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Daniel Deronda

by George Eliot, Edmund White (Introduction)

3.81 of 5 stars 3.81 · rating details · 7,911 ratings · 414 reviews

George Eliot’s final novel and her most ambitious work, Daniel Deronda contrasts the moral laxity of the British aristocracy with the dedicated fervor of Jewish nationalists. Crushed by a loveless marriage to the cruel and arrogant Grandcourt, Gwendolen Harleth seeks salvation in the deeply spiritual and altruistic Daniel Deronda. But Deronda, profoundly affected by the di...more

Paperback, 796 pages

Published 2002 by Modern Library (first published 1876)

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Mar 04, 2013 Furqan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, george-eliot, victorian-literature, favourite-books, movie-tie-in, british-literature, jewish, re-read

(Re-read from June 07 to June 12, 2012)

I had forgotten what a hard work reading Daniel Deronda was. It has to be Eliot’s most challenging and overwhelming novel, yet such a great pleasure to read and re-read! It's enormously ambitious novel, broad in its scope, space, time and history. The setting itself is untypical of Eliot’s previous novels. It’s no longer the idyllic, provincial villages of Adam Bede or Middlemarch, but Daniel Deronda is set at the heart of cosmopolitan aristocracy of contem...more

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Feb 16, 2011 Kressel Housman rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: all-time-favorite, fiction, classics, jewish, victorian

Now here’s a book that combines two of my very favorite things: classic British romance with – YES! – Jewish themes. Marian Evans a/k/a George Eliot even went to Frankfurt am Main to do research for the book – in the times of no less than Rav Samson Rafael Hirsch! I think I’ve found a thesis topic if I ever get to graduate school. Till then, though, I’ll have to content myself with this review. No major spoilers, but it is a pretty detailed plot summary, so if you want to be 100% safe, skip to t...more

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Nov 06, 2011 Anne rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, 1001-books, 19th-c-eng-lit, jewish, classics

Eliot is a master of characterization and uses this gift well in exploring two important themes in English society. The first and most unique is that of antisemitism in late 19th Century English life, as well as the beginnings of Zionism. The second theme is altruism vs. egotism. Too verbose at times, but otherwise a hugely ambitious and successful social novel.

4 1/2 stars.

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Aug 29, 2006 Elizabeth rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Literary Nuts

Shelves: classics, fiction, england

I found this book to be a fascinating portrayal of the Industrial Age in England and the emergence of the Zionist movement. A thought-provoking novel that provides a clear insight into an unusual era.

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Jun 21, 2011 Ken-ichi rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: snoot, classics

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. My sister wrote her senior thesis on this book, so I figured if I was going to stand half a chance at understanding but a quarter of that thesis, I would have to read it. Still haven’t gotten to the thesis (80 pages Ak?! C’mon!), but I did finally polish off the book, and am not sorry that I did. Much like Middlemarch this book is packed with long, intricate, sometimes movingly ornate, oftentimes completely hilarious (and not in a self-conscious way), frequently ultranerdy sentences that somehow...more

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Jul 27, 2010 Christopher H. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Christopher by: lonebearimages@gmail.com

Shelves: british-literature, historical-fiction, victorian-literature, george-eliot, read-in-2010

I have just finished a leisurely eight-week group-read of George Eliot's last completed novel, Daniel Deronda, with my 'Anglophiles Anonymous' group on Shelfari.com. I very much enjoyed the experience of reading and discussing the book, section by section, each week. I am convinced that I got so much more out of it this way than if I'd read it by myself. Without the incentive of the group-read, I am also quite sure that this is a novel that I probably would not have even acquired, much less read...more I have just finished a leisurely eight-week group-read of George Eliot's last completed novel, Daniel Deronda, with my 'Anglophiles Anonymous' group on Shelfari.com. I very much enjoyed the experience of reading and discussing the book, section by section, each week. I am convinced that I got so much more out of it this way than if I'd read it by myself. Without the incentive of the group-read, I am also quite sure that this is a novel that I probably would not have even acquired, much less read.

The novel, first published in 1876, is quasi-Tolstoyan in scope and complexity. It has a whole raft of fairly interesting characters that border on being 'Dickensian.' While written in her characteristic style of 'social realism,' Eliot uses some quite elegant and sophisticated literary and plot devices too. For example, she is adept at using flashbacks to bounce characters and events back and forth in time. She also runs dual storylines through much of the novel, that are quite divergent at the beginning, but close in a relatively satisfying convergence near the end. Her use of allusion, allegory, and metaphor is deft and appropriate. Eliot, in writing this novel, is clearly didactic, without being overtly 'preachy' or academic like Tolstoy (e.g., Anna Karenina) or Victor Hugo (Les Miserables).

In some respects, for much of the first half of the novel I found myself more interested in the character and plot-threads associated with Gwendolen Harleth versus that of the eponymous Daniel Deronda. Gwendolen reminded me, at various times, of Jane Austen's 'Emma' or even Eliot's own 'Dorothea Brooke' (Middlemarch). With the convergence of Gwendolen's storyline with that of Daniel's, I did find that Daniel's story and character became much more compelling and interesting.

All in all, this is a novel about double-standards, redemption and balance. Eliot provides a fascinating portrait of the situation and lives of English and European Jews during the Victorian period, and particularly the nascent proto-Zionist movement and her interpretation of the Kaballistic philosophy. Eliot balances this portrait with a similar examination of the ways and social mores of the well-established English upper class. Eliot pulls off this balancing act superbly through having the novel's primary male protagonist, Daniel Deronda, having a foot in the both worlds. I was also completely taken with the intelligent young Jewish woman, Mirah Lapidoth. From her introduction, early on in the novel, I eagerly looked forward to her each of her appearances. The Meyrick family, especially Mrs. "Little Mother" Meyrick and her vivacious daughters, are splendidly wonderful characters. The novel also contains some characters that you simply love to hate, and others that you hate to love. Ambiguity and shades of gray abound.

In conclusion, I enjoyed reading George Eliot's last novel, Daniel Deronda, very much. I can say, however, that it did not affect me in the same visceral and emotional sort of way that her earlier books have; specifically, The Mill on the Floss, or Silas Marner. I could also tell that writing Daniel Deronda and telling this story was somehow quite important to George Eliot, and for that reason alone I am glad that I read it. While perhaps not as monumental as her Middlemarch masterpiece, this is a big and meaty novel and well worth reading. Four out of five stars for me.

***

[My review is based upon the 2003 Penguin Classics edition of Daniel Deronda, by George Eliot, 850 pages.:](less)

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Oct 21, 2008 Charae rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is one of my favorite books. George Eliot probably has to be one of the best authors that I have ever read. Her psychological insight into each character is so amazing and her analysis of human nature is quite profound. Gwendolen Harleth, much as you despise her, is very vividly portrayed and there is an interesting reality in all of her words and actions. She is a revealing character and, though most people do not have her outright selfishness, yet I think most could relate to some of her...more

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Feb 10, 2010 Bettie rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Wanda and Laura

Shelves: published-1876, classic, winter20092010, victorian, play-dramatisation, fraudio, filthy-lucre, philosophy

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Aug 27, 2007 Beth rated it 3 of 5 stars

Although not George Eliot's best work, Daniel Deronda is still worth reading. Eliot's attempt to explore Jewish mysticism is difficult to muddle through, even with copious footnotes. Her portrayal of Gwendolyn is far more compelling and complex than that of the saintly Deronda or the overly simplified Mirah. Frankly, I found myself wondering most at Gwendolyn's reliance on Deronda. She was a more interesting character when she was hopelessly flawed.

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Sep 25, 2007 Heather rated it 5 of 5 stars

Daniel Deronda is the rare male protagonist who is self-aware, mature, and searching. He's probably the most admirable male character I've read in a novel. But Eliot doesn't just write about saints; a lead female character, for example, undergoes a brilliantly described, painful learning curve as she comes becomes acquainted with Daniel and comes to understand that his motives are far superior to hers.

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Feb 11, 2010 Wanda rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Wanda by: Bettie

Shelves: 2010, bbc-radio

Go on - just read it - you know you want to! Outstanding! I loved the character of Gwendolen - she is multi-dimensional and that made her quite lovable indeed! I hated her odious husband Mr. Grandcourt. And my feelings are mixed about the saintly Mr. Deronda - he was a wonderful friend to Gwendolen but a bit sappy around Mirah. The fact that Ms. Eliot was able to arouse all of the feelings with words on a page is amazing. Having listened to an audio version will in no way prohibit me from seekin...more

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Dec 25, 2011 Rose rated it 4 of 5 stars

George Eliot a Zionist? That's more than surprising: it's almost as amazing as the fact that she seems to have come to her Zionism by way of the Kabbalah. Like Eliot's earlier novels, this, her last work of fiction, is filled with gentle yet sharply ironic observations and a sublimely lofty sense of the potential of extraordinary individuals. The moral education of an egotistical English beauty runs parallel with the self-discovery of an English gentleman who serves as her spiritual lodestar, pa...more

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Jan 11, 2009 Ann rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"It is true," said Deronda, "that the consciousness of having done wrong is something deeper, more bitter. I suppose we faulty creatures can never feel so much for the irreproachable as for those who are bruised in the struggle with their own faults. It is a very ancient story, that of the lost sheep--but it comes up afresh every day."

"That is a way of speaking--it is not acted upon, it is not real," said Gwendolen, bitterly. "You admire Miss Lapidoth because you think her blameless, perfect. An...more

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Dec 26, 2007 Michelle rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: classics

This was no Middlemarch, but I do think it's amazing that I can still enjoy a book by an author who has been dead a little over 120 years. There were a few really great one-liners in there which show what a comic genius Eliot could be. There were also some beautiful sentiments about relationships and the constraints put on women during Eliot's time (seen at times in Gwendolen's character, but mostly in Daniel's mother).

My criticism of the novel was that Eliot spent a lot of time developing Gwend...more

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Jul 06, 2007 Kristina A rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: victorian

Finally finished Daniel Deronda! I didn't get as drawn into this book as I did other Eliot novels like Middlemarch and The Mill on the Floss, two of my favorite Victorian novels. However, the character of Gwendolyn in particular was great; it's so unusual to find a Victorian heroine who declares, "I shall never love anybody. I can't love people. I hate them." Her character reminded me of Wilkie Collins's Lydia Gwilt and of Edith Wharton's Lily Bart. But whereas both Lydia and Lily resist marriag...more

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Sep 08, 2008 Jean rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: classics

On a recent car trip I expounded at length on the characters, themes, and history of Daniel Deronda as well as other interesting details about the author and how I thought that related to this book. I concluded by stating enthusiastically, "There is a lot of meat in this book. I could really analyze it!" Whereupon my husband (and unfortunate fellow traveler)stated drily, "I think you already have!" As Eliot says of her character, Joseph Kalonymos, "Age does not easily distinguish between what it...more

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Aug 31, 2008 Katie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Another excellent book by George Eliot (aka Mary Ann Evans). She is one of my very favorite authors. Like all of her books, this one has great characters. This book excels in character development, exquisite plot turnings and details, and a very unusual storyline.

Themes in Gwendolen's young, naive, selfish, beautiful life (singing, gambling, and other subtleties) are revealed in their logical conclusion by other persons appearing in Daniel's life. Daniel is to Gwendolen exactly everything she c...more

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Aug 08, 2012 Bethan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: regular-fiction

Complex and simple and sentimental both. Daniel, the main force of a character, stands as a sensitive and careful figure who involves himself in the lives of two women. Gwendolen, beautiful and capricious, who finds herself trapped in a despised marriage, is about conscience, while Mirah is about the suffering of Daniel's lack of identity and resolution that way, partly through her brother Mordecai who is a visionary figure of fire and spirit even as his body and life on earth is weak. There are...more

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May 24, 2012 Joe rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: college, fiction, jewish, victorian-lit

What is so curious about this book is the opposing narratives between Gwendolyn and Daniel. It is like a book sliced in half between its Gwendolyn's Gothic elements and Daniel's "new" quest. So cut in half is the narrative, that in Israel the book is only published with Daniel's chapters. No one notices? or no one cares? Strange it is also as a work of Victorian literature centering around Jews. Usually the usurperous shopkeeper or the evil begger, Jews are suddenly people who are just trying to...more

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Mar 29, 2011 Bron rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: in-the-kindle, time-past

A long read - not to be undetaken if you like modern prose that never goes off on a tangent or lets you in on the author's musings. But it drew me in; the characters are well drawn and you can't help sympathising with Gwendolen even though she's also a bit unlikeable. Mirah seems too good to be true on the other hand. The book shows the great contrasts in lifestyle, hopes and expectations between those with money and those without in Victorian England; and in particular, how hard it was for wome...more

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Feb 17, 2009 Melanie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Another book I know I read in college - I even wrote a paper on it - yet my memory of it is hazy at best. But since Middlemarch remains probably my favorite book, I thought I'd give Eliot's final novel and treatise on Judaism another try. Again, I find it much more compelling now. Eliot is just SO DEEP! Her books take those central principles of Austen (see above catalogue of my recent reading, nonexistent reader) - by which I mean, the immovable facts of wealth and birth and beauty and wit exce...more

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May 27, 2013 Molly Ringle rated it 5 of 5 stars

My review from 2005:
I'm a big Victorian-lit fan, and Eliot's Middlemarch is one of my all-time favorites, so I'm not sure why I hadn't read more of her stuff until now. But Deronda convinced me I will have to seek out and read the entire remainder of her back catalog of fiction. Her fiction is, to string together a bunch of adjectives and adverbs, sweepingly romantic, refreshingly practical, thoughtfully deep, and utterly compelling. Like Henry James, she dives deep into characters' psychology,...more My review from 2005:
I'm a big Victorian-lit fan, and Eliot's Middlemarch is one of my all-time favorites, so I'm not sure why I hadn't read more of her stuff until now. But Deronda convinced me I will have to seek out and read the entire remainder of her back catalog of fiction. Her fiction is, to string together a bunch of adjectives and adverbs, sweepingly romantic, refreshingly practical, thoughtfully deep, and utterly compelling. Like Henry James, she dives deep into characters' psychology, and with fascinating results; but unlike James, she keeps a clear eye on the plot while she does so. Like Thomas Hardy, she introduces delicious scandal and forbidden romance; but unlike Hardy, she doesn't feel the need to destroy all innocent characters by the end of the book. Like Jane Austen, she plays on societal manners and customs, and the silly restrictions resulting therefrom; but unlike Austen, she lets things get mortally serious sometimes.

What's the story about? A confused and almost saintly young man, the title character, who has a weak spot for helping women in distress. This trait draws him into complications with both the naive and spoiled Gwendolyn, who gambles on a prestigious marriage and loses big time; and the Jewish waif Mirah, whom he meets by saving her from drowning herself in the Thames. But to say it's basically a love triangle would be a severe understatement, and anyway somewhat inaccurate. This is not your average predictable romance plot. Our Eliot is better than all that.

Ms. Eliot's writing puts me in a happy place. She makes sense to me, despite the centuries and miles separating us. And she also writes simply crackin' good fiction, as in this book, which may be one of the only Victorian novels to deal prominently and favorably with Judaism in London at the time. And as any good Victorian novel should be, it's also rich in its treatment of psychology, love, society, and family relations. And when you're done you can watch the awesome BBC miniseries version. What more do you need? (less)

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May 25, 2013 Robin rated it 5 of 5 stars

The last completed work by one of the greatest English novelists, this book proves that Victorian literature need not be staid, conventional, and formulaic. In fact, it is such a daring and intricately-wrought book that even some avid readers my be intimidated by it. I won't fib: it's a big bite to chew. But it is also a mouthful of rare, delicate flavors, and nourishing to the mind and heart.

The first way you'll notice this novel departing from the usual rut is its structure. Rather than a stra...more The last completed work by one of the greatest English novelists, this book proves that Victorian literature need not be staid, conventional, and formulaic. In fact, it is such a daring and intricately-wrought book that even some avid readers my be intimidated by it. I won't fib: it's a big bite to chew. But it is also a mouthful of rare, delicate flavors, and nourishing to the mind and heart.

The first way you'll notice this novel departing from the usual rut is its structure. Rather than a straightforward account of events following one another in sequence, it opens with the first chance meeting of its two main characters, then flashes back in time to trace the background of each up to that moment—first Gwendolen Harleth, a spoiled young lady who is tempted to marry an inappropriate (but rich) suitor when her family falls on hard times; then (after a surprisingly long passage in which he does not appear) the title character, who is brought up by a kindly English gentleman, but without knowing the identity of his own parents. Only after their life stories intersect at a roulette table in Leubronn (a fictional resort in Europe) do their separate but intertwining life stories begin to play out in "real time." The effect may be a bit confusing if you're not prepared to spot it. So, there. You're prepared.

Another way this novel stands out (though this is typical of Eliot's work, I believe) is the way it probes the subtle interplay of motives in the minds, hearts, and personalities of its characters. It looks deep beneath the surface of their every word and act. And though it does so with compassion and even, at times, a humorous light touch, the intensity of this examination can become a little overwhelming now and then. This is why I found it helpful to take this book in moderate doses. One way to do this (which I have tried in the past, with some success) is to read only so many pages or chapters at a go, and put it down one day where I pick it up the next. In this instance, however, I simply played the audio-book in my car's CD player during my daily trips to and from work, and a few other road trips. In this way it took me only a bit over two weeks to get through 24 disks, beautifully read by actress Nadia May.

Other surprising features of this Victorian masterpiece include its somewhat un-Victorian frankness about sex. Mirah Lapidoth, whom Deronda saves from suicide by drowning, narrowly escaped being sold into prostitution by her lying, stealing, kidnapping, con-man father. Gwendolen, for her part, finds herself terrorized by the husband she accepted in spite of knowing that he had a brood of illegitimate children. And when Gwendolen looks to the principled, compassionate Deronda for help in her moral crisis, many people—including the husband and even Gwendolen herself—begin to suspect a romantic destiny brewing between them. Deronda's pity for Gwendolen makes it that much more difficult for him, finally, to break the news to her that his destiny lies with Mirah. Gwendolyn is such an egotist that it sometimes seems difficult to sympathize with her; and yet of all hearts broken in this story (and there are quite a few), hers is the heartbreak that will move you most.

Then there is the novel's treatment of the Jews. To his own surprise, Deronda turns out to be one. Before he makes this discovery, however, he and his friends are drawn into the family affairs of a mystical Jewish scholar named Mordecai, and of pretty Mirah, his songbird sister. Not only does the book treat these Jewish characters sympathetically, but it also reflects shame on the widely-held prejudices against Jews at that time, and even casts a glow of understanding over some of the Jewish characters who more nearly approach the unattractive stereotype of their people. And the sunrise(!) into which Deronda sails at the end of the novel (or, to be more precise, is about to sail) is colored by the Zionist hopes for a Jewish homeland, which were already on the simmer in the 1860s or -70s when this book takes place. It is an amazingly liberal admission that the Gentile world was not kind to the Jews, nor grateful to them for their contributions to world culture, sounding some 70 years before the persecution of the Jews reached its gruesome climax.

So don't expect light reading. But then again, don't fear that it will be boring. Many writers could spend a whole page describing how Deronda, seeing his foster-father step off the boat, feels his heart fill with love for the man in spite of their differences—but only George Eliot could keep your eyes (or ears) glued to every word. It's the kind of book in which you may find yourself underlining passages and making marginal notes, so that you can come back later to find an apt quotation. It is a very serious, very grown-up book, written with exquisite grace and humanity and intelligence. It is a book that puts its characters in situations that will squeeze your heart with sympathy, and sometimes suspense, and perhaps even horror. They aren't perfect, and things do not turn out perfectly for them. But they are so life-like, and their story is so rich, that after reading it, you will not be puzzled by the fact that a body of fan-fiction has attached itself to this book. At least, someone named Anna Clay Beecher wrote a supposed sequel titled Gwendolen: Or, Reclaimed.

Of course, this book has its critics, ranging from those who abhor it as racist and want to purge it of its Jewish subplot to those who, on the contrary, consider the Zionist bits the only part worth reading. Frankly, those critics are stupid. The book is much more delightful, more varied, more thoughtful, more enriched by its swirl of contrasts and juxtapositions, than such literary-political zealots can ever conceive. Which is why I recommend it unreservedly to anyone who "gets" the Harry Potter series. They understand, and love, a story that has folded into itself political satire, religious symbolism, fairy-tale whimsy, and folkloric intensity. And they also understand without questioning a female author's choice of a masculine-sounding pen-name (such as Mary Ann Evans' choice of "George Eliot"). Let the intelligentsia throw their critical tantrums and go stumbling in search of the Point. We unwashed, instinctive readers—who read for the pleasure of it, and sometimes get much more—know a good book when we see it. And we love this book. (less)

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Apr 28, 2013 Allison rated it 3 of 5 stars

I actually had to read this book as a part of my English Literature class at university, among eight or nine other books. I had to read them all in less than three months so you can understand that I was not very pleased to start reading it (considering it's a very heavy book). And I carried that feeling with me as I began reading. I just wanted to get it over with as soon as possible and the slow pace of the book did me no good. I took me until about 2/3 into the book to actually start liking i...more

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Jan 17, 2013 Bruce rated it 4 of 5 stars

I don’t know why I had never read George Eliot’s Daniel Deronda before, having read nearly all her other novels. This is a marvelous work, its great length permitting intricacy of plot and detailed examination of character. Published in 1876, it was Eliot’s last novel and her only novel taking place in contemporary Victorian society. It was also arguably one of her most controversial works. The plot is two-fold, one plot line involving traditional English class society and focusing on the life a...more I don’t know why I had never read George Eliot’s Daniel Deronda before, having read nearly all her other novels. This is a marvelous work, its great length permitting intricacy of plot and detailed examination of character. Published in 1876, it was Eliot’s last novel and her only novel taking place in contemporary Victorian society. It was also arguably one of her most controversial works. The plot is two-fold, one plot line involving traditional English class society and focusing on the life and fate of Gwendolen Harleth, an initially arrogant and pampered young woman who, through a series of misadventures, chooses to marry Grandcourt, a corrupt and domineering titled Englishman who makes her life a misery. The second plot line involves a young Jewess, Mirah, and her brother Mordecai (Ezra), following their struggles in the England of the time. The two plots are linked by the somewhat enigmatic Daniel Deronda, the ward and often-presumed illegitimate son of the wealthy Hugo Mallinger (thus making Deronda the presumed illegitimate cousin of Grandcourt). Deronda is presented as an idealized figure, receptive to the feelings and aspirations of people of all kinds, supportive of those in all circumstances, but himself somewhat lost in terms of personal aspirations and identity because of the questions about his ancestry. He eventually becomes a far more rounded figure, although not as quickly as Gwendolen does, as he discovers his personal background and develops a purpose to his life, these two representing the only two characters that emerge from relative flatness and stereotypes, even though some of the other characters are sympathetic in a simpler way.

The novel is fascinating in part because of its sympathies toward and positive depiction of Judaism and proto-Zionism in a time when both were not popular in Victorian society. In fact, after Eliot’s death attempts were made to republish the book leaving out the Jewish subplot, an attempt which failed due to its effect in eviscerating the book altogether. I was also impressed by Eliot’s philosophical authorial digressions and the beauty and subtlety of her syntax. This is a work, a long work, designed to be read, as most Victorian novels were designed to be read, leisurely and carefully, the reader savoring the language as well as plot and underlying message. It should not be rushed through.

Reflecting on our society more than a century later, I found myself musing about what societal groups might substitute for the Judaism of Eliot’s day, what groups are similarly stigmatized, often reflexively and almost unconsciously. Muslims might be one example, as might be Native Americans and other minority racial groups. The difficulty in discerning other possibilities may represent the fact that such stigmatizations often exist belong the level of usual awareness.
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Sep 04, 2012 Maria Grazia rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2012

When Daniel Deronda came out it was as a serial of eight instalments from February to September 1876 and its author, George Eliot, was a successful bestselling author. As early instalments appeared, sales exceeded those of Middlemarch and reviews were promising. However, the novel was so different from her previous works to perplex not only many readers, but also John Blackwood, Eliot's publisher, and even Eliot’s supportive lover George Henry Lewes . When Book III was out reviews became more cr...more When Daniel Deronda came out it was as a serial of eight instalments from February to September 1876 and its author, George Eliot, was a successful bestselling author. As early instalments appeared, sales exceeded those of Middlemarch and reviews were promising. However, the novel was so different from her previous works to perplex not only many readers, but also John Blackwood, Eliot's publisher, and even Eliot’s supportive lover George Henry Lewes . When Book III was out reviews became more critical. What was so disturbing for readers and critics?
My Wordsworth Classics edition includes a long, accurate, very informative study by Dr Carole Jones , which introduces Daniel Deronda as “ Eliot’s most heterogeneous and nearly – contemporary work” in which, Dr Jones adds, the author “examines estreme moral issues, such as race, religion and imperialism, alongside more controversial analyses of social decay and gender inequality. Radically, the novel’s devastating critique of a degenerate English society was achieved by way of an audacious comparison with Judaism.”

That was in fact George Eliot’s provocation, that was what shocked many of her readers. Many fell for George Eliot ‘s provocation and Daniel Deronda became her most controversial work and still is, in fact. Both in her writing and in her life, Mary Ann Evans (true name of George Eliot) loved being unconventional and in contrast to the Victorian norms (she worked in the public sphere, supporting herself as an editor, then as a writer, with great success , she even moved in with a married man , defying her Christian upbringing and the strict social conventions of her time). But in her last novel she ventured into dangerous territory by leading her main character, young aristocrat Daniel, to explore and embrace his newly discovered identity, religion, and culture as a Jew and finally marry his little Jewish protegée, Mirah.

Social and cultural criticism as well as deep psychological insight ( psychological realism) are Eliot’s best talents. Though not at their best, both are definitely relevant to the complex narration here. What I most appreciate in her work is just her skill at depicting complex human personalities and make the readers sympathetic toward them.
In this book, the reader follows Daniel Deronda’s and Gwendolyn Harleth’s intertwining lives in search for personal and vocational fulfilment and sincere relationships. She is beautiful but spoiled and selfish, he is selfless but restless and alienated. Set largely in the degenerate aristocratic society of the 1860s, Daniel Deronda proposes two champions of goodness, the eponymous hero and his “little Jewess”, Mirah, the girl he rescues and protects and who will become Gwendolyn’s antagonist in the quest for Daniel’s heart.
Daniel and Mirah - especially the latter – have been criticized at times as boring characters or as types opposed to Gwendolyn’s lively and round personality. I like them both instead and I’m convinced their complexity lies just in their being pure selfless creatures living a corrupt selfish world, trying to cope with and to bravely accept their portion of human sufferings.
You may have read or heard that a century after the book's publication, the eminent Cambridge critic F. R. Leavis proposed to cut out of it an alternative novel to be titled Gwendolen Harleth :
"as for the bad part of Daniel Deronda," he said, "there is nothing to do but cut it away. The "bad part" – the eloquent speechifying of Mordecai, the Zionist visionary – is high oratory, not novelistic art”.
We can agree with Leavis’s literary reasons , but in doing so we risk agreeing “to eviscerate the morally serious, historically judicious and passionately just George Eliot “ as writer Cynthia Ozick stated.
Love her or hate her. That is what happens with George Eliot: either you totally come to admire her commitment or you simply must leave her work be. To try to re-write it is totally unfair and un just. You may always read Dickens or Gaskell (I love them both deeply with all their differences)
If you like Victorian literature and it historical context, my recommendation is give the book a chance and watch the TV series - in whichever order you prefer. I’m sure you’ll find a way, your own way, to sympathize with Eliot’s characters because they are all extremely touching human beings.

Read my complete review on my blog FLY HIGH at http://flyhigh-by-learnonline.blogspo...
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Mar 13, 2012 Mark rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Utterly conventional in its romantic elements and unconvincing in its foray into Zionist politics. The strange doubling of unlikely family discoveries and terminal illnesses at first seems rife with emotional implications but upon reflection seems more like a failure of imagination on the author's part, an obsessive repetition of themes. (Mirah discovers her long-lost brother Mordecai only when he's at death's door; Deronda reunites with his long-lost mother only when she's about to die: but wha...more

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Oct 12, 2011 V.r. Christensen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Daniel Deronda is perhaps my favourite book of all time. When I first read it, I wasn't sure what I thought of it. Elliot weaves the tale, as she designed to do, so that the reader is not quite certain of his loyalties. We root for Daniel, of course, but which of the women in his life do we wish for him to choose? In the end, of course, he chooses the more deserving of the two. And yet, do we not find ourselves rooting for that which society, in that day and age, would have chosen for him? Are w...more Daniel Deronda is perhaps my favourite book of all time. When I first read it, I wasn't sure what I thought of it. Elliot weaves the tale, as she designed to do, so that the reader is not quite certain of his loyalties. We root for Daniel, of course, but which of the women in his life do we wish for him to choose? In the end, of course, he chooses the more deserving of the two. And yet, do we not find ourselves rooting for that which society, in that day and age, would have chosen for him? Are we disappointed, or are we not? It all depends on with whom we identify, and sometimes that question cannot be honestly answered until we've stepped away from it far enough to see the big picture. And it is a very big picture.

Eliot, having written the book as a contemporary to the Zionist movement, was perhaps a visionary in her approach to its causes and in her method if introducing them to the reading public. The work was highly influential to many, and to society at large regarding their view of their Jewish neighbours. More than that, though, it challenged society's views of Christianity, of what it means to be a gentleman and where one's loyalties ought, after all, to lie. Daniel's benefactor, the man, indeed, who raised him, was a good man, but he failed Daniel in many respects. To satiate his need for a home and family ties with whom he could truly identify, Daniel had to make these himself, breaking off from the tradition that had been set before him. "So you do not want to be an English gentleman to the backbone," Sir Hugo says to him. Yes, of course Daniel does, but must he do it and be a Christian without Christian feeling? Be a father without fatherly affection? Be a husband who is a stranger to his wife?

Daniel Deronda is and was a Trojan horse of conscientious thought. It reads as a book written for the well bred and socially minded of the upper classes. It is, in fact, a challenge to think beyond what one thinks they believe, to ask the uncomfortable question, "Am I living the best life that is in me?" Daniel's mother asked the question and answered it selfishly. Sir Hugo asked the question and lived his life according to duty and tradition. Grandcourt asked the question and left behind him a mess of misuse, bastardry and subjugation. Daniel asked the question and chose a life that would benefit all around him. Daniel Deronda is an astounding accomplishment and I find it a constant source of inspiration, both in my life, and in my work.(less)

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Jul 31, 2011 Christopher F. added it · review of another edition

The first book I read entirely on a Kindle, so for one thing I have only the vaguest sense how LONG this book is. As expected, a masterpiece. Not remembering at the moment the order in which Eliot wrote her books, it mirrors the theme of Adam Bede, as an attempt to understand, from an atheist perspective, the psychological and sociological dimensions of faith and religious vision. Here she exlores Judaism instead of primitive Methodism (or whatever that was in Adam Bede), which brings in the add...more

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Feb 17, 2010 Catherine rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Christmas was over but two teacher days and a snow day and a half meant I could wallow in yet another huge novel.

Is Gwendolen Harleth the most spoilt heroine of a novel, or does Emma Wodehouse keep that prize? I warmed to Emma in the end and only ever felt sorry for Gwendolen: in spite of her inevitable redemption I never really got to like her - or any of the other major characters. Apart from the despicable Grandcourt, his toady Lush and the pathetic mrs Glasher, Mirah and her adoptive family...more

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topics	posts	views	last activity
Gwendolen or Mirah?	8	46	Jan 20, 2013 06:53am
Eliot explores marginalization and Jewish identity	4	37	Jan 15, 2013 07:28am
The 1700-1939 Boo...: Daniel Deronda by George Eliot (Ch 41-70)	2	9	Sep 29, 2012 07:52pm
The 1700-1939 Boo...: Daniel Deronda by George Eliot (Ch. 1-20)	3	15	May 19, 2012 08:51pm
The 1700-1939 Boo...: Daniel Deronda by George Eliot (Ch. 21-40)	1	3	May 02, 2012 08:56pm

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About George Eliot

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Mary Ann (Marian) Evans, better known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist. She was one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. Her novels, largely set in provincial England, are well known for their realism and psychological perspicacity.

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“No evil dooms us hopelessly except the evil we love, and desire to continue in, and make no effort to escape from. ” — 121 people liked it

“For what is love itself, for the one we love best? - an enfolding of immeasurable cares which yet are better than any joys outside our love.” — 58 people liked it

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