive Dorothea to the most minor of walk-on parts.
    • 4/5
      I am so impressed by the breadth of knowledge Eliot (a pseudonym for Mary Ann Evans) displays in this book. She quotes from so many types of books in a number of languages. Her knowledge of philosophy, art, politics, science and other disciplines is abundantly displayed through her characters. In addition to that, her descriptions of her characters' thoughts and feelings are detailed.The story has two main protagonists, Dorothea Brooke and Dr. Lydgate. The introduction to my copy states that initially Eliot planned to write one book about a provincial town with a young doctor as its main character. She got sidetracked and started writing another book about Miss Brooke. Then she decided to merge the two works together and Middlemarch was born. Both Dorothea and Lydgate make unfortunate marriages. Dorothea marries the much older cleric, Casaubon, because she admires his intellect. Lydgate marries Rosamond Vincy, the spoiled, beautiful and profligate daughter of a local merchant.Some of the minor characters are gems: Mr. Brooke, Dorothea's uncle, makes a supremely unsuccessful try for parliament; Caleb Garth, a sort of overseer for the landed gentry, is kind, generous and much more honest than the religious banker, Bulstrode; Mr. Farebrother is a poor cleric who has to gamble to support his mother, sister and aunt because his church stipend is too little.I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to immerse themselves in the period of the 1830s in rural England.
    • 5/5
      Loved loved loved it. There's just an incredible psychological richness to all the characters that's kind of mindboggling. If you tried to describe the plot, it might seem like a lot of the characters were acting in sort of silly or caricatured ways... but Eliot lets you see all their thoughts in their full complexity, and it makes all their actions somehow completely believable and sympathetic. My only complaint is that the female characters never quite break out of the social restrictions on them, as Eliot largely did in real life. (But it is cute that the smart but plain girl gets the best suitors...)
    • 5/5
      I'm amazed (and annoyed with myself) that it took this long for me to read anything by George Eliot. I had long heard she was one of the greatest female novelists--indeed, one of the greatest writers of either gender. Her Middlemarch is on a list of "100 Significant Books" in Good Reading. There are only 27 novels on that list, and the only other one by a woman is Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Eliot was never assigned me in high school or college and from somewhere I got the idea she was insufferably stuffy. It turned out, at least in the case of Middlemarch, that couldn't be farther from the case.It was a slow read, and by that I don't mean it was a slog, which is what I usually mean by that. I didn't feel as if the book badly needed an editor--either to cut away massive digressions such as the case in novels by Henry Fielding, Victor Hugo, Leo Tolstoy and Herman Melville or because it read like a rough first draft afflicted with parts that went nowhere or a rushed ending. (Defoe, Melville and Twain, I'm looking at you.) No, this is as well-structured a novel as any I've read. But it is dense--very packed and you can't speed through this prose. This is very much in the Victorian style of novel-writing. Several pages can go without dialogue, and there is a lot devoted to internal thoughts, and at times the narrator intrudes with "I" statements to comment on her characters. I remember Jane Austen, a great favorite, as better in balancing and integrating exposition and scene, more flowing in narrative and prose style and faster paced. Yet, although in lesser hands Eliot's style has aspects I often deplore in others as too "tell, not show," I can't complain of it here; Eliot isn't flabby--she's taut and you feel as if every word and scene was carefully shaped. And I didn't just love the novel, I enjoyed the process of reading it--truly it was a pleasure.Eliot's characters came alive on the page in a way I rarely find in fiction. I would grow annoyed or irritated or outraged with them as if they were real people I knew. (Believe me, there were plenty of times I would have loved to give Dorothea Brooke or Fred Vincy a good shake.) Her characters are more rounded, more people I can imagine meeting than what I've read in say, Dickens, as vivid as his characters are, they rarely felt as real. And unlike Dickens and many another 19th century author, Eliot in Middlemarch never overstepped into melodrama or treacly sentimentality. Her psychological penetration and insight into character is as profound as in any author I've ever read. She finely depicts the shaping of moral character in critical but seemingly small moments. Middlemarch really has only one out and out villain, a minor character who appears half-way into the novel. Others are more carefully shaded. Bad things happen more because of what characters do to themselves, their foolish choices, than the malice of others. Not that Eliot is gloomy--she isn't a Thomas Hardy--for which, much thanks. I found not just the moral but spiritual dimension of the novel very interesting. Religion is very important to her characters--but never in a preachy way. I couldn't tell, at least not from Middlemarch, whether Eliot was an orthodox Christian or an atheist. Dorothea is certainly partly a victim of a dream of martyrdom; Fred is pressured to become a clergyman, a career for which he has no vocation; Bulstrode is a narrow religious bigot--but one vicar, Farebrother, is presented as very likable. I couldn't say if Eliot finds religious belief admirable or deplorable. At best I can say I suspect she's sympathetic as to people's spiritual aspirations but wary of how it can be abused. But I just couldn't pin Eliot down that easily: her treatment of the theme is too complicated and subtle. That said, not all five star ratings are equal--not for me. I admire this book and the writing more than I can express--but I'm not sure that Eliot will ever be the favorite Jane Austen is for me. I cry and laugh with Austen and reading her I feel all is right with the world and am warmed. I could imagine Austen as a friend I could gossip with over tea. Eliot is more... forbidding. This is not to say she is without humor--she often displayed a caustic wit. I don't know that I could say Austen is more good-natured. Eliot judged her characters with an evident compassion. But I didn't fall in love with Eliot's characters the way I have with characters of Austen. Maybe that's what made the difference with me. I can feel for Eliot's characters: I certainly can't say I admire any of them. They're true to life, but not larger than life or in any way heroic or very gifted or even (with the exception of Mary Garth) someone I could imagine wanting as a friend. Mind you, the above criticism feels a mere quibble, my trying to process a complex reading experience and before my memory fades fix my impressions in this review. But I can say it has been years since I've been so impressed with a novel--and I read a lot. I'll definitely be reading more of Eliot in the future and imagine Middlemarch is a novel it will pay to revisit.
    • 5/5
      Middlemarch is a towering achievement. It's tough to find words strong enough to describe it; I mean, I just finished Madame Bovary and called it perfect, so where do I go from there? Middlemarch is almost three times as long and it's still perfect; that's more impressive. But Anna Karenina is pretty close to perfect too, so here's the best I can do:

      George Eliot is better than Tolstoy.

      Tolstoy is a realistic writer: his characters are real, complicated people with real lives. Among other things, that means that they don't always get neat little character arcs; Tolstoy's plots don't always come together in a tidy bow. By comparison, guys like Hugo and Dickens operate in slightly surreal worlds; their characters' stories weave in and out of each other, often by means of coincidences that would be unlikely in real life. That's very satisfying from a plot point of view, but I know it bothers some people who can't get over its unlikeliness.

      And here's Eliot, walking a tightrope right over both of those methods. Her characters do intersect: they all come together - eventually - and they have enormously satisfying arcs. But it all happens completely naturally. She sets up each person's personality so carefully, so exquisitely, that everything that happens subsequently feels perfectly inevitable. It's one of the most tightly plotted books I've ever read. Not a thread out of place. It's an astonishing feat. There are times when I put the book down just to say, "I can't believe she's pulling this off." It's like the first time you get a handjob. "Technically, this is something I've experienced hundreds of times before...but holy shit, is it better!"

      You can borrow that comparison for your thesis if you want. I don't mind.

      And her writing! I put a tiny sampling of some of the many sentences that knocked me out in status updates below. Her mastery of the language is staggering.

      So okay, yeah, we should mention that it does take a while to get going. I didn't really figure out what Eliot was up to until about 400 pages in. That's a very long time. I had fragmented reading time during that period, so it's partly my fault, but I'm not the first to mention that Middlemarch isn't quick off the blocks. Normally I would say that prevents a book from being called perfect - but Eliot's so aware of what she's doing, and what she's doing is so brilliant, that I think Middlemarch actually earns the right to be a little boring for a while. The ROI is extraordinarily generous.

      A few years ago I had this flash of insight about a new friend I'd been making. We'd been hanging out for a couple of months, and one night she said something dismissive about someone else and all of a sudden, all the pieces I'd gotten to know fell into place and I knew her. "Oh!" I thought. "She's a narcissistic twat."

      I'm sure we all know how it feels, that moment when you finally really get someone. And Eliot works like that. Character spoilers, and also a very bad word, ahoy: I went back and forth on Dorothea several times before I finally realized what Eliot was showing me: a naive but good person groping for meaning, and fucking it up several times along the way. And it took me a while to realize that Rosamond's not just vacant: she's my favorite villain since Heathcliff. God, what a cunt.

      So yes, Eliot requires a great deal of patience and commitment. But it's so worth it. Ten stars, guys. A hundred stars. Millions and millions of stars. This book is a unicorn. It doesn't reveal itself easily, but when it does, it's magic.

      -----------------------

      Edition notes: this Penguin edition has a serviceable intro, but it's very short on endnotes. For example: each chapter begins with an epigram, but many of them are unattributed. I now know that the unattributed ones were written by Eliot (thanks Carla!), but an endnote to clue me in at the time would have been lovely, yes?
    • 5/5
      Sorry I waited so long to pick this up--an instant favourite. (Proper review forthcoming.)
    • 4/5
      Middlemarch is, as much as anything, a domestic novel illustrating the importance of marriage. The decision to marry, to entrust one's future and well-being to another person, is not to be taken lightly. In a desire to be useful to a man of letters, beautiful young Dorothea Brooke ties herself to a melancholy and jealous man who is unworthy of her devotion. Dr. Lydgate rashly chooses a wife based on physical attractiveness rather than depth of character and lives to regret his decision. Both Dorothea and Lydgate find a measure of peace by submitting their own desires to those of their mates, without receiving much in return. Mary Garth proves to be as shrewd as she is pretty. Both Mary and her suitor are fully aware of his shortcomings, and their partnership enables him to succeed where he would otherwise have failed. George Eliot's keen insight into human nature makes this character-driven novel feel as fresh as a contemporary novel. Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      Varied narratives describing the life of people in and around the fictional town of Middlemarch. Enjoyable victorian realism, if anything too broad in the story telling for me (lost track on occasion as I mostly read this over my lunch breaks and on public transport).
    • 5/5
      I am so happy I tackled this 19th century classic, and even more glad that I persevered even though repeated pauses while I read books that were due back at the library. Truthfully, once I got into the heart of the book, there was no question about finishing it eventually. I found myself thoroughly invested in the parallel stories of marriage presented by saintly young Dorothea and her elderly clergyman/scholar husband Casaubon, by beautiful spoiled Rosamund and ambitious medical man Lydgate, and by plain but smart and secure Mary and careless layabout Fred. The course of true loves does not run smoothly for any of our three couples, and all three face challenges from outsiders who may or may not be a better match. Eliot had a fine touch for drawing characters; where I started the book by finding Dorothea rather annoying and naïve, I ended it by admiring her incessant desire to do good. And where I started by wanting to slap some common sense into Rosamund, I ended by ... well, wanting to slap some common sense into Rosamund. Not everyone has a conversion on the road to Damascus, you know.All of the denizens of Middlemarch County are worth getting to know, saints and scoundrels alike. And I still find myself thinking about some of them, and wondering what happened to them after the book ended, although Eliot does do a nice wrap-up at the end by fast-forwarding to show us what the future had to hold for these people we just spent 1,000 pages with. If you can fight your way through the elaborate 19th century language (really the only "fault" I can find with this book) you will be richly rewarded for your time.I marked so many passages for quotation, but I'll just leave you with just a few:Sane people did what their neighbors did, so that if any lunatics were at large, one might know and avoid them. A woman dictates before marriage in order that she may have an appetite for submission afterwards. To know intense joy without a strong bodily frame, one must have an enthusiastic soul. Mr. Casaubon had never had a strong bodily frame, and his soul was sensitive without being enthusiastic: It was too languid to thrill out of self-consciousness into passionate delight; it went on fluttering in the swampy ground where it was hatched, thinking of its wings and never flying. A man is seldom ashamed of feeling that he cannot love a woman so well when he sees a certain greatness in her: nature having intended greatness for men.
    • 5/5
      It has taken me a long time to read this book but it is well worth the time and effort. This is a wonderful story full of exceptionally well developed characters and plot lines. The central character, Dorothea Brooks is flanked by Other members of Middlemarch society from the aristocracy and the labourers. Among the more interesting characters are Fred Vincy, who loves Mary Garth, Dr. Lydgate who falls under the spell of the vacuous Rosamond Vincy, Casaubon, the middle aged preacher who Dorothea unfortunately marries, Will Ladislav, a distant relative of Casuabon, with a checkered birthright, Balustrode with a hidden past and secret which affects almost all of the population. There are many other characters but these are the principle ones. The writing is excellent. I have not had the pleasure of savouring such brilliant descriptions of thoughts, emotions, love and activities for quite some time and this is truly a masterpiece. There is a sense of humanity, justice, kindness and forgiveness in her main characters vs the petty prejudices of the "elite" and masses.I really enjoyed the descriptions English society and politics at the time, In particular the discussions about the Reform bill and it's potential impact . All turns out well in the end.the
    • 5/5
      I recently reviewed My Life in Middlemarch by Rebecca Mead, and she inspired me to return – for the third time – to one of my all-time favorite novels:Middlemarch by George Eliot. Fortunately, on my first two reads, I used two different pencils, so I was able to compare my readings as I went along.According to the BBC History Website, George Eliot was the pen name of Mary Ann Evans, one of the leading English novelists of the 19th century. She was born on 22 November 1819 in rural Warwickshire. When her mother died in 1836, Eliot left school to help run her father's household. In 1841, she moved with her father to Coventry and lived with him until his death in 1849. Eliot then travelled in Europe, eventually settling in London. In 1850, Eliot began contributing to the Westminster Review, a leading journal for philosophical radicals and later became its editor. She was now at the centre of a literary circle through which she met George Henry Lewes, with whom she lived until his death in 1878. Lewes was married and their relationship caused a scandal. Eliot was shunned by friends and family. Lewes encouraged Eliot to write. In 1856, she began a series of novels, which proved to be great successes. She used a male pen name to ensure her works were taken seriously in an era when female authors were usually associated with romantic novels. The popularity of Eliot's novels brought social acceptance, and Lewes and Eliot's home became a meeting place for writers and intellectuals. After Lewes' death Eliot married a friend, John Cross, who was 20 years her junior. She died on 22 December 1880 and was buried in Highgate Cemetery in North London. Eliot underscored the importance of teaching reading and the humanities when she wrote in a letter to Frederic Harrison the following: “aesthetic teaching is the highest of all teaching because it deals with life in its highest complexity” (593). This quintessential novel of the 19th century conveys in a wonderfully entertaining fashion, the complex tangled web of love, marriage, and relationships.My worn Norton Edition has hundreds of passages underlined and annotated. The attempt to encapsulate this novel in a single passage proves almost impossible. So, I decided to quote the opening passage, which describes the main character:“Miss Brooks had that kind of beauty which seems to be thrown into relief by poor dress. Her hand and wrist were so finely formed that she could wear sleeves not less bare of style than those in which the Blessed Virgin appeared to Italian painters; and her profile as well as her stature and bearing seemed to gain the more dignity from her plain garments, which by the side of provincial fashion gave her the impressiveness of a fine quotation from the Bible, -- or from one of our elder poets, -- in a paragraph of today’s newspaper. She was usually spoken of as being remarkably clever, but with the addition that her sister Celia had more common sense” (1).Middlemarch by George Eliot is one of the great novels of British Literature. Rather than simply read, it should be experienced. Do not be deterred by its 578 pages. You will visit Middlemarch and soon return after what will seem like the briefest of vacations. 5 stars--Jim, 3/22/14
    • 4/5
      In all honesty, I enjoyed it more and read it faster than I thought I would. My favorite line of Eliot's came at the end: "...for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs."Of all the characters, I liked Rosamond the least (Mr. Casaubon coming in a close second to "Rosy"), and I liked Dorothea the best. In the end, I'm glad "Dodo" went for it.
    • 4/5
      Classic story from 1870s England - the story of the changing times, but more about the struggles to be truly human, truly useful in Victorian English society. This presents a challenge for we readers who know little to nothing of English countryside life in the second half of the nineteenth century, or English politics or all the place and name dropping which were current, common knowledge at the time of publication. A challenge for modern readers also because of the 19th century sentence style - long, convoluted, paranthetical- but a worthy challenge. Eliot's descriptions still end up with statements of insight that gave me pause - her knowledge of both men and women's inner workings, and thoughts- were further recognition of the complexity of the human condition. It took me a good third of the book to accustom myself to her style, and absorb the family /friend connections-all the names!- typical of Victorian novels. But there was no difficulty in recognizing myself, and others, in her compelling, well drawn characters: all their strengths, weaknesses, and daily struggles: Mary Garth and her kind, hardworking parents; the Vincy family with their two spoiled but handsome children, Fred and Rosamund; Dorothea Brooke, in her idealistic, ambitious fervor and her milder, affectionate sister Celia and their uncle Mr. Brooke, friendly, rambling in his speech, and a fixture of the landed gentry of Middlemarch; cold, scholarly Mr. Casaubon and his handsome, careless cousin Will Ladislaw; the intelligent, tolerant Vicar, Mr. Farebrother and his elderly mother and aunt; the ambitious, intense medical man, Tertius Lydgate and his calculating, Puritanical hospital sponsor, Mr. Bulstrode, with a secret past he thinks will stay buried... now I'll go back and watch the Masterpiece Theatre PBS production and enjoy it all the more for George Eliot's sympathetic depiction, doomed though some of the characters may be, of the intricacies and trials of everyday life, for the great and the small.
    • 4/5
      There is a reason why classic stand the test of time: they are quite simply great books. This is one of them, and what really struck me is how perceptive Eliot is in portraying the subtlest nuances in character. There are may "confrontations" between characters that are memorable to me, in which a wall of silence and incomprehension appears, exchange after exchange, between two lovers, between two friends, between people who would like to say so much more but cannot, and we can all see and comprehend why they cannot, and identify our own experiences with what happens in the novel.
      There is a sense in which the end does not matter - what matters is the development of the characters and the ripening of life and experience. A beautiful book.
    • 5/5
      I have a customer, an old gentleman who has written many books himself, who insists that Middlemarch is the best novel ever written. I'm not sure I'd go quite that far, but it is superb, and worth reading if only for the character of Dorothea. And the way the weather, as in silent films, uncannily accompanies the underlying emotional turning points in the novel.
    • 4/5
      I've often seen this listed as one of the greatest novels in the English language, and occasionally as THE greatest novel. A friend's opinion is that it's a set of essays bound by a romantic plot. The characters are rich and interesting and give a sense of the diversity of personalities in a 19th-century English village (although, as typical of most British writers of this era, aside from Dickens, the few impoverished lowest-class characters are static). If I knew more about the political history of the time, I think I would have a better appreciation of the novel's greatness.
    • 5/5
      Loved it. Interesting characters and twists in the plot

    Book preview

    Middlemarch (Serapis Classics) - George Eliot

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