- Paperback: 746 pages
- Publisher: WW Norton (Oct 23 1996)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0393315215
- ISBN-13: 978-0393315219
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.6 x 4 cm
- Shipping Weight: 1 Kg
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,429,812 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
The past 30 years have already given us a comprehensive, dispassionate biography of the great 19th-century novelist by Gordon Haight and a persuasive feminist rethinking by Ruby Redinger. Frederick Karl, notable for his thoughtful portraits of Kafka and Conrad, adds a valuable new perspective by depicting George Eliot as a writer whose life and work incarnated "the ambiguities, the anguish, and divisiveness of the Victorian era." This approach enables him to analyze her shortcomings as a woman and an artist without seeming personally hostile towards Eliot. Massive yet highly readable in the best Victorian tradition.
From Publishers Weekly
A comprehensive biography of Mary Anne Evans, who wrote under the pen name George Eliot.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Study of an Amazing Intellect,
By
This review is from: George Eliot Voice Of A Century (Hardcover)
George Eliot, born Mary Ann Evens, author of arguably the greatest novel in the Victorian era, Middlemarch, was not just an author but an intellectual giant. She translated works of philosophy from the German and from Latin; knew and exchanged ideas with the brightest minds of the time; was fluent in 7 languages (French, Italian, German, Latin, Hebrew, Greek and Spanish), and was compelled by a natural curiosity to acquire knowledge all through her life. Her life with a married man created a Victorian scandal, yet by the time of her death in 1880 she was England's most celebrated author visited even by Queen Victoria's daughters. This biography is a thorough, accessible and engrossing book. Author Karl is a fan of Eliot's yet hides none of her blemishes. While he generally refuses to speculate on a lot of Victorian gossip regarding her life, he at times annoys the reader with some unwarranted attempts to psychoanalyze her (I do get tired of the injection of Freud into literature). The slowest parts of the book deal with her frequent trips to Europe. We learn what she did on Tuesday in Berlin, and then her activities in Hamburg on Wednesday. While I realize that the recording of such information is important in providing a fairly complete detail of her life, I tend to nod a bit at the lengthy reports of her travels. Historically we are blessed with a huge number of extant correspondence of Eliot. The author makes good use of these letters, yet the book does not turn into an epistolary work i.e. a book of nothing but verbatim letters. One of my purely personal problems with the book was that I have not read all of Eliot's novels. Mr. Karl, of necessity perhaps, relates much of the plots of her books, and thus creates a real spoiler for the novels that I haven't read. That's my problem, of course, and not the author's. It would seem that people today are probably unaware of this important author who was known throughout England during her writing lifetime. Her novels and her life are an important part of the literary canon. I heartily recommend this well crafted book
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Study of an Amazing Intellect,
By
This review is from: George Eliot Voice Of A Century (Hardcover)
George Eliot, born Mary Ann Evens, author of arguably the greatest novel in the Victorian era, Middlemarch, was not just an author but an intellectual giant. She translated works of philosophy from the German and from Latin; knew and exchanged ideas with the brightest minds of the time; was fluent in 7 languages (French, Italian, German, Latin, Hebrew, Greek and Spanish), and was compelled by a natural curiosity to acquire knowledge all through her life. Her life with a married man created a Victorian scandal, yet by the time of her death in 1880 she was Englandï¿s most celebrated author visited even by Queen Victoriaï¿s daughters. This biography is a thorough, accessible and engrossing book. Author Karl is a fan of Eliotï¿s yet hides none of her blemishes. While he generally refuses to speculate on a lot of Victorian gossip regarding her life, he at times annoys the reader with some unwarranted attempts to psychoanalyze her (I do get tired of the injection of Freud into literature). The slowest parts of the book deal with her frequent trips to Europe. We learn what she did on Tuesday in Berlin, and then her activities in Hamburg on Wednesday. While I realize that the recording of such information is important in providing a fairly complete detail of her life, I tend to nod a bit at the lengthy reports of her travels. Historically we are blessed with a huge number of extant correspondence of Eliot. The author makes good use of these letters, yet the book does not turn into an epistolary work i.e. a book of nothing but verbatim letters. One of my purely personal problems with the book was that I have not read all of Eliotï¿s novels. Mr. Karl, of necessity perhaps, relates much of the plots of her books, and thus creates a real spoiler for the novels that I havenï¿t read. Thatï¿s my problem, of course, and not the authorï¿s. It would seem that people today are probably unaware of this important author who was known throughout England during her writing lifetime. Her novels and her life are an important part of the literary canon. I heartily recommend this well crafted book
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.3 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews) 11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Study of an Amazing Intellect,
By Robert Derenthal "bucherwurm" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: George Eliot Voice Of A Century (Hardcover)
George Eliot, born Mary Ann Evens, author of arguably the greatest novel in the Victorian era, Middlemarch, was not just an author but an intellectual giant. She translated works of philosophy from the German and from Latin; knew and exchanged ideas with the brightest minds of the time; was fluent in 7 languages (French, Italian, German, Latin, Hebrew, Greek and Spanish), and was compelled by a natural curiosity to acquire knowledge all through her life. Her life with a married man created a Victorian scandal, yet by the time of her death in 1880 she was England's most celebrated author visited even by Queen Victoria's daughters. This biography is a thorough, accessible and engrossing book. Author Karl is a fan of Eliot's yet hides none of her blemishes. While he generally refuses to speculate on a lot of Victorian gossip regarding her life, he at times annoys the reader with some unwarranted attempts to psychoanalyze her (I do get tired of the injection of Freud into literature). The slowest parts of the book deal with her frequent trips to Europe. We learn what she did on Tuesday in Berlin, and then her activities in Hamburg on Wednesday. While I realize that the recording of such information is important in providing a fairly complete detail of her life, I tend to nod a bit at the lengthy reports of her travels. Historically we are blessed with a huge number of extant correspondence of Eliot. The author makes good use of these letters, yet the book does not turn into an epistolary work i.e. a book of nothing but verbatim letters. One of my purely personal problems with the book was that I have not read all of Eliot's novels. Mr. Karl, of necessity perhaps, relates much of the plots of her books, and thus creates a real spoiler for the novels that I haven't read. That's my problem, of course, and not the author's. It would seem that people today are probably unaware of this important author who was known throughout England during her writing lifetime. Her novels and her life are an important part of the literary canon. I heartily recommend this well crafted book 3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Study of an Amazing Intellect,
By Robert Derenthal "bucherwurm" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: George Eliot Voice Of A Century (Hardcover)
George Eliot, born Mary Ann Evens, author of arguably the greatest novel in the Victorian era, Middlemarch, was not just an author but an intellectual giant. She translated works of philosophy from the German and from Latin; knew and exchanged ideas with the brightest minds of the time; was fluent in 7 languages (French, Italian, German, Latin, Hebrew, Greek and Spanish), and was compelled by a natural curiosity to acquire knowledge all through her life. Her life with a married man created a Victorian scandal, yet by the time of her death in 1880 she was Englands most celebrated author visited even by Queen Victorias daughters. This biography is a thorough, accessible and engrossing book. Author Karl is a fan of Eliots yet hides none of her blemishes. While he generally refuses to speculate on a lot of Victorian gossip regarding her life, he at times annoys the reader with some unwarranted attempts to psychoanalyze her (I do get tired of the injection of Freud into literature). The slowest parts of the book deal with her frequent trips to Europe. We learn what she did on Tuesday in Berlin, and then her activities in Hamburg on Wednesday. While I realize that the recording of such information is important in providing a fairly complete detail of her life, I tend to nod a bit at the lengthy reports of her travels. Historically we are blessed with a huge number of extant correspondence of Eliot. The author makes good use of these letters, yet the book does not turn into an epistolary work i.e. a book of nothing but verbatim letters. One of my purely personal problems with the book was that I have not read all of Eliots novels. Mr. Karl, of necessity perhaps, relates much of the plots of her books, and thus creates a real spoiler for the novels that I havent read. Thats my problem, of course, and not the authors. It would seem that people today are probably unaware of this important author who was known throughout England during her writing lifetime. Her novels and her life are an important part of the literary canon. I heartily recommend this well crafted book 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating but slightly flawed,
By alltattedup - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: George Eliot (Paperback)
In many ways, this is a thorough historical and cultural contextualization and biography of Eliot's life, but I was also (like reviewer above)distracted by Karl's pronouncements on Eliot's values, psyche, motives and feelings, to wit: "Forms of behavior were more important to her than how people survived"; "Fictional fathers force us to reevaluate E's psychological response to a male-dominated household"; he asserts that Dorothea experiences "sexual frustration" in her marriage to Casaubon; his claim that E pursued "married men" specifically; her headaches as manifesting "hostility" or "guilt feelings" (which may well have been true, but Karl doesn't provide an adequate demonstration of the connections; etc. At times, his generalizations about her fictional characters--especially with regard to gender roles--are easily contradicted by any number of counter-examples.Overall, however, a highly recommended biography which reveals the author's complete scholarly dedication to thoroughness as well as his devotion to his subject. I recommend the book, which does an excellent job of filling in the socio-cultural context of E's era, but take Karl's speculations with a grain of salt! |
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
