Ode on a Grecian URL
Sunday, November 06, 2005
Virginia Woolf on George Eliot
Woolf wrote two pieces on Eliot; the more famous of the two is her chapter in The Common Reader, Series One. (Dozens of copies are available at Memorial Library - call number PN511 W7.) If you want to give it a read, let me assure you that The Common Reader makes for wonderful bedtime reading, Woolf's voice richly seductive and soothing.
In addition, freely available online is Woolf's 1919 appraisal of Eliot's career, written for the (London) Times Literary Supplement, in which she cryptically calls Middlemarch one of the few English novels written for grown-up people. If you have a spare fifteen minutes, you might casually peruse Woolf's evaluation of Eliot's life and work. (If you're skimming, note that the second half of the essay is more interesting than the first, so you might want to concentrate your efforts there.)
In addition, freely available online is Woolf's 1919 appraisal of Eliot's career, written for the (London) Times Literary Supplement, in which she cryptically calls Middlemarch one of the few English novels written for grown-up people. If you have a spare fifteen minutes, you might casually peruse Woolf's evaluation of Eliot's life and work. (If you're skimming, note that the second half of the essay is more interesting than the first, so you might want to concentrate your efforts there.)
:: posted by Mike, 1:22 PM