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A review by sjbozich
Scenes of Clerical Life by George Eliot
3.0
3 novellas, and the fourth that was to make up the book became the full length novel, "Adam Bede". After years of reviewing, editing, writing essays, and translating, this was Eliot's first fiction, at age 38. Written over a year, you can see her becoming more comfortable with the form - each story stretches out longer than the previous story - and finally she realizes she needs to go full bore with a novel.
An Evangelical since pre-teens (the word had different meaning/connotations then than it does now), she had become a Rationalist thanks to her extensive reading in the groundbreaking theological studies of the time.
A warning that from the very first pages of "Amos Barton" we are immersed in the world of mid 19th C British church and theological issues. Not the funnest thing in the world to read about, or decipher. I used the Noble/Billington "Oxford World Classics" edition. The Introduction and Notes are extremely useful in explaining the nuances of this clerical world. At times the Notes are "Why did you bother explaining this?", and others "OK, why is there no Note here?", and also reading as a physical book instead of an ebook, you may have to make use of a Dictionary at times.
Besides the obscure church history/conflict presented here, as her first effort in fiction there are times when she "preaches" or "states" more than "shows" as she would in her later, better, work. These sections are dense, boring, and difficult to read (see Chapter 10 of "Janet's Repentance" - a real chore to make it through!).
Despite being a recent ex-Evangelical herself, not only does she write about the milieu, she does so sympathetically. And unlike Trollope, she also does so sarcastically at times!
But the point she makes, and in "Janet" the most strongly, is that human sympathy is a gateway to true religiosity and God.
BTW, reading this, I don't see how anyone could have imagined that the author was a man! Evans/Eliot had to reveal herself sooner than she would have liked to - a man from her region was thought to be the author (even though he was a mediocre, minor writer himself - showing little talent in his few publications - self published?) and refused to deny the rumor! How low can a person be to ride the coattails of someone else's talent?
"Middlemarch" is a hot text right now, and remembering how much I enjoyed reading that in grad school 30 years ago (and got to teach it in one class session), I decided to go back to Eliot after all these years. And where better to start than at the beginning?
OK, I plan to fall willing down the Eliot rabbit hole. Already have purchased Oxford editions of most of her novels, bought some Victorian Lit critical studies, and downloaded a $0.99 "Complete GE" for my kindle, for the obscure stuff (some essays, her play, poems - appears to be the Pinney edition).
Well, rather for Eliot completists, and those interested in 19th C British Church history. Yet, at the same time, it could be read as an "inspirational" text, more than a century and half later.
An Evangelical since pre-teens (the word had different meaning/connotations then than it does now), she had become a Rationalist thanks to her extensive reading in the groundbreaking theological studies of the time.
A warning that from the very first pages of "Amos Barton" we are immersed in the world of mid 19th C British church and theological issues. Not the funnest thing in the world to read about, or decipher. I used the Noble/Billington "Oxford World Classics" edition. The Introduction and Notes are extremely useful in explaining the nuances of this clerical world. At times the Notes are "Why did you bother explaining this?", and others "OK, why is there no Note here?", and also reading as a physical book instead of an ebook, you may have to make use of a Dictionary at times.
Besides the obscure church history/conflict presented here, as her first effort in fiction there are times when she "preaches" or "states" more than "shows" as she would in her later, better, work. These sections are dense, boring, and difficult to read (see Chapter 10 of "Janet's Repentance" - a real chore to make it through!).
Despite being a recent ex-Evangelical herself, not only does she write about the milieu, she does so sympathetically. And unlike Trollope, she also does so sarcastically at times!
But the point she makes, and in "Janet" the most strongly, is that human sympathy is a gateway to true religiosity and God.
BTW, reading this, I don't see how anyone could have imagined that the author was a man! Evans/Eliot had to reveal herself sooner than she would have liked to - a man from her region was thought to be the author (even though he was a mediocre, minor writer himself - showing little talent in his few publications - self published?) and refused to deny the rumor! How low can a person be to ride the coattails of someone else's talent?
"Middlemarch" is a hot text right now, and remembering how much I enjoyed reading that in grad school 30 years ago (and got to teach it in one class session), I decided to go back to Eliot after all these years. And where better to start than at the beginning?
OK, I plan to fall willing down the Eliot rabbit hole. Already have purchased Oxford editions of most of her novels, bought some Victorian Lit critical studies, and downloaded a $0.99 "Complete GE" for my kindle, for the obscure stuff (some essays, her play, poems - appears to be the Pinney edition).
Well, rather for Eliot completists, and those interested in 19th C British Church history. Yet, at the same time, it could be read as an "inspirational" text, more than a century and half later.