The Teaching of George Eliot

George Eliot thought of herself as a teacher; so did her contemporaries. Their view that her writing was not simply influenced in a relatively haphazard way by her philosophical and scientific reading, but was a deliberate and consistent attempt to synthesize in fiction an elaborate and coherent theoretical analysis of the human situation, is here studied in detail. Her associationist philosophy, her Feuerbachian readings of religion, her ethic of Submission, and her sense that Positivism can be transcended in art and vision are here subjected to a thorough Marxist, Neitzchean and psycho-analytical critique. However, a detailed analysis of the later works shows George Eliot recognizing the ambiguities of her ascetic altruism, affirming - in forthrightly feminist terms - the legitimacy of high spiritual endeavor, and developing through her study of Judaism an original and challenging conception of nationalism n opposition to the cynical and brutal politics of her own day. Informing the whole book is the conviction that George Eliot was a particularly self-revealing author who was deeply embarrassed by the scrutiny of her readers, but whose acceptance of that scrutiny takes us to the heart of her teaching and gives it historical density and seriousness. Throughout, a sustained effort has been made to overcome the difficulties of author-centered criticism by presenting a comprehensive critical analysis of the novels, stories, poems and essays.