Selected Essays, Poems and Other Writings

George Eliot (1819-1880) is best known as the brilliant author of such jewels in the Victorian age's crown as "Silas Marner"; "Scenes from Clerical Life"; "Adam Bede"; Middlemarch"; "Daniel Deronda"; and Romola. She was born Mary Ann Evans to an estate manager in Warwickshire. Evans took the pen name George Eliot at an early age. She was a liberal atheist who lived in an unmarried state with George Henry Lewes. This living arrangement led her to be scorned by much of polite society causing a rift within her own family. In this new Penguin Classic "Selected Essays, Poems and Other Writers" we see Evans in her journalistic work for such periodicals as the Westminster Review a liberal journal which she edited. Among the articles are: a. Several deal with historical criticism of the Bible shocking to many fundamentalist Christians in the age of Darwinism. Also included are excerpts from "The Life of Jesus" which Eliot translated by German scholar David Strauss. b. Eliot reviews the latest novels to come across her editorial desk. Works by Charles Kingsley, Thomas Carlyle, Mary Wollstonecraft, Harriet Martineau and several others are reviewed. Eliot disdained so called "Women's Fiction" labelling much of it silly. She was a serious artist of creative genius. c. A smattering of Eliot's poems are included including excerpts from "Armgart" and "The Spanish Gypsy." d. Eliot reviews contemporary plays and looks back at Greek tragedy in a review of "Antigone." This is not a book for the neophyte student of literature or life. Eliot's style is scholarly with long sentences and abstruse thoughts dealing with philosophy through the lens of her Auguste Comte' inspiried positivistic beliefs. George Eliot is one of our greatest novelist. This book aids us in understanding this complex woman, scholar and writer of genius.