Middlemarch (Penguin Classics)
The classic Victorian masterpiece that paints a magnificent portrait of a provincial town and its inhabitants in the midst of modern changes
In Middlemarch, George Eliot explores a fictional nineteenth-century Midlands town facing immense political, cultural, and societal change. The quiet drama of ordinary lives and flawed choices are played out in the complexly portrayed central characters of the novel—the idealistic Dorothea Brooke; the ambitious Dr. Lydgate; the spendthrift Fred Vincy; and the steadfast Mary Garth. The appearance of two outsiders further disrupts the town’s equilibrium—Will Ladislaw, the spirited nephew of Dorothea’s husband, the Rev. Edward Casaubon, and the sinister John Raffles, who threatens to expose the hidden past of one of the town’s elite.
Middlemarch displays Eliot’s clear-eyed yet humane understanding of characters caught up in the mysterious unfolding of self-knowledge. This Penguin Classics edition uses the second edition of 1874 and features an introduction and notes by Eliot biographer Rosemary Ashton. In her introduction, Ashton discusses themes of social change in Middlemarch, and examines the novel as an imaginative embodiment of Eliot's humanist beliefs.
Penguin Classics is the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world, representing a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
In Middlemarch, George Eliot explores a fictional nineteenth-century Midlands town facing immense political, cultural, and societal change. The quiet drama of ordinary lives and flawed choices are played out in the complexly portrayed central characters of the novel—the idealistic Dorothea Brooke; the ambitious Dr. Lydgate; the spendthrift Fred Vincy; and the steadfast Mary Garth. The appearance of two outsiders further disrupts the town’s equilibrium—Will Ladislaw, the spirited nephew of Dorothea’s husband, the Rev. Edward Casaubon, and the sinister John Raffles, who threatens to expose the hidden past of one of the town’s elite.
Middlemarch displays Eliot’s clear-eyed yet humane understanding of characters caught up in the mysterious unfolding of self-knowledge. This Penguin Classics edition uses the second edition of 1874 and features an introduction and notes by Eliot biographer Rosemary Ashton. In her introduction, Ashton discusses themes of social change in Middlemarch, and examines the novel as an imaginative embodiment of Eliot's humanist beliefs.
Penguin Classics is the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world, representing a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
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Community Reviews
As I do with all books, especially classics and epic literary works, I try not to overanalyze the finer points the first time I read them. I just focus on enjoying the book and getting a feel for the bigger picture. I found Middlemarch an unequivocally delightful read, and of course I had to restrain myself from the demands it made for a closer look and attention to the minutiae. Only a clever, artful writer can make one care so deeply about the mundane happenings of a single place and the human condition of its many characters, with such insight and interest. George Eliot has my reverence and respect!
I’ll update this review after a reread and a more thorough analysis because this book deserves so much more care, consideration, and attention, along with a full school-year’s supply of highlighters, tabs, and sticky notes.
Love this book. Sometimes the sentences are long and references a bit obscure to the modern audience. But there are moments that glow with insight into human behavior and motivations. I rarely mark up books, but I purposefully bought a highlighter for this one.
While I did not like all the wordiness, I loved the stories in Middlemarch! I loved how the story was about several people in the town and how their lives intertwined. I did not care for all of the wordy descriptions and felt that the book could have been alot shorter without all of that.
It may be a classic, but I put it down. I had no motivation to plow through a dismal series of tales in dense Victorian English. The characters did not interest me at all. Nor their plights. I cannot rate it as I didn’t finish it.
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