The book traces the life and intellectual development of Mary Ann Evans, known to the world as George Eliot. It explores her formative years in the Midland region of England, highlighting how her early surroundings and affectionate family relationships shaped her observations of common village life. The narrative follows her religious evolution from a devout evangelical youth to a rationalist thinker influenced by contemporary science and philosophy. A significant portion of the work is devoted to her early literary labors, including her translations of Strauss and Feuerbach, and her editorial work for the Westminster Review, which brought her into contact with the leading radical minds of London.
The volume examines her personal life, focusing on her union with George Henry Lewes. This relationship, though socially unorthodox at the time, provided her with the emotional stability and intellectual companionship necessary for her creative output. The book analyzes the circumstances surrounding her transition from a critic and translator to a writer of fiction, detailing the publication and reception of her early sketches and novels such as Adam Bede, The Mill on the Floss, and Romola.
Attention is given to her literary traits, her theory of the novel, and her commitment to realism and psychological analysis. The author explores her preference for portraying ordinary human life and common people with sympathy and truthfulness. Her poetry and later novels, including Middlemarch and Daniel Deronda, are discussed in the context of her broader philosophical views, particularly her positivist convictions regarding human duty and the permanence of influence.
The study also records her personal characteristics, her habits of continuous study, her London receptions, and her later years following the death of Lewes. It concludes with an account of her marriage to John Walter Cross and her final months, providing a comprehensive view of her personality, her scholarship, and her enduring place in English literature.
