George Eliot, European Novelist

John Rignall

ISBN 10: 1409422348 / ISBN 13: 9781409422341

Published by Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2011

About this Item

Reading George Eliot as a European novelist among other European novelists, this title explores her use of European travel, scenes and locations in her fiction and also places her novels in conversation with the work of other major European writers. It shows Eliot's engagement with the cultures of France and Germany. Series Editor(s): Newey, Professor Vincent; Shattock, Joanne. Series: The Nineteenth Century Series. Num Pages: 200 pages. BIC Classification: DSBF; DSK. Category: (UF) Further/Higher Education; (UU) Undergraduate. Dimension: 235 x 162 x 20. Weight in Grams: 536. . 2011. 1st Edition. Hardcover. . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland.

Seller Inventory # V9781409422341

Bibliographic Details

• Title: George Eliot, European Novelist
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Publication Date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1409422348
• ISBN 13: 9781409422341
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Reading George Eliot as a European novelist among other European novelists, John Rignall explores her use of European travel, scenes and locations in her fiction and also places her novels in conversation with the work of other major European writers. Throughout the book, Rignall shows Eliot's engagement with the cultures of France and Germany, suggestively making the case that Eliot's novels belong to the tradition of the European novel that descends from Cervantes. Rignall develops the fundamental theme of Eliot's position as a European novelist in chapters that explore the significance of Eliot's first visit to Germany with G. H. Lewes, Eliot's ideas on the cultural differences between French and German writing, the incidental part travel plays in novels such as Daniel Deronda and Middlemarch, the role of European landscapes in her fiction, the dialogical relationship between Eliot and Balzac, comparisons between Middlemarch and Flaubert's Madame Bovary, and connections between the novels of Eliot, Gottfried Keller and Theodor Fontane. Daniel Deronda is examined both within the wider context of European Jewish life and as part of a tradition of French novels that harkens back to Balzac and anticipates Proust. Rignall's final chapter takes up Nietzsche's notorious criticism of Eliot in Twilight of the Idols, showing that Eliot, with her sceptical intelligence, insight into the essentially metaphorical nature of language, and grasp of modernity, has something in common with this philosophical iconoclast.

About the Author

John Rignall is Emeritus Reader at the University of Warwick and the editor of George Eliot and Europe (1997) and the Oxford Reader's Companion to George Eliot (2000).