It was necessary for Eliot to break up her dauntingly long narrative up into volumes, as each volume would be a separate installment yet cohesive and complete work concerning two of the many characters. Through doing so and through creating many innovative and compelling characters, Eliot successfully creates an ingenious novel accurately focusing on the human condition and London during the time period; the 1870's.
Monday, September 30, 2013
George Eliot and Middelmarch
While in the process of constructing her infamous narrative Middlemarch, author George Eliot, wrote many letters seeking the opinions and advice given by her peers. Through reading these letter, one is able to gain insight into just how much work Eliot put in on perfecting her characters and writing volumes rather than one cohesive novel. In her letters to her editor John Blackwood, Eliot and Blackwood discuss the desired length of the novel, it's appearance, and her inspiration for the characters. The letter articulates Eliot's frustration at perfecting her novel as seen through the statement "The Spectator considers me the most melancholy of authors, it will perhaps be a welcome assurance to you that there is no unredeemed tragedy in the solution of the story" (Eliot 534). Eliot also writes to fellow female author Harriet Beecher Stowe in regards to the creation of her characters and how they seemingly differ vastly from Eliot's own personality along with her friends and acquaintances. Eliot writes "But do not for a moment imagine that Dorothea's marriage experience is drawn from my own. Impossible to conceive any creature less like Mr. Casaubon than my warm, enthusiastic husband, who cares much more for my doing than for his own, and is a miracle of freedom from all author's jealousy and all suspicion. I fear that the Casaubon-tints are not quite foreign to my own mental complexion. At any rate I am very sorry for him" (Eliot 535). Through reading Eliot's personal letters regarding her novel, one is able to gain a better understanding of the difficulties and creativity that comes with being an author, especially a female author during the Victorian Era.
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The way that Eliot broke her novel up into separate books does make a lot of sense to me. But my question is whether or not the story would be the same if it were significantly shortened down into only one book. Although massive amounts of detail, information and even characters might be lost, part of me believes that the absence of some of these characters would make the novel easier to follow. The huge down side though, would be this loss of characters. It seems as though the large number of characters Eliot has created for this one novel are both a positive and negative aspect of the story.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that the way Eliot broke up her novel helps her develop her characters in a way that she would not have been able to if she were to only write one story or two volumes. However, it does seem as though she could have possibly wrote two different stories altogether. Mind you this is just from what we have read so far. It will be interesting to see how this story plays out in the volumes and the reasons she chose to make this an entirely cohesive piece.
ReplyDeleteBy breaking up the novel Eliot is able to develop her characters. I also think that that by doing this she is able to further her opinions about what was going on at that point in history. If the novel wasn't broken into different sections I think the reader may find themselves having a hard time fully understanding what Eliot is trying to say or connecting to different characters.
ReplyDeleteIt's curious to me that so many letters still exist between authors and publishers or between authors and friends who are giving them advice on their publications. Today, we'd consider the advice, delete the text or email it came with, and move on. What's remarkable to me is that their letters--their fears and anxieties, in particular--still echo today. Authors still talk about issues like length and what time of year to publish, but I wonder how much of the talk ties back to profits (i.e. you'll sell more books if you publish in May, since this feels like a beach-type novel). Eliot is definitely more concerned with integrity, though; it seems like her concerns are tied to the quality and completeness of her novel rather than its profit margin.
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