A George Eliot Miscellany: A Supplement to Her Novels 9780333293485, 9781349055722, 9781349055708, 0333293487

Table of contents :
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Contents
Preface
Introduction
I. Pre-Novel Writings
i. A Little Fable with a Great Moral
ii. From the Review of R. W. Mackay's "The Progress of the Intellect"
iii. From 'Woman in France: Madame de Sable'
iv. From ' Evangelical Teaching: Dr. Cumming'
v. From ' The Natural History of German Life'
vi. From 'Silly Novels by Lady Novelists
vii. From ' Worldliness and Other-Worldliness: The Poet Young '
II. Two Contrasting Stories
i. 'The Lifted Veil'
ii. 'Brother Jacob'
III. Adjuncts to Major Works
i. How I Came to Write Fiction
ii. History of 'Adam Bede'
iii. Address to Working Men, by Felix Holt
iv. Notes on "The Spanish Gypsy" and Tragedy
IV. Poems
i. 'O may I join the choir invisible'
ii. How Lisa Loved the King
iii. Brother and Sister
iv. Stradivarius
V. Late Essays
i. Debasing the Moral Currency
ii. Moral Swindlers
iii. 'A Fine Excess'. Feeling is Energy
Notes
Index
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Citation preview

A GEORGE ELIOT MISCELLANY

By the same author A HARDY COMPANION ONE RARE FAIR WOMAN Thomas Hardy's letters to Florence Henniker 1893-1922

(edited with Evelyn Hardy) A COMMENTARY ON THE POEMS OF THOMAS HARDY THOMAS HARDY:ART AND THOUGHT

Editedfor the New Wessex Edition THOMAS HARDY:TWO ON A TOWER THE STORIES OF THOMAS HARDY (3 vols)

Editedfor the Thomas Hardy Society THOMAS HARDY AND THE MODERN WORLD BUDMOUTH ESSAYS ON THOMAS HARDY THE THOMAS HARDY SOCIETY REVIEW (annual)

AJANE AUSTEN COMPANION A BRONTE COMPANION A D. H. LAWRENCE COMPANION A GEORGE ELIOT COMPANION

A GEORGE ELIOT MISCELLANY A Supplement to her Novels Edited with Commentary and Notes by

F. B. PINION

© F . B. Pinion 1 98 2 ftcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 19 82

978-0-333-29348-5

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without permission

First published 1982 by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Lonmm and Basingst.oke Companies and representatives througlwut the world ISBN 978-1-349-05572 -2

ISBN 978-1-349-05570-8 ( eBook)

DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-05570-8

Contents

page vii

Preface Introduction

IX

I n

m

1v v v1 vn

PRE-NOVEL WRITINGS

A Little Fable with a Great Moral From the review of R. W. Mackay ' s

The Progress of the Intellect From ' Woman in France: Madame de Sable' From ' Evangelical Teaching: Dr. Cumming ' From ' The Natural History of German Life' From ' Silly Novels by Lady Novelists ' From ' Worldliness and Other-Worldl iness: The Poet Young '

II n

m 1v

n m

1v

16

TWO CONTRASTING STORIES

ADJUNCTS TO MAJOR WORKS

How I Came to Write Fiction History of ' Adam Bede ' Address to Working Men, by Felix Holt Notes on The Spanish Gypsy and Tragedy

IV 1

8

11 14

' The Lifted Veil' ' Brother Jacob'

III

n

3

6

POEMS

' O may I join the choir invisible ' How Lisa Loved the King Brother and Sister Stradivarius v

104

107

110

125

A George Eliot Miscellany

VI

V u m

LATE ESSAYS

Debasing the Moral Currency Moral Swindlers ' A Fine Excess'. Feeling is Energy

Notes Index

Preface

To realize George Eliot 's objectives and achievements in Scenes ef Cf£rical Life and her seven novels, a reader needs to have access to her other writings . These are not readily available, and it is primarily for this reason that this miscellany has been prepared. It comprises key passages from her pre-novel essays and reviews, two stories in prose, writings relative to some of her major publications, four poems, and some evaluations of her contemporary English world. The order has the advantage of being almost entirely chronological from start to finish. The selections from George Eliot 's pre-novel prose afford an invaluable, if not indispensable, introduction to her fiction. The two stories form a contrast : one, unusually light and entertaining ; the other dark, inventive, and prophetic, a forerunner in its ultimate theme of T. S. Eliot ' s The Waste Land. This minor masterpiece, ' The Lifted Veil ' , emphasizes by its bleak negations the positive virtues which motivate George Eliot's more familiar fiction . Many readers will have admired the poetry in some of the anonymous chapter epigraphs in her last three novels . They were composed by George Eliot, and exemplify her range to a remarkable degree, above all the union of deep feeling, human understanding or empathy, and originality of poetic expression which characterizes her best work. George Eliot 's poetry is undeservedly ignored. ' Stradivarius ' would not discredit any poet ; it has a bearing on the romantically artistic young Ladislaw in Middlemarch. Similarly the biographical significance of the ' Brother and Sister' sonnets holds a special interest for readers of the more fictional childhood experiences in The Mill on the Floss. Apart from its relevance to Felix Holl, the ' Address to Working Men ' , like the two essays included from Impressions ef Theophrastus Such, has a strikingly undiminished cogency in the present era. Their broader implications are inherent in George Eliot' s work generally ; the fundamental articles of her belief did not change from Scenes ef Cf£rical life to Daniel Deronda. This selection , therefore, may be regarded as a supplement , or vii

Vlll

A George Eliot Miscellany

even an adult introduction, to her works. The commentaries are supplied in order to establ ish relationships , and, with the same end in view, quotations are introduced from George Eliot ' s other writings, including her letters. Some items, among them a story in verse, are included solely for their intrinsic merits. Grateful acknowledgments are made to Yale University Library, Yale University Press, and Gordon S. Haight for permission to produce the manuscript text of ' How I Came to Write Fiction' and ' History of" Adam Bede" ' from The George Eliot Letters ; also to Angus Hulton for his assistance with some of the classical references. The following abbreviations are used: MF The Mill on the Floss AB Adam Be