Middlemarch, George Eliot, Virginia Woolf, English literature, Mary Ann Evans, Industrial Revolution, idealism, political reform, status of women, social class, George Henry Lewes, A Study of Provincial Life, industrialization, development of railways, construction of railways, technological progress, Reform Act of 1832
In 1919, Virginia Woolf writes, about Eliot's contribution to English literature, that her masterpiece Middlemarch is "one of the few English novels written for grown-up people". Indeed, Eliot's novel is known for its realism and its psychological insights on its different characters from all social classes. Mary Ann Evans, known under her pen name George Eliot, born in 1819 and died in 1880, is a famous novelist from the Victorian Age. She grew up in Warwickshire when the industrialization was transforming the countryside and, when her mother died, she and her father moved to Coventry, which became her inspiration for the town in her novel Middlemarch. She moved to London and married the philosopher George Henry Lewes, who encouraged her to write fiction and to adopt a male pseudonym. She is also known for being a religious sceptic and for living with a married man, which was really not quite common during that time. She wrote her most famous novel Middlemarch in eight instalments from 1871 to 1872. The title "Middlemarch" is from the name of this fictional English Midland town, which was an important zone during the Industrial Revolution, from 1829 to 1832. In this novel she writes about distinct characters from different social classes which can lead her to evoke issues such as the status of women, political reforms, idealism but most importantly, the differences between all social classes.
[...] C. G., Harrison, B. & British Academy. (2004). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: Walliers-Walles. Oxford University Press. Hollington, Michael. « "Middleness" in Middlemarch », Études anglaises, vol no pp. [...]
[...] But the author herself has experienced the transformation of her usual scenery because back when she was younger, the countryside of the Warwickshire where she lived was one by one transformed by the Industrial Revolution, especially by the construction of railways. Thus, though George Eliot uses fictional characters, she based her writing on what she experienced herself. So, by the use of her personal experiences and the use of fictional characters from the countryside, George Eliot manages to present the opposition between technological progress and prejudices. [...]
[...] But she writes about a period well before her own, the 1830s. Indeed, although the story and the town are fictional, the historical events are real such as the Reform Act of 1832 which considerably extended men's voting rights or the cholera's epidemic which caused in Britain the death of 32,000 people in 1831 and 1832. The 19th century being a century of great and rapid change, there is then a great difference between the author's context and the writing context. [...]
[...] For example, George Eliot in this extract evokes the reaction of some women who refuse to get in a train because they are afraid of travelling by steam. Thus, this extract presents the points of view of different people which all agree on the refusal of having railways in their county. The Concept of Two Nations Secondly, this extract can be linked to the idea of the Two Nations developed by Benjamin Disraeli in his novel Sybil written in 1845 which had a huge impact on English literature. [...]
[...] For instance, George Eliot, through the character of Mrs Waule, takes the example of cows and mares that are going to lose their natural habitat for one transformed by the Industrial Revolution. For example, it is written shouldn't wonder at the mare too, if she was in foal." Then, here there is an opposition between traditions and progress. Furthermore, this extract takes place in a context where the inhabitants of this region did not feel the need for railways. Indeed, the little to no interest in the development of railways is explained by the fact that the Warwickshire in 1830 had its own flourishing canals as a means of transport; therefore, railways are not considered as a significant need. [...]
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