George Eliot - Jenny Uglow

One of the most brilliant writers of her day, George Eliot (1819–1880) was also one of the most talked about. Born Mary Ann Evans in the Midlands, she lost her faith and her family in a lonely struggle for learning. She lived unmarried with George Lewes from 1854 until his death in 1878: intellectual and independent, she had the strength of spirit to defy polite society with her highly unorthodox private life. So why did she apparently deny her fictional heroines the same opportunities? In this detailed and thought-provoking appraisal of her life and work, Jenny Uglow explores George Eliot’s ambivalent attitude to choice and change, especially for women, and illustrates how Eliot confronts the urgent moral constraints of Victorian life, such as class allegiance and the woman’s role, to create a vision of a more generous way of life inspired by the imagination and the power of feeling.