- Paperback: 416 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Classics; New Ed edition (28 Jan 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140436383
- ISBN-13: 978-0140436389
- Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 2.3 x 19.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 665,078 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Scenes of Clerical Life
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The Penguin English Library features the best novels in the English language. Get lost in the amazing stories, browse the Penguin English Library. |
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product 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.'
About the Author
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'.
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Originally published anonymously Marian Evans burst onto the literary scene with these three novellas. After someone else claiming to be George Eliot she had to come clean so as to put the record straight, although Dickens and others had already thought that it was a female writer.
As you would expect from the title all three tales do have religion running through them, but also they raise social issues of the day. Although all the stories here show her brilliance, in some ways they are not accomplished as her later works. Vincent Van Gogh and his brother bought a collection of Eliot's books for their dad, including this one, so that shows that her fame spread further than these shores. I could go on for ever taking these stories apart and explaining the good and bad bits etc., but I would bore you to tears, so let me just say that I am a fan of George Eliot and have all her fiction.
If you want another reason to read these then think about this. Arguably George Eliot is the greatest writer to have come from this country, and that is not just my opinion, but one held by many scholars. Her characters really come alive, you can see where they are coming from, and where they are going, her stories are also easily accessible.
As you would expect from the title all three tales do have religion running through them, but also they raise social issues of the day. Although all the stories here show her brilliance, in some ways they are not accomplished as her later works. Vincent Van Gogh and his brother bought a collection of Eliot's books for their dad, including this one, so that shows that her fame spread further than these shores. I could go on for ever taking these stories apart and explaining the good and bad bits etc., but I would bore you to tears, so let me just say that I am a fan of George Eliot and have all her fiction.
If you want another reason to read these then think about this. Arguably George Eliot is the greatest writer to have come from this country, and that is not just my opinion, but one held by many scholars. Her characters really come alive, you can see where they are coming from, and where they are going, her stories are also easily accessible.
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
My battered and very old copy of this book was picked up in a junk shop somewhere - and isn't the Penguin version, or any that I see listed here. But the beauty of the printed word is that it only needs to be legible to be powerful. George Eliot's mighty eye and ear trained themselves, throughout her career, on subjects great and small - but always with empathy, always seeking to find the heart even of cruel or merely silly people, always seeking to draw meaningful connections between all of life, people, animals and the land. With a loving hand she crafts tales of English life which have universal appeal.
The religious characters that are at the centre of these stories are really devices above all: although they are real, fleshed out men, they function almost as invisible narrators, allowing the reader to wander at leisure over a cast of other characters, where the 'real' action is going on. Thus, for example, the tale "Mr Gilfil's Love Story", while superficially being the story of the one great love of the Reverend Gilfil's life, really belongs to the girl he loved: it's her story. Likewise the Reverend Tryan is ostensibly the centre of "Janet's Repentance", but in fact the story is a beautiful portrait of a female-dominated community, with at its centre, an incredibly moving and powerful tale of an abusive marriage and a wife who finds her salvation in doing good. It is fundamentally a Christian book: but it's much more than just a book about Christians, which is why this book is still in print and hasn't faded into insignificance. Although the stories in this book happen largely to feature the [white] population of early 19th century England, they could be transposed anywhere at all: for there will always be love stories; village women everywhere love to gossip; rich men love to have their way; sickness and sore trials await us all.
The period about which Eliot wrote was a time of incredible change in the Church in England - fired among other things by the Industrial Revolution and the great changes wrought on the working people of Britain as a result. To weave stories around the religious life of England, a strong contemporary talking point, is a great way to talk about all sorts of taboo things whilst appearing to be focusing on that fascinating contemporary topic. With stealth and enormous skill she got male readers engrossed in a tale of, for example, marital abuse; cleverly disguising its force and avoiding the story's being written off as merely a woman's hysterical outpourings.
I have profound respect for Eliot's work, and though "Middlemarch" and "Daniel Deronda" are my favourites, I have a very soft spot for these lesser-known and definitely under-appreciated stories. It seems to me that in addition to being engrossing and moving, they also paint an accurate portrait of George Eliot herself: I think echoes of her concerns and characteristics, her kindness and her wisdom can all be found in these pages. In her greatness of vision, in not overlooking the lowliest creature, she is charity itself, a feature of all the great religions.
The religious characters that are at the centre of these stories are really devices above all: although they are real, fleshed out men, they function almost as invisible narrators, allowing the reader to wander at leisure over a cast of other characters, where the 'real' action is going on. Thus, for example, the tale "Mr Gilfil's Love Story", while superficially being the story of the one great love of the Reverend Gilfil's life, really belongs to the girl he loved: it's her story. Likewise the Reverend Tryan is ostensibly the centre of "Janet's Repentance", but in fact the story is a beautiful portrait of a female-dominated community, with at its centre, an incredibly moving and powerful tale of an abusive marriage and a wife who finds her salvation in doing good. It is fundamentally a Christian book: but it's much more than just a book about Christians, which is why this book is still in print and hasn't faded into insignificance. Although the stories in this book happen largely to feature the [white] population of early 19th century England, they could be transposed anywhere at all: for there will always be love stories; village women everywhere love to gossip; rich men love to have their way; sickness and sore trials await us all.
The period about which Eliot wrote was a time of incredible change in the Church in England - fired among other things by the Industrial Revolution and the great changes wrought on the working people of Britain as a result. To weave stories around the religious life of England, a strong contemporary talking point, is a great way to talk about all sorts of taboo things whilst appearing to be focusing on that fascinating contemporary topic. With stealth and enormous skill she got male readers engrossed in a tale of, for example, marital abuse; cleverly disguising its force and avoiding the story's being written off as merely a woman's hysterical outpourings.
I have profound respect for Eliot's work, and though "Middlemarch" and "Daniel Deronda" are my favourites, I have a very soft spot for these lesser-known and definitely under-appreciated stories. It seems to me that in addition to being engrossing and moving, they also paint an accurate portrait of George Eliot herself: I think echoes of her concerns and characteristics, her kindness and her wisdom can all be found in these pages. In her greatness of vision, in not overlooking the lowliest creature, she is charity itself, a feature of all the great religions.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition
This book. comprising three not so short, tenuously linked, but stand-alone stories, is ideally suited for Kindle and at the price of £0.00, a bargain. The Kindle edition `opens' at the start of the first story, and to find the Introduction / Lit Crit by Grace Rhys you need to scroll up with the page return key. You don't need to do this; better is to be found on wikipedia.org "Scenes of Clerical Life".
The stories are not indexed and it is useful to do this using the `start highlight' option and registering the start of the second and third titles... "Mr.Gilfil's Love Story" (page 67) and "Janet's Repentance" (page 179). I say ideally suited to Kindle because of instant dictionary access which I often needed. Eliot does not wear her learning lightly... hands up who knows that a `lustrum' is a period of five years... All the stories will stir emotions and delight; and inform of hardship and poverty in small town midland Victorian England... I hope others will enjoy as I did.
The stories are not indexed and it is useful to do this using the `start highlight' option and registering the start of the second and third titles... "Mr.Gilfil's Love Story" (page 67) and "Janet's Repentance" (page 179). I say ideally suited to Kindle because of instant dictionary access which I often needed. Eliot does not wear her learning lightly... hands up who knows that a `lustrum' is a period of five years... All the stories will stir emotions and delight; and inform of hardship and poverty in small town midland Victorian England... I hope others will enjoy as I did.
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