Middlemarch - George Eliot

“But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.“

George Eliot, Middlemarch

In Middlemarch, Eliot probes the complexity of human nature and studies the idea of vocation: the call to find meaning through work in a provincial world. First published in instalments in 1871-1872, the novel continues to be loved and admired by readers and writers in the present day, Pulitzer Prize winner Barbara Kingsolver admits to rereading it “at least once per decade, because it’s about everything, for every person, at every age”.

Much of the power of the book lies in its portrayal of intensely personal stories against the much broader backdrop of political and social life in Britain in the 1830s, a time of profound societal change. According to co-facilitator of our study Sarah Snoxall, “I love the dilemma–how is an intelligent woman going to be intellectually stimulated in a time when there are so few options for women?” This reflects Eliot’s own story: why does she write under a male pseudonym? Her female protagonist settles on marriage to an older man, a scholar and (she hopes) a mentor– ironically making an intellectual choice about the desire of the heart. What ensues is her struggle to be the person she aspires to being in a world which values none of the ideals that interest her.

Eliot is deeply psychological in her writing, exploring the inner workings of people’s minds. Why do individuals make the choices they do? Why do they often choose as partners people so unsuited to them? As in Daniel Deronda, Eliot is very interested in intellectual/spiritual passion – how religious scholarship can inform or transform a life – but while she is attracted to the dispassionate discipline of religious wisdom, she also knows that earthly love is what sustains us. This tension, between moral ideal and human behaviour, is the drive of the novel and probably makes the most sense in its historical context: a time of great intellectual inquiry, the Victorian obsession with self-improvement. Yet it isn’t that different from the self-improvement obsessions of our own time . . .

JOINING DETAILS:

• Eight-week study led by Sarah Snoxall and Keith Fosbrook, live on Zoom
• £320 for eight two-hour meetings, including background resources
• Tuesdays, 5.00-7.00 pm (UK), 27 January – 17 March 2026
• Recommended edition: Middlemarch by George Eliot (Norton Critical Editions, ISBN 13: 978-0393877199)