The Critical Response to George Eliot

George Eliot is one of the most important women novelists of the 19th century. Throughout her writings, she explores the interconnectedness of the self and society. This theme of interconnectedness creates the social, psychological and religious worlds of her fictional communities. Eliot distinguished herself from other Victorian novelists through her realism, her use of an engaging narrator and her indebtedness to thinkers such as Comte, Mill and Darwin. The essays assembled in this book represent the criticism of Eliot’s novels from the 19th century to the present day. They are grouped in sections devoted to particular novels, and within each section the essays are arranged chronologically to chart the evolving critical response to her work. An introductory chapter briefly overviews the philosophical influences on Eliot’s novels and a bibliography of selected additional readings concludes the book. The volume summarises the critical response to Eliot’s work and documents changing views toward her novels.