ABSTRACT
George Eliot's unique circumstances as the unmarried partner of George Henry Lewes set her apart from most nineteenth-century travelers who booked into the inns and hotels. For George Eliot, who seldom ventured abroad without Lewes, the public spaces of inns and hotels offered additional opportunities for freedom, namely, the freedom to observe. Among the activities attributed to the flaneuse, George Eliot's writing shows the roles of social investigator, tour guide, and learned person, superior to her audience. The ever-present threat of being considered a fallen woman potently complicated her movements precisely because, technically, she was one, a public adulterer living conspicuously unmarried with Lewes. As she progressed from English country inns, through European hostelries offering a mix of celebrity and anonymity, to luxurious hotels and spa facilities, she changed her roles—furtive adulterer, working author, nervous celebrity, health-seeking patient, and diligently observant flaneuse—to end up in the curious combination of aging honeymooner, celebrity, and nurse.
