ABSTRACT

As a woman in an illegal marriage, publishing under a male pseudonym, George Eliot was one of the most successful yet controversial writers of the Victorian period. Today she is considered a key figure for women’s writing and her novels, including The Mill on the Floss and Middlemarch, are commonly ranked as literary classics.

This guide to Eliot’s enduringly popular work offers:

  • an accessible introduction to the contexts and many interpretations of Eliot’s texts, from publication to the present
  • an introduction to key critical texts and perspectives on Eliot’s life and work, situated in a broader critical history
  • cross-references between sections of the guide, in order to suggest links between texts, contexts and criticism
  • suggestions for further reading.

Part of the Routledge Guides to Literature series, this volume is essential reading for all those beginning detailed study of George Eliot and seeking not only a guide to her works but also a way through the wealth of contextual and critical material that surrounds them.

chapter 1|31 pages

Life and contexts

chapter 2|65 pages

Works

chapter 3|53 pages

Criticism

chapter 4|6 pages

Chronology

chapter 5|3 pages

Further reading