George Eliot: A Life (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

George Eliot, née Marian Evans, was born before her time; a liberated woman and an agnostic in the sexually repressive and pious Victorian era, Eliot has long been a favorite of modern feminist critics. Biographer Rosemary Ashton also admires Eliot's independence and her refusal to bend to the mores of the society and age in which she lived, but in George Eliot: A Life she proves that Eliot was more a product of her time than some might think. Though Eliot was unconventional enough to enter into a series of sexual relationships without benefit of marriage, her choice of men was curiously traditional, illustrated by her attraction to George Lewes, a man several years her senior who loved her, protected her, bolstered her ego, and managed her affairs.

Though Eliot's sexual liaisons are certainly interesting, Ashton, a thorough researcher and perceptive critic, also delves into Eliot's novels, analyzing them in light of the social and intellectual milieu in which they were written; this milieu forms one of the most fascinating aspects of Ashton's biography: Victorian intellectuals' struggle to find an alternative to Christian orthodoxy in a time when science and philosophy were exploding long-held religious beliefs. From the details of George Eliot's personal life to the attitudes of the society in which she lived, Rosemary Ashton has done a fine job of conveying not only a life but an entire world. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

Ashton (English, University Coll., London; George Lewes: A Life, Oxford Univ., 1991) offers a warm, appreciative, scholarly biography of the remarkable, unconventional woman and writer of 19th-century Victorian England, George Eliot (1819-80). While Ashton does not offer any new information that cannot be found in previous biographies, she does emphasize the unusualness of Eliot's position among the leading writers and thinkers of 19th-century Europe and America and her inner conflict between nonconformity and the desire to be accepted. Ashton follows Eliot's development from journalist and translator to a writer of imaginative fiction, in the process providing glimpses of Eliot's personality, how the public and critics responded to her and to her individual works, and the encouragement and supportiveness of her long-time companion, George Lewes. Readers familiar or not with Eliot's life and writings will enjoy this critical biography (first published in England last year). For both public and academic libraries.?Jeris Cassel, Rutgers Univ. Libs., New Brunswick, N.J.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (December 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140242910
• ISBN-13: 978-0140242911
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,180,768 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exemplary Biography, August 7, 2008

By	R. james Tobin "R. James Tobin" (Sheboygan, WI United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Marian Evans ("George Eliot") comes alive in this biography. With one of the most brilliant analytical and creative minds of the 19th Century she overcame personal feelings of insecurity about her abilities, accomplishments, social situation and even personal appearance, to write books that were both profound, admired and successful. It helped that she had the constant encouragement of her publisher and the support she received in a decades- long relationship with George Lewes (who was legally unable to divorce his unfaithful wife.) Ashton gives a thoroughly digested chronological account of her activities, including travels and relations with family and friends, notably focusing on the writing and publication of each major work, with critical discussion of each. Some minor players in her story might have been more fully introduced but, after the initial chapter on the very early years, Ashton carried me with her all the way to the end.

R. James Tobin

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars How to make a fascinating life boring, March 13, 2007

By	Tracy Marks (Arlington, MA USA) - See all my reviews

I love the novels of George Eliot and am fascinated by her life, but was appalled to have to struggle to read this biography, which was dry and boring. I tried three times and still only got halfway through it. Now I'm off to find another biography of George Eliot that captures the essence of Eliot in tone and style as well as fact. Such a highly talented and insightful author who lived so daringly and unconventionally in Victorian times certainly deserves a biographer capable of making such an engaging life engaging to read. This one does not.