George Eliot, Voice of a Century: A Biography (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780393315219)

Frederick R. Karl's magisterial biography of George Eliot proves her to be one of the most fascinating and iconic individuals of her time. Born in 1819 as Mary Anne Evans, she grew up near rural Coventry when the pastoral life was being destroyed by the rapid rise of industrialism. Her father, Robert Evans, took care of an estate, where the family lived. Eliot, his youngest child, absorbed the world around her, its beauty and its delicate sense of stability, which was about to be thoroughly disrupted. Eliot thrived on learning while she stayed home, taking care of her aging father. Upon his death, she began her long process of emergence and change. Her unusual intelligence and literary capacity brought her to the attention of John Chapman, who enlisted her to work on the intellectual Westminster Review in London. While there she met some of the leading thinkers of her era, including Herbert Spencer. Karl focuses on her relationships with these men in a way earlier biographers have been unable, using many letters and documents previously unavailable.

Author: Frederick Robert Karl
ISBN-10: 0393315215
ISBN-13: 9780393315219
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Language: English
Published: 05/01/1990
Pages: 748
Format: Paperback
Weight: 2.22lbs
Size: 9.29h x 6.15w x 1.58d

Review Citation(s):
New York Times 11/17/1996 pg. 40
New York Times 12/08/1996 pg. 100
Publishers Weekly 09/09/1996