Scenes of Clerical Life (Wordsworth Classics) - Softcover

Eliot, George

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9781840226218: Scenes of Clerical Life (Wordsworth Classics)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1840226218 ISBN 13: 9781840226218

Publisher: Wordsworth Editions Ltd, 2007

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With an Introduction by Graham Handley Who was the Countess and why does she selfishly ingratiate herself into the poor household of Reverend Amos Barton, curate of Shepperton? The effect on his wife and family, and the responses of his congregation are shown in this, the first of George Eliot's works of fiction, and one of three short stories, which comprise Scenes of Clerical Life. The Reverend Maynard Gilfil, humble chaplain at Cheverel Manor, was quietly in love with Caterina, a young beauty of Italian extraction living at the manor. But she loved the heir to the estate, Captain Wybrow. Why does she prowl round the grounds at night with a dagger in her pocket? All is revealed in 'Mr Gilfil's Love Story', the second of the 'Scenes'. Why is the town of Milby so upset by the prospect of lectures from a young evangelical clergyman, Edgar Tryan? What is the connection with the influential lawyer, Robert Dempster? Beneath the respectable surface Dempster is a violent drunk who abuses his wife Janet, already herself struggling with alcohol. Janet turns to Edgar Tryan for help. The third 'Scene' is 'Janet's Repentance', a story with remarkably contemporary resonances and proof of George Eliot's ability to enlighten and interest modern readers. These stories were the first of George Eliot's published work, appearing in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine in 1857. This edition is published in conjunction with The George Eliot Fellowship to celebrate the 150th anniversary of this event.

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About the Author:

Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880; alternatively "Mary Anne" or "Marian"), known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She is the author of seven novels, including Adam Bede (1859), The Mill on the Floss (1860), Silas Marner (1861), Felix Holt, the Radical (1866), Middlemarch (1871–72), and Daniel Deronda (1876), most of them set in provincial England and known for their realism and psychological insight. She used a male pen name, she said, to ensure her works would be taken seriously. Female authors were published under their own names during Eliot's life, but she wanted to escape the stereotype of women only writing lighthearted romances. She also wished to have her fiction judged separately from her already extensive and widely known work as an editor and critic. An additional factor in her use of a pen name may have been a desire to shield her private life from public scrutiny and to prevent scandals attending her relationship with the married George Henry Lewes, with whom she lived for over 20 years. Her 1872 work Middlemarch has been described by Martin Amis and Julian Barnes as the greatest novel in the English language.

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