George Eliot

George Eliot

English writer
Date of Birth: 22.11.1819
Country: Great Britain

Content:
  1. Biography of George Eliot
  2. Early Life
  3. Writing Career
  4. Literary Success

Biography of George Eliot

George Eliot, an English writer, was known for her works that closely resembled naturalism. In her novel "The Mill on the Floss" (translated into Russian in 1860), she portrayed a typical picture of provincial middle-class life. The works signed with the male name 'George Eliot' have been a part of literary history for over a century. Although the everyday life, customs, and traditions depicted in novels such as "Middlemarch," "Silas Marner," and "The Mill on the Floss" have long passed, the specificity and recognizability of details, psychological accuracy of characters and relationships, and expertly drawn pictures of old England continue to attract new generations of readers.

George Eliot

Early Life

Mary Ann Evans, later known as George Eliot, was born on November 22, 1819, in a house located in the rural area of Derbyshire. Her father, Robert Evans, a native of Wales, was the estate manager of Arbury Hall, the ancestral estate of the Newdigate barons. Her mother, Christina Pearson, was the daughter of a farmer. Mary Ann was considered an unattractive girl, but she was intelligent and loved reading. Robert Evans understood that her appearance and dowry would not secure her a favorable marriage or a respectable place in society. Therefore, he decided to provide her with a good education. From the age of five to sixteen, Mary Ann attended private schools.

George Eliot

In 1836, Mary Ann's mother, Christina Evans, passed away. Mary Ann took over all household responsibilities and stayed with her father until his death in 1849. She had access to Archer's Hall's splendid library, and she thoroughly studied the classics, including books in Latin and Greek.

George Eliot

Writing Career

In 1840, after her brother's marriage, Mary Ann Evans and her father moved to the town of Foleshill, near Coventry. There, she became acquainted with Charles Bray, a philanthropic factory owner who maintained extensive connections with philosophers, writers, and liberal religious figures, including Robert Owen, David Strauss, and Ludwig Feuerbach.

In 1846, Mary Ann Evans anonymously published her first book, a translation of David Strauss's "The Life of Jesus." After her father's death, she traveled through Europe for some time and then settled in London, where she lived in the house of her old acquaintance from Coventry, publisher John Chapman. Chapman published the literary-philosophical journal "Westminster Review," and after long deliberations and persuasions from him, Mary Ann, who now called herself Marian, took on the unpaid position of assistant editor at the journal. Alongside the extensive work she had to perform at the journal, Marian translated Ludwig Feuerbach's book, "The Essence of Christianity." This translation was published in 1854 and became the only work Mary Ann Evans published under her real name.

In the same year, she met the philosopher and critic George Henry Lewes. Despite Lewes being married to Agnes Jervis and having three children, he had an agreement with his wife regarding mutual freedom. Agnes' four children, fathered by the editor of the "Daily Telegraph," Thornton Hunt, were formally considered Lewes' children, and divorce under the laws of that time was practically impossible. Although extramarital relationships were not uncommon in Victorian England, and they were quite prevalent among writers and journalists, an open relationship was considered challenging societal norms.

The romance between Mary Ann Evans and George Lewes began in 1854 and marked a new stage in her literary career. During the first months of their joint journey to Weimar, Marian completed her translation of Baruch Spinoza's "Ethics" and began writing fiction. In 1857, the series of stories titled "Scenes of Clerical Life" began to be published in "Blackwood's Magazine" under the authorship of George Eliot. The choice of a male pseudonym was not accidental, as at that time, and even to this day, "feminine" prose is considered frivolous entertainment reading. Additionally, Marian did not want to draw attention to her personal life and peculiarities.

Literary Success

In 1859, George Eliot wrote her first major novel, "Adam Bede." The backdrop for this book was the time she learned about from her father's stories - the late 18th century. The novel gained extraordinary popularity and is still considered the best English novel in the "rural" genre. Queen Victoria admired this book and commissioned the artist Edward Corbould to create a series of paintings based on "Adam Bede."

Her next novel, "The Mill on the Floss" (1860), described events from her own youth, and the heroine of this work, Maggie Tulliver, bore many similarities to a young Mary Ann Evans. The dedication on the title page of "The Mill on the Floss" read: "To my beloved husband, George Henry Lewes, I dedicate this, my third book, in the sixth year of our joint life."

In the following year, the writer published her last "autobiographical" work, "Silas Marner." In 1863, Mary Ann Evans wrote the historical novel "Romola," set in Florence during the Renaissance, and in 1866, she wrote the socially critical narrative "Felix Holt, the Radical." After that, she wrote a poem titled "The Spanish Gypsy" using blank verse, but it, like her poetic experiments in her youth, did not achieve success.

However, the novel "Middlemarch" (1870), which portrays the story of moral transformation of its characters, became her best-known book and cemented her reputation in English literature. Her final work, "Daniel Deronda," was written in 1876.

The success of George Eliot's novels softened society's reaction to the relationship between Lewes and Evans, especially since their relationship stood the test of time. In 1877, the writer was even presented to Queen Victoria's daughter, Princess Louise. In 1877, Lewes passed away. For two years, Mary Ann prepared his final work, "Life and Mind," for publication. In May 1880, she once again defied societal norms by marrying John Cross, an old family friend who was fifteen years younger and was in a state of depression after his mother's death. However, the marriage was short-lived, and Mary Ann Evans passed away in December 1880. Her remains were buried in Highgate Cemetery, next to the grave of George Henry Lewes.

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