George Eliot and Herbert Spencer: Feminism, Evolutionism.
As a feminist and idealist, George Eliot had a profound significance in feminism among the Victorian novelists. Her works were combined with her real life experience. Middlemarch, since its publication, had been recognized as George Eliot’s finest achievement, written when she was at the height of her power.George Eliot wrote in the inescapable context of the Victorian Woman Question of the second half of the nineteenth century; the most recent, focused renewal of interest in her work occurred in the context of the second-wave feminism of the last decades of the twentieth century.In working on my book, George Eliot’s Feminism, I have been fortunate in having use of the wonderful library at the University of Illinois. But for many hard-to-find works, I am indebted to the indefatigable labor and kindness of Kathryn Danner, supervisor of the Interlibrary Loan Department.
Book Info George Eliot and Herbert Spencer. Book Description: This analysis of the writings of two major Victorian intellectuals examines the crucial place of gender in the larger Victorian debate about nature, religion, and evolutionary theory.George Eliot’s sixth novel, Middlemarch, depicts strong characters and the unconventional gender roles of men and women and their marriages during the 19th century. In 19th century England there was a great deal of social change and disorder. During this time period, societal norms were being questioned as many people began calling for equality.
Eliot's duality as both a persona and a feminist is often a point of modern analysis as can be seen here: It seems right that the real George Eliot, if there ever was such a person, still lies in an unconsecrated corner of Highgate Cemetery next to George Henry Lewes, while the self she created with her novels has just been resurrected into the immodestly pompous eternity of Westminster Abbey.
