Writing at the very moment when the foundations of Western thought were being challenged and undermined, George Eliot fashions in Middlemarch (1871-2) the quintessential Victorian novel, a concept of life and society free from the dogma of the past yet able to confront the scepticism that was taking over the age. In a panoramic sweep of English life during thr years leading up to the First Reform Bill of 1832, Eliot explores nearly every subject of concern to modern life: art, religion, science, politics, self, society, human relationships. Among her characters are some of the most remarkable portraits in English literature: Dorothea Brooke, the heroine, idealistic but näive; Rosamond Vincy, beautiful and egoistic: Edward Casaubon, the dry-as-dust scholar: Tertius Lydgate, the brilliant but morally-flawed physician: the passionate artist Will Ladislaw: and Fred Vincey and Mary Garth, childhood sweethearts whose charming courtship is one of the many humorous elements in the novel's rich comic vein. Felicia Bonaparte has provided a new Introduction for this updated edition, the text of which is taken from David Carroll's Clarendon Middlemarch (1986), the first critical edition.
Middlemarch
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"Excellent text--one of the best editions of any 19th century novel available in paper."--Alexander S. Gourlay, University of Nebraska
"Like the other World's Classics, this is a good text in a well-designed format, with adequate but unobtrusive editorial aids and introductions, biographical information, notes--at a fair price."--Robert D. Beckett, Southwest Missouri State University
"Like the other World's Classics, this is a good text in a well-designed format, with adequate but unobtrusive editorial aids and introductions, biographical information, notes--at a fair price."--Robert D. Beckett, Southwest Missouri State University
Book Description
Vintage Classics brings you one of the most admired, best loved and most influential novels in the history of English literature
--This text refers to an alternate
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MISS BROOKE had that kind of beauty which seems to be thrown into relief by poor dress. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
MISS BROOKE had that kind of beauty which seems to be thrown into relief by poor dress. Read the first page
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
61 of 64 people found the following review helpful
By Clare S
Format:Kindle Edition
I suppose that one cannot complain too much if you don't actually have to pay for something - but this edition is a great disappointment.
Middlemarch, that otherwise hefty tome, is an ideal book to read in e-format to save wear and tear on the wrist. British readers, however, should be aware/beware that this is not Middlemarch-as-she-was-wrote but an American translation. As well as the disconcerting and disrupting `or' endings - ardor/ardour - this scanned edition is full of annoying typos and scannos that no one has bothered to correct, to the extent in some places that they actually change the sense of the sentence.
I cannot even suggest that you download the Project Gutenberg version instead (also free, as all their books are) because sadly, rather than offering a transcript of the original Blackwood single volume of 1874, they also have used an American edition, published by H. M. Caldwell Company, New York and Boston. At least, however, the rigorous Gutenberg proof-reading process should have eliminated most of the irritating editorial errors.
Please, someone out there, why can we not have English e-classics in their own language - not translations?!
Middlemarch, that otherwise hefty tome, is an ideal book to read in e-format to save wear and tear on the wrist. British readers, however, should be aware/beware that this is not Middlemarch-as-she-was-wrote but an American translation. As well as the disconcerting and disrupting `or' endings - ardor/ardour - this scanned edition is full of annoying typos and scannos that no one has bothered to correct, to the extent in some places that they actually change the sense of the sentence.
I cannot even suggest that you download the Project Gutenberg version instead (also free, as all their books are) because sadly, rather than offering a transcript of the original Blackwood single volume of 1874, they also have used an American edition, published by H. M. Caldwell Company, New York and Boston. At least, however, the rigorous Gutenberg proof-reading process should have eliminated most of the irritating editorial errors.
Please, someone out there, why can we not have English e-classics in their own language - not translations?!
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is not a review about the worth of the writing, but the binding of the book.
The edition is beautiful and very pleasing to hold. However, I was disappointed to discover, after reading a few hundred pages, that where pages 379-410 should be, pages 347-378 had been reprinted, meaning a sizeable chunk of the story was missing. Very poor quality from so expensive a brand. I don't know whether this fault only occurred in a batch of the books, or whether the whole edition is flawed. Be prepared to send it back and ask for a refund, as I am about to do.
The edition is beautiful and very pleasing to hold. However, I was disappointed to discover, after reading a few hundred pages, that where pages 379-410 should be, pages 347-378 had been reprinted, meaning a sizeable chunk of the story was missing. Very poor quality from so expensive a brand. I don't know whether this fault only occurred in a batch of the books, or whether the whole edition is flawed. Be prepared to send it back and ask for a refund, as I am about to do.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By Juha Varto
Format:Hardcover
This is beautiful book, as an object: small gem with golden borders and handy sized! Reading Middlemarch in 2011 seems a bit extravagant but in case one is not an Englishman and one wishes to know the language better - well, who could be a better teacher than George Eliot? And it is not only the language: the story and Eliot's cynical wisdom that concerns human nature, her short but sharp tongue when she describes our secret needs and the deceitful image we create of ourselves and believe in... well, she is the author to listen to!
There is nothing outdated in the story, either.
There is nothing outdated in the story, either.
36 of 40 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is to come out next year in a film adaptation, and so it is a good time to read the book in its entirety. Over the years some have criticised it, and there are a few faults with it, but arguably there is with any novel. Virginia Woolf had only praise for this claiming that it was the only book written for adults and I won't disagree with her.
On starting this you may think that it is a tale about two sisters, but as you progress you will find it is so much more. Taking in a variety of themes and intertwining different plots this book is magnificent in scope and execution, and is the nearest thing to one of the great Russian novels ever produced in the English language. For me George Eliot's characters come alive, and when you close the book you feel that they are still going about leading their lives.
If you want to read one of the great novels in the English language, then this book is a must read.
On starting this you may think that it is a tale about two sisters, but as you progress you will find it is so much more. Taking in a variety of themes and intertwining different plots this book is magnificent in scope and execution, and is the nearest thing to one of the great Russian novels ever produced in the English language. For me George Eliot's characters come alive, and when you close the book you feel that they are still going about leading their lives.
If you want to read one of the great novels in the English language, then this book is a must read.
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful
By Roman Clodia
TOP 50 REVIEWER
Format:Kindle Edition
This is, in lots of ways, the quintessential nineteenth century English novel: a panorama of lives which cross the class, gender and economic divide.
Eliot has a leisurely style but this allows her to get securely beneath the skins of even her minor characters and create men and women who we recognise, love, are irritated by, just as we are in real life.
At the heart of the book are Dorothea Brooke, a beautiful idealist who just wants to do good but can't quite work out how; and her opposite, Doctor Lydgate, who also loses his direction in life. Both are ambitious, albeit in different ways, and both are, to some extent, thwarted and diverted. It's especially interesting that Eliot doesn't make them into a couple, and marries them each off to other people.
There are many such parallels and similarities which play out in the book, moments of crisis, for example, where someone is tempted and has to make a decision which they then have to live with (Mary Garth, Bulstrode). But one of the thing I like about Eliot is that her books don't fall into predictable patterns: indeed, one of her themes is the endless potentiality of life which can turn on momentary decisions.
For all her realism, Eliot is in tight control of her story and inserts a narrative voice into the text which draws on the specific to make general points about life.
Eliot might not have the sparkle and wit of Austin, or the gothic intensity of the Brontes, but she's supremely intelligent and not afraid to show it.
Eliot has a leisurely style but this allows her to get securely beneath the skins of even her minor characters and create men and women who we recognise, love, are irritated by, just as we are in real life.
At the heart of the book are Dorothea Brooke, a beautiful idealist who just wants to do good but can't quite work out how; and her opposite, Doctor Lydgate, who also loses his direction in life. Both are ambitious, albeit in different ways, and both are, to some extent, thwarted and diverted. It's especially interesting that Eliot doesn't make them into a couple, and marries them each off to other people.
There are many such parallels and similarities which play out in the book, moments of crisis, for example, where someone is tempted and has to make a decision which they then have to live with (Mary Garth, Bulstrode). But one of the thing I like about Eliot is that her books don't fall into predictable patterns: indeed, one of her themes is the endless potentiality of life which can turn on momentary decisions.
For all her realism, Eliot is in tight control of her story and inserts a narrative voice into the text which draws on the specific to make general points about life.
Eliot might not have the sparkle and wit of Austin, or the gothic intensity of the Brontes, but she's supremely intelligent and not afraid to show it.
23 of 26 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Mass Market Paperback
The scope of Middlemarch is so broad and includes so many characters, plots and sub-plots that 1000 words would be insufficient to give more than the bare bones of the story, and I would probably make it seem rambling and incoherent. I won't put possible buyers off by doing this. I'll just say that by the end of 'Middlemarch', the reader will be breathless-George Eliot didn't create a few select characters-she created a civilisation. It's like the reader is high above the action, looking down, able to see the complex workings of this civilisation, and further able to focus on the individual. This is a masterpiece. I must also say that the reader who condemned George Eliot for her description of Mary is utterly wrong. She is just describing an unexceptional (looks-wise) person. George Eliot was a moralist. She wrote 'Middlemarch' with a serious purpose in mind. She condemned a lot of evils in her society, and she certainly wasn't racist. After all two men fall in love with Mary, while by the end of the book the reader seriously doubts whether Lydgate (or anyone else for that matter) loves his wife-the very beautiful Rosamund Vincy. Mary is described as a hardworking and honest girl. She refuses a bribe from her employer, even though her family is poor and it would have meant security and comfort for her and them. It is in the hopes of winning her that Fred Vincy turns his life around. Please don't read racism into innocent text. No preface or analysis of George Eliots work (that I've read anyway) has ever found rascist meaning in 'Middlemarch'.... Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book, great cover
Middlemarch is definitely one of the books to read before you die. Very heavy in parts - it definitely helps if you know the historical/ political backdrop but worth pushing view. Read more
Published 13 days ago by chubbagrubb
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent
I'm biased: this has been one of my all-time favourites for years and is re-read every 2-3 years or so. Immaculate writing and construction; a classic of it's genre. Love it.
Published 1 month ago by helenm
5.0 out of 5 stars
Middlemarch
I studied it 33years ago for A level, read it 5 times then and never came back to it until now. It is a brilliant book, with parts of the plot so copied or imitated that a new... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mrs.Simone Burrows
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very Enjoyable
A really good read, although without the humour of Jane Austin. Required a degree of staying power to make it to the end!
Published 2 months ago by Marian
4.0 out of 5 stars
As Expected
Nether any more nor any less than specified or expected. Nether any more nor any less than specified or expected..
Published 2 months ago by B. Betts
4.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant - eventually
The first thing that I think is worth noting is, as with many Victorian novels, especially those later deemed 'classics' is, it is very very, long; but more than that, it is too... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Mr. J. M. Haines
4.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant
The last time I read this was about 25 years ago. It definitely repaid revisiting. It is not an easy or a quick read - but very rewarding.
Published 3 months ago by Louis the cat
5.0 out of 5 stars
A readers' edition
I am reviewing the physical book, because it is pointless adding to the praise that the other reviewers (and Virginia Woolf) have heaped upon this classic novel. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Hugh Selwyn Mauberley
2.0 out of 5 stars
Heavy going
I bought this as I had heard it was/is a 'classic'. but finding it very difficult. Can't for the life of me think what makes it 'classic'! Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mrs V Cole
2.0 out of 5 stars
Middlemarch
A book brought to read for a book club I'm in. Didn't read all of it found it to hard going
Published 4 months ago by judith hinman
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