Book description
George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) made her fictional debut when SCENES OF
CLERICAL LIFE appeared in 'Blackwood's Magazine' in 1857. These stories
contain Eliot's earliest studies of what became enduring themes in her
great novels: the impact of religious controversy and social change in
provincial life, and the power of love to transform the lives of
individual men and women. 'Adam Bede' was soon to appear and bring
George Eliot fame and fortune. In the meantime the SCENES won acclaim
from a discerning readership including Charles Dickens: ' I hope you
will excuse my writing to you to express my admiration...The exquisite
truth and delicacy, both of the humour and the pathos of those stories,
I have never seen the like of.'
Mary Ann Evans (1819-1880) is one of English literature's greatest
and most influential novelists. Her novels, under the name of George
Eliot include 'Adam Bede', 'Silas Marner','The Mill on the Floss',
'Middlemarch' and 'Daniel Deronda'.
Jennifer Gribble was educated at the universities of Melbourne and
Oxford. She is at present Associate Professor of English at the
University of Sydney. Her publications include 'The Lady of Shalott in
the Victorian Novel' and 'Christina Stead'.
