George Eliot: The Last Victorian

I have started to read a lot of biographies, and somehow most of the authors manage to extinguish my passionate interest in the lives of the greats by a tedious writing style. Kathryn Hughes' book George Eliot: The Last Victorian is innocent of such charges. In fact, the book is both eruditely scholarly and reads like an exciting novel. I hope Kathryn Hughes writes more biographies.

Though the book was overall a bit biased toward Eliot's needy side, and didn't include quite enough literary criticism for my taste, I still found this a great and very informative read, especially for those with not a lot of background on the subject of this major Victorian writer.

George Eliot: The Last Victorian is an intimate biography of noted author Mary Ann Evans, who is perhaps better known by the pen name of George Eliot (1819-1880). Some of Ms. Evans' most famous works include the novels Silas Marner, Middlemarch, and Adam Bede. This informative biography focuses quite closely on Evans' life, including her friendships with Dickens and Trollope, and the controversial scandal of her relationship to a married writer George Henry Lewes. Biographer Kathryn Hughes also scrutinizes the Victorian society that Mary Evans lived in and wrote so much about. Even Queen Victoria enjoyed books by George Eliot, but you don't need royal blood to enjoy this intriguing and meticulously presented biography.

I never thought a biography could be such a page-turner. Credos to Hughes for succeeding deliciously in bringing Eliot to life with all her faults and insecurity, in the fullest context of Victorian Britain! The fact that towards the end of the book, the reader starts to tire a bit of the description of repeated character flaws in the person of George Eliot only attests to the realness of the biography, bringing all of the multifacted personality behind the writing to light. Her deep-seated insecurity and her desperate struggle to cope with it should be comforting to know for all who suffer qualms about themselves from time to time. And plus, the touch of humor in Hughes's writing every once in a while was a joy. I never went near Eliot's books since childhood, I did not know much about either her or her works, and it was sheer fluke that I came across this book, but now I am glad I did.

I thought this was a wonderful book. I couldn't put it down, actually. Hughes may not be a great writer; on a few occasions I felt that her style was merely adequate. She is, however, a great biographer. I don't think I have found any recent biography on an author as enjoyable throughout. Hughes appears to me as being a tad Victorian herself, which I do not consider a flaw. I suppose that some of those who deeply detest 19th century sentimentality might find, for example, the account of Eliot's funeral a bit maudlin.I should point out that I share this biographer's deep sympathy for George Eliot. Hughes truly appreciates Marian Evans and G.H. Lewes as people. A reader who feels that a good biographer should detest her subject - as seems to have been a trend in recent times - will be disappointed by this book.