The Quest for Anonymity: The Novels of George EliotIn a new treatment of Eliot's booklength fiction, Alley argues that from the very moment she adopted a male pseudonym through to the major epic and tragic novels of her later life, the transcendence of fame was her major consideration. Focusing on one novel in each chapter, the study shows how the plights of Eliot's heroines and heroes do not end in frustration but in an affirmation of anonymous achievement, "the growing good of the world." For Eliot, heroism emerges through disclosure, rather than grandly executed action, and since the revelation requires discerning effort on the part of those watching, both observer and observed are celebrated. |
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Page 59
... present . For exam- ple , Eliot's early analysis ( book 1 , 12 ) of St. Ogg's insists that “ the giant forces that used to shake the earth are forever laid to sleep " ( 106 ) , yet the complementary prologue of book 4 , chapter 1 , as ...
... present . For exam- ple , Eliot's early analysis ( book 1 , 12 ) of St. Ogg's insists that “ the giant forces that used to shake the earth are forever laid to sleep " ( 106 ) , yet the complementary prologue of book 4 , chapter 1 , as ...
Page 65
... present as well as true and false commitment means they cannot go on living ; they lack the fabric of coexistence which , in Eliot , serves as the staff of life . They must die after their brief fulfillments , and when they go down ...
... present as well as true and false commitment means they cannot go on living ; they lack the fabric of coexistence which , in Eliot , serves as the staff of life . They must die after their brief fulfillments , and when they go down ...
Page 75
... present and the ways of woman harmo- nize with the ways of man , even in the halves of a single nature . On the other side of the universe is St. Ogg's , where all exists in division . Maggie cannot connect the world of the fabled past ...
... present and the ways of woman harmo- nize with the ways of man , even in the halves of a single nature . On the other side of the universe is St. Ogg's , where all exists in division . Maggie cannot connect the world of the fabled past ...
Contents
Acknowledgments | 9 |
Scenes of Clerical Life and the Art of Indirect | 27 |
Heroic Perception in Adam Bede | 40 |
Copyright | |
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achieve action Adam Bede allusion Amos Barton androgynous anonymous hero anonymous heroism Antigone Ariadne artist Bardo becomes better Casaubon chapter 17 character classical Colonus context critics Daniel Deronda dlemarch Dorothea dramatic Eppie Esther F. R. Leavis Farebrother father Felix Holt female fiction final Floss Garth George Eliot Gilfil Gillian Beer Greek Gwendolen Harleth healing Hetty human ideal intellectual Irwine Irwine's Jennifer Uglow Klesmer literary living Lydgate Lydgate's Lyon Maggie Maggie's male masculine memory Middlemarch Mill Milton mind Mirah mock-heroic moral Mordecai narrative narrator novel obscure Oedipus Ogg's once past and present perceive perhaps Piero Piero di Cosimo portrait prestige Prometheus protagonist quest reader reaffirmed heroic voice road to Emmaus role Romola Rufus Scenes of Clerical seems sense serves Silas Marner Silas's soul speaks story suggest sympathy tenderness tion Tom's tragedy tragic transcend Transome Tryan Tulliver vision woman Woolf writes