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Very Interesting People #2
George Eliot
Very definitive, very concise, and very interesting...
From William Shakespeare to Winston Churchill, the Very Interesting People series provides authoritative bite-sized biographies of Britain's most fascinating historical figures--people whose influence and importance have stood the test of time.
Each book in the series is based upon the biographical entry from the world-famous Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
From William Shakespeare to Winston Churchill, the Very Interesting People series provides authoritative bite-sized biographies of Britain's most fascinating historical figures--people whose influence and importance have stood the test of time.
Each book in the series is based upon the biographical entry from the world-famous Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
87 pages, Paperback
Published June 18, 2007
32 people want to read
About the author
Rosemary Ashton
34 books19 followersRosemary Ashton is Emeritus Quain Professor of English Language and Literature and an Honorary Fellow of UCL.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 22, 2022
2022 Update: Picked up and devoured this "bite-sized biography" once again. Some meals are so tasty you want to eat them again.
George Eliot, speaking through the narrator in her first novel, Adam Bede: Nature, that great tragic dramatist, knits us together by bone and muscle, and divides us by the subtler web of our brains; blends yearning and repulsion; and ties us by our heartstrings to the beings that jar us at every movement.
Ashton, in appreciation, says that George Eliot (or rather, the woman behind the writerly mask) had "a difficult life, but a brave and extremely interesting one. Curious, sceptical, critical, and even rebellious by nature, she was also timid, self-doubting, longing to conform where she felt compelled to rebel."
[Original review]
Like every normal hotblooded Canadian boy, I love George Eliot with a passion that transcends sense or reason. Therefore, this sweet little bio is a pure delight.
A very short volume, part of an Oxford University series of Britain's most fascinating historical figures (this is #2; Shakespeare was #1 — if that says anything about the cultural importance of George Eliot).
Ashton has written biographies of the great George Eliot and her longtime partner George Henry Lewes, so is well positioned to craft this brief yet satisfying introduction/ overview.
Always a pleasure to revisit family stories of favourite writers.
George Eliot, speaking through the narrator in her first novel, Adam Bede: Nature, that great tragic dramatist, knits us together by bone and muscle, and divides us by the subtler web of our brains; blends yearning and repulsion; and ties us by our heartstrings to the beings that jar us at every movement.
Ashton, in appreciation, says that George Eliot (or rather, the woman behind the writerly mask) had "a difficult life, but a brave and extremely interesting one. Curious, sceptical, critical, and even rebellious by nature, she was also timid, self-doubting, longing to conform where she felt compelled to rebel."
[Original review]
Like every normal hotblooded Canadian boy, I love George Eliot with a passion that transcends sense or reason. Therefore, this sweet little bio is a pure delight.
A very short volume, part of an Oxford University series of Britain's most fascinating historical figures (this is #2; Shakespeare was #1 — if that says anything about the cultural importance of George Eliot).
Ashton has written biographies of the great George Eliot and her longtime partner George Henry Lewes, so is well positioned to craft this brief yet satisfying introduction/ overview.
Always a pleasure to revisit family stories of favourite writers.
November 20, 2009
This concise biography is readable as well as informative, it should be read as one of the essential backgrounds for those interested in George Eliot's novels. I have never read any but I know her "Silas Marner" (simplified, abridged) was an external reading years ago in Thailand. She was a formidable woman of letters whose reputation might have been unfairly criticized in the Victorian society. I think Professor Rosemary Ashton wrote exceptionally well and I like her 'Appreciation' section. As for those George Eliot's fans, do read this unbiased biography and, I think, you would love her more.
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December 30, 2017Helpful, concise, accessible. Philosophical influences: Spinoza and Feuerbach; literary: Goethe and Scott.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews