Middlemarch: A Victorian Masterwork of Provincial Life and the Struggle Between Individual and Society (Harper Perennial Deluxe Editions)

This Harper Perennial edition is the paperback version to buy of this enduring classic of 19th-century English literature (published: 1871-72). Like most Great Literature, this isn't an easy-breezy book to read. But if you immerse yourself in it, you'll be rewarded by its very human and sensitively drawn characters, and their frequently interwoven lives and stories. Eliot's beautiful writing sensitively portrays deep - and intelligently perceptive - insights into the human condition and relationships: the errors in judgment; the strivings, losses, and gains; the tempestuous loves and hates; the complex motives, longings, and machinations; the strengths and weaknesses; the politics and power-plays; the hopes, disappointments, aspirations, and hearts of her finely and vividly etched characterizations. This is a hefty, well-made tome (838 pages), but easy to read on excellent, quality paper, with a helpful Introduction by Francine Prose. (Reading it, I almost think of it as the "English 'War and Peace' "!) Very highly recommended. An excellent, and proud, addition to anyone's library. 5 STARS

Much has been written about MIDDLEMARCH since its publication in 1871-1872. It is considered by many to be the greatest English language novel ever written, a “cathedral of words.” What more could I add? The Victorian prose style and historical references aside, MIDDLEMARCH, at its core, seemed to me a perfectly modern novel. The predominant themes of marriage, gossip and rumor, debt and finances, chance and self determination, prejudice, pride, and conformity run through the novel, as they do our lives today. Reading MIDDLEMARCH, one realizes how little we've changed over the last 146 years. Dorothea and Casaubon marry for the wrong reasons, trapped in misery. Banker Nicholas Bulstrode's past deeds return with a mysterious man with catastrophic consequences. Calumny ruins physician Lydgate, even as his wife, Rosamond, schemes behind his back to retain her lavish style. Will Ladislaw wants what he cannot have. And so it goes for the inhabitants of MIDDLEMARCH amid the larger events of the time, cholera epidemics, political and religious upheavals, and the rapid English industrialization. Some might think this an unlikely comparison, but MIDDLEMARCH is much like Joyce's ULYSSES in the manner in which Eliot, like Joyce, gives us a novel of epic proportions, not around kings and heroes, but around those of the provincial life, the ordinary folk, something that is echoed in the final line of the novel, in Eliot's brief Finale: “... 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.” [838] Unlike most novels, there is no single protagonist: MIDDLEMARCH itself, the communal web, holds everyone fast, in all their varied interconnectedness. I won't pretend that it’s a quick read. It's not. But I enjoyed MIDDLEMARCH so much more than I expected I would. Five out of five stars.

The dynamics of provincial life depicted by detailed observation of the individual perceptions of the characters. Therefore the author makes the characters' inner life the focus which generates the reader's interest in the real drama of their lives in this seemingly unremarkable place.

This is a beautifully written, deep story. I could understand why Virginia Woolf said it was one of the few novels written for adults. Many of the main characters started out as idealistic young people, had their hopes and visions thoroughly destroyed, and have to adjust to lives very different from what they hoped for. George Elliot writes in an older style in which the author drops in often to give commentary on the characters or philosophical observations. These diversions might turn off some modern readers, but they are always insightful and original thoughts.

As a much older person rereading this classic that I had supposedly "studied" as a student, I can only marvel at its brilliance and elegance. George Eliot was at the top of her form: her insight into the foibles and motivations of a wide range of characters, her awareness of the intellectual and scientific cross-currents of her time, subtleties of subcultural differences in society, mastery of plot and dialogue are to be wondered at. Of course, the ornate weave of her sentences takes effort to absorb, especially to a modern reader accustomed to clips of meaning. Her writing remains as fresh today as it was in her time; the crafty aphorisms, so much admired in Victorian times, still thrust themselves into memory.

It is a complicated book to get into, but once you are in, it is easy to read as it flows smoothly. Initially I didn’t like her voice as an author, since she comments on her own characters. But once i get used to it, I started to thoroughly enjoy the characters and plots. It took me a few months to finish it, but towards the end I couldn’t put it down. I will try other books by George Eliot now.

Excellent plot and story but Eliot wearied me with her never ending character descriptions. I persevered and there were surprises along the way. Half way through, I found myself skipping pages of explanations and descriptions that were not really all that pertinent to the story line. Eliot can tell an excellent story and her character development is first rate but its a lot of work to get through it.

Great book.....good to read it again after many years. I wish the text-to-speech feature worked. It doesn't....no to the Kindle, the iPad, or an Android phone.

Ottimo per perfezionare la conoscenza della lingua inglese

No

Only paid a dollar for a piece of classic literature.

Intelligent and perceptive story of life, longing and finally completion in 19th century England. Wonderfully realised in thoughtful and warm understanding of frail, complex and ultimately domestically heroic characters.

Das Buch war als Geschenk gedacht. Leider hat der Versand ewig gedauert, so dass ich es dann als nachträgliches Weihnachtsgeschenk verschenken musste. Beim Auspacken dann der nächste Schock - die Seiten waren an der Seite so zerfleddert, als wären sie nicht geschnitten, sondern abgebissen, zumindest aber -gerissen worden... In Ermangelung einer greifbaren Alternative hab' ich's dann trotzdem erst mal so verschenkt, allerdings mit dem Versprechen, baldmöglichst für intakten Ersatz zu sorgen. Zum Glück erklärte die Beschenkte, dass so etwas bei dieser Art Büchern wohl gar nicht so ungewöhnlich und sogar ein Zeichen für gute Qualität sei. Na denn, muss man wohl mögen... ;)