Nick @One Catholic Life is once again hosting a chapter-a-day readalong.
All year he has been reading George Eliot. I joined in the Adam Bede and Silas Marner readalongs earlier in the year. Now it is time to embark on our chapter-a-day readalong of Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life. Nick’s introductory post provides all the details you need if you’d like to join in plus links to Benjamin McEvoy (from the Hardcore Literature Book Club) and his tips on how to read Middlemarch.
Today we begin with the Prelude and Chapter One. The readalong will finish on the 22nd October.
I first read Middlemarch in my late twenties. A friend at the time claimed this as her all-time favourite book. I was curious and read it. No doubt too quickly as I was wont to do back then. I could see why she loved it, but for me, it was no Jane Austen. I enjoyed it but found it unmemorable. Thirty years later I can tell you absolutely nothing about the story except that the main character is Dorothea, who is stuck in a bad marriage.
This reread will be like coming to the story for the very first time.
I probably read a Penguin Classics edition at the time, but it did not survive one of my earlier moves. However, I always knew that I wanted to reread it one day. I figured/assumed/expected that like Jane Austen, the book would reveal more/improve/show its true merits with repeated visits. In 2015 I acquired one of the lovely hardback Penguin Classic editons with a pretty cover designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith. A few years ago I also picked up a deluxe edition with deckled edges, French flaps and a Foreword by Rebecca Mead.
For this readalong I will be reading my Coralie Bickford-Smith edition with its Introduction and Notes by Rosemary Ashton (a Scottish literary scholar who was the Quain Professor of English Language and Literature at University College London). I picked up a copy of Clare Carlisle’s The Marriage Question: George Eliot’s Double Life a couple of weeks ago, so I will hopefully have time between now and the 22nd of October to read it too. At this point I am also wishing that I had kept my copy of In Love With George Eliot by Kathy O’Shaughnessy; it would be lovely to be able to dip into during this readalong.
The Benjamin McEvoy ‘How to read Middlemarch’ video was a great way to start. His enthusiasm for the book and high regard for George Eliot have infected me too. He has inspired me to really take this readalong seriously and get the most out of my time with Middlemarch. He urges us to see this book as “demanding” but not difficult and to acquire a copy that suits us best. This is a book we are going to spend many months with, so get one that you’re happy to carry around. Taking notes is a big part of reading Middlemarch, so be prepared to write down thoughts in the margins of your book or in a journal.
McEvoy’s goes on to recommend:
- Pay attention to the epigraphs for each chapter. They “contextualise and elevate” each chapter. Each chapter is like an essay or a thesis.
- Read around. Take notes of the names dropped by Eliot as well as her contemporaries (Dickens, Thackeray, Wordsworth especially his Lyrical Ballads and the “Romantic manifesto”). Think everything through with Eliot. Let it teach you.
- Take your time with the Prelude. It is the key to the whole book.
- Research. The story is set during the Age of Reform – a time when the English were wondering if change could happen without violence. He said that although Eliot was a liberal she was not for many of the Reforms.
- Read slowly, take your time. Read aloud.
- Research. What was your own family during 1871? What was going on in England when each section was published? Seasons? Politics? Current affairs?
- Let it “enlarge your sympathies.” Bring your whole self to the reading experience. Discuss it with others.
The Introduction:
- Eliot began a story about a young doctor in a provincial town early in 1869, but then Thornie, G. H. Lewes’ son came home from South Africa with tuberculosis of the spine. He died in November.
- Throughout 1870 she continued to work on it slowly, but by November had abandoned it for a new story called Miss Brooke.
- Early in 1871 she realised she could merge the two stories together, contrasting two doctors, two wives and two marriages.
- She and Lewes realised the book was going to be more than the 3 volume format that was usual at the time. They asked her publisher, John Blackwood, to consider using the format that Victor Hugo had used for Les Misérables – eight two-monthly volumes. He agreed.
- Her aim was to show how unfolding political and social events affected the lives of individuals “as they happened.”
- The setting was forty years before the time of writing. It was the time of –
- Catholic Emancipation 1829
- Death of King George IV 1830
- Dissolution of Parliament & general election 1831
- Cholera outbreak 1832
- Reform Bill 1832
- the coming of the railway
- medical reform
- Themes to watch out for – change, human inconsistency, egotism, women’s roles in a modern society, class boundaries, ‘homo homini deus est‘.
- George Eliot – a humanist, had lost her faith, influenced by Auguste Comte, Spinoza (Ethics), Ludwig Feuerbach (religion of humanity), John Stuart Mill, Herbert Spencer, Goethe
- Devices used by Eliot – Saint Theresa parallel, social comedy, scientific analogies, medical metaphors, webs, conversations.
- Ashton finishes her Introduction with two pages of suggested reading. She obviously subscribes to the McEvoy approach to reading Middlemarch – read around, read slowly and research.
My aim will be to write a post at the end of each volume.
So lets begin!
Posts:
ISBN: 9780141196893 Imprint: Penguin Classics Published: 2011 (originally published in serial form 1871-72) Format: Hardback Pages: 853 Origin: TBR Dates Read: 27 July - 22 October 2023
| This post was written on the traditional land of the Wangal clan, one of the 29 clans of the Eora Nation within the Sydney basin. This Reading Life recognises the continuous connection to Country, community and culture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. They are the traditional custodians of the lands, seas, and skies on which we live and they are this nations first storytellers. |
This Reading Life 
Hope you enjoy it more this time around Brona–I did when I last read it. I’d also recommend Pamela Erens’ essay Middlemarch and the Imperfect Life where Erens reflects on both her own experiences reading Middlemarch at various times over the years and the relevance of the book itself.
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Ohh that does sound interesting. I’ll have a look for it thanks 🙏🏽
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It’s from the Bookmarked series by IG Publishing
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I’m quite tempted to join in although I’m not sure where my copy of Middlemarch is. It was a real favourite of mine for a long time – I read it when I was 21 and practically inhaled it over a few days, but I haven’t reread it since then and would be interested to see what I would make of a slower read and coming to it older. I really hope you enjoy it!
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Thanks Lou, I have high hopes for this reread too.
Nick hosts very relaxed readalongs, so you can join in at any point, read ahead if you must, finish early etc. But it is lovely doing the whole one chapter a day thing if you can.
Hope you find your copy!
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I really need to get to this book soon!
Your post is amazing! Thank you for sharing all this background info. I will have to bookmark it so I can come back to it whenever I finally decide to dive into this classic. 🙂
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I did a slow read of Moby-Dick about 4 yrs ago and LOVED it – the readalong and the book! I got so much out of it and still think about it fondly. I also know I will reread it one day too.
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I love Middlemarch. With a little warning, I might have been tempted to join in, but I can’t really devote three months of posts to a read-along (although if I wanted to participate enough, I could add a paragraph to my regular posts). Also, I’ve already reviewed it on my site. Oh well. Maybe another read-along will tempt me.
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If you haven’t read, or would like reread Daniel Deronda, Nick will be starting the chapter a day readalong of it from the 23rd Oct. I’m trying very hard to only read (classic) books from my TBR this years, so DD will have to wait for another time for me.
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I read Daniel Deronda years ago. It wasn’t one of my favorites, so I think I’ll pass.
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Enjoy! I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve reread it, it is my favourite of all the classics I’ve read.
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That’s a big call!
I’m not sure I will ever be able to bump Jane Austen from that position in my heart, but I am hoping to get more out of my time with Middlemarch this time around.
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Dorothea is a much impressive heroine than any of Austen’s characters.
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I will let you know at the end of October if I feel the same way.
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What a wonderful project if you wish to embark in it, and it appears that you are ready for a full experience.
I have only listened to it once and loved it. However, you all seem to be in this to get a full experience and to learn a lot in the process.
I enjoyed reading this and understanding the book more in retrospect. Interested to keep reading your contributions.
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I do love a #slowread (Moby-Dick, Les Mis and One Hundred Years of Solitude have been some of the stand-outs). I’m really looking forward to this reread.
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I’ve decided to give it a go! I used parts of your post here as my introduction post to the read-along. Thanks.
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So glad you are joining us Anne. For me the timing was right, or at least, I made it work for me. But not all of these #slowreads have been successful.
I abandoned Don Quixote a couple of years ago. I simply could not get into it, even with all the research I did and support/encouragement from others.
But this one feels good. Two chapters and the prelude are moving along just fine. Even the Don Quixote epigraph for chapter 2 didn’t put me off 😀
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If I can fit this in amongst all my other reads I will but if I do I suspect I’ll join in later and do a catch-up exercise. As I’m currently three-quarters of the way through Villette it won’t be just yet but at least I read half a dozen chapters about two or three years ago!
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I’ve decided that it’s okay for me to abandon my attachment to completing the 20 books of [summer] winter this year. I really want to reread Middlemarch to see if I can find what it was that I missed with the first read. This is the perfect opportunity.
I’d love to a Bronte chapter-a-day readlaong one year to reread the ones I love and the catch up on the ones I’ve yet to read!
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You could of course count each of the four ‘volumes’ of Middlemarch as a separate book… 😁
Apropos Brontë novels, I’ve yet to read Wuthering Heights or The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (after Villette I’ll have read all Charlotte’s published novels and the late ‘Unfinished Tales’ but not yet the Glass Town stories). Maybe a chapter-a-day of Emily’s novel? I’d consider that if it fitted in with whatever else I’d planned!
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I’m going to read Middlemarch but in a slightly different way, and that recommended by Benjamin McEvoy i.e. as it was published serially. And thank you for pointing me to his YouTube channel – I have gone down a real rabbit hole!!
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Ha ha I know!
I almost decided to do the same thing (and still may – I will see how I feel at the end of Miss Brooke). I still need to read stuff for work and if I want to ‘read around’ with some of the authors and thinkers that Eliot refers to, I will need more time….I’ll keep you posted.
Glad you enjoyed the McEvoy video too – I loved his enthusiasm. And I love literary rabbit holes 🙂
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