George Eliot Edited by George Levine Frontmatter More Information
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Cambridge University Press 0521662672 - The Cambridge Companion to George Eliot Edited by George Levine Frontmatter More information THE CAMBRIDGE COMPANION TO GEORGE ELIOT This volume of specially commissioned essays provides accessible introductions to all aspects of George Eliot’s writing by some of the most distinguished new and established scholars and critics of Victorian literature. The essays are com- prehensive, scholarly and lucidly written, and at the same time offer original insights into the work of one of the most important Victorian novelists, and into her complex and often scandalous career. Discussions of her life, the social, polit- ical, and intellectual grounding of her work, and her relation to Victorian fem- inism provide valuable criticism of everything from her early journalism to her poetry. Each essay contributes to a new understanding of the great fiction, from Adam Bede and The Mill on the Floss to Daniel Deronda. With its supplemen- tary material, including a chronology and a guide to further reading, this Companion is an invaluable tool for scholars and students alike. © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521662672 - The Cambridge Companion to George Eliot Edited by George Levine Frontmatter More information CAMBRIDGE COMPANIONS TO LITERATURE The Cambridge Companion to Greek Tragedy The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen edited by P. E. 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Gies Wilfried van der Will The Cambridge Companion to Modern Russian Culture edited by Nicholas Rzhevsky © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521662672 - The Cambridge Companion to George Eliot Edited by George Levine Frontmatter More information THE CAMBRIDGE COMPANION TO GEORGE ELIOT EDITED BY GEORGE LEVINE Center for the Critical Analysis of Contemporary Culture Rutgers University © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521662672 - The Cambridge Companion to George Eliot Edited by George Levine Frontmatter More information CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521662673 © Cambridge University Press 2001 This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2001 A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data The Cambridge companion to Georg Eliot / edited by George Levine. p. cm. – (Cambridge companions to literature) ISBN 0 521 66267 2 (hardback) – ISBN 0 521 66473 X (paperback) 1. Eliot, George, 1819–1880 – criticism and interpretation. 2. Women and literature – England – History – nineteenth century. 3. Didactic fiction, English – History and criticism. I. Levine, George Lewis. II. Series. PR4688.C26 2001 823´.8–dc21 00–064235 ISBN-13 978-0-521-66267-3 hardback ISBN-10 0-521-66267-2 hardback ISBN-13 978-0-521-66473-8 paperback ISBN-10 0-521-66473-X paperback Transferred to digital printing 2005 © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521662672 - The Cambridge Companion to George Eliot Edited by George Levine Frontmatter More information CONTENTS Notes on contributors page ix Acknowledgments xi Texts and abbreviations xii Chronology xiv 11 Introduction: George Eliot and the art of realism 1 george levine 12 A woman of many names 20 rosemarie bodenheimer 13 The early novels 38 josephine mcdonagh 14 The later novels 57 alexander welsh 15 George Eliot and philosophy 76 suzy anger 16 George Eliot and science 98 diana postlethwaite 17 George Eliot and religion 119 barry qualls 18 George Eliot and politics 138 nancy henry vii © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521662672 - The Cambridge Companion to George Eliot Edited by George Levine Frontmatter More information contents 19 George Eliot and gender 159 kate flint 10 George Eliot and her publishers 181 donald gray 11 George Eliot: the critical heritage 202 kathleen blake 12 Works cited and further reading 226 tanya agathocleous Index 244 viii © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 0521662672 - The Cambridge Companion to George Eliot Edited by George Levine Frontmatter More information NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS tanya agathocleous is a graduate student in Literatures in English at Rutgers University. She has written a biography of George Orwell for the young adult division of Oxford University Press, and is now writing her dissertation on cosmopolitan visions of the Victorian city. suzy anger is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She has published articles on Carlyle and George Eliot, is editor of a forthcoming collection of essays on the Victorians, and is currently completing a book on Victorian hermeneutics. kathleen blake, Professor of English, University of Washington, is author of Play, Games, and Sport: The Literary Works of Lewis Carroll (1974) and Love and the Woman Question in Victorian Literature: The Art of Self-Postponement (1983), and is editor of Approaches to Teaching George Eliot’s