Editing George Eliot (section)

=== Career in fiction ===

[[File:George Eliot BNF Gallica.jpg|thumb|Photograph ([[:en:albumen print|albumen print]]) of George Eliot, c. 1865]]

While continuing to contribute pieces to the ''Westminster Review'', Evans resolved to become a novelist, and set out a pertinent manifesto in one of her last essays for the ''Review'', "Silly Novels by Lady Novelists"<ref>[https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/silly-novels-by-lady-novelists-essay-by-george-eliot "Silly Novels by Lady Novelists"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170405223439/http://www.bl.uk/collection-items/silly-novels-by-lady-novelists-essay-by-george-eliot |date=5 April 2017 }} text from ''The Westminster Review'' Vol. 66 old series, Vol. 10 new series (October 1856): 442–461.</ref> (1856). The essay criticised the trivial and ridiculous plots of contemporary fiction written by women. In other essays, she praised the [[realism (arts)|realism]] of novels that were being written in Europe at the time,  an emphasis on realistic storytelling confirmed in her own subsequent fiction. She also adopted a nom-de-plume, George Eliot; as she explained to her biographer J. W. Cross, George was Lewes's forename, and Eliot was "a good mouth-filling, easily pronounced word".<ref>Cross (1885), vol 1, p. 431</ref> Although female authors were published under their own names during her lifetime, she wanted to escape the stereotype of women's writing being limited to lighthearted romances or other lighter fare not to be taken very seriously.<ref>There were a few exceptions, such as ''[[Nature and Art]]'', by [[Elizabeth Inchbald]], published under the name "Mrs. Inchbald" in 1796.</ref> She also wanted to have her fiction judged separately from her already extensive and widely known work as a translator, editor, and critic. Another factor in her use of a pen name may have been a desire to shield her private life from public scrutiny, thus avoiding the scandal that would have arisen because of her relationship with Lewes, who was married.<ref>Karl, Frederick R. ''George Eliot: Voice of a Century''. Norton, 1995. pp. 237–238.</ref>

In 1857, when she was 37 years of age, "The Sad Fortunes of the Reverend Amos Barton", the first of the three stories included in ''[[Scenes of Clerical Life]]'', and the first work of "George Eliot", was published in ''[[Blackwood's Magazine]]''.<ref name=EB1911>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Eliot, George |volume=9 |pages=275–277 |first=Pearl Mary Teresa |last=Craigie |authorlink=John Oliver Hobbes}}</ref> ''The Scenes'' (published as a 2-volume book in 1858),<ref name=EB1911/> was well received, and was widely believed to have been written by a country [[parson]], or perhaps the wife of a parson.

Eliot was profoundly influenced by the works of [[Thomas Carlyle]]. As early as 1841, she referred to him as "a grand favourite of mine", and references to him abound in her letters from the 1840s and 1850s. According to [[University of Victoria]] professor Lisa Surridge, Carlyle "stimulated Eliot's interest in German thought, encouraged her turn from Christian orthodoxy, and shaped her ideas on work, duty, sympathy, and the evolution of the self."<ref>{{cite book |last=Surridge |first=Lisa |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8Nvdx-4-CzoC |title=The Carlyle Encyclopedia |publisher=[[Fairleigh Dickinson University Press]] |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-8386-3792-0 |editor-last=Cumming |editor-first=Mark |location=Madison and Teaneck, NJ |pages=141–144 |chapter=Eliot, George |url-access=limited}}</ref> These themes made their way into Evans's first complete novel, ''[[Adam Bede]]'' (1859).<ref name="EB1911" /> It was an instant success, and prompted yet more intense curiosity as to the author's identity: there was even a pretender to the authorship, one Joseph Liggins. This public interest subsequently led to Mary Anne Evans Lewes's acknowledgment that it was she who stood behind the pseudonym George Eliot. ''Adam Bede'' is known for embracing a realist aesthetic inspired by Dutch visual art.<ref name="Dutch">Rebecca Ruth Gould, "Adam Bede's Dutch Realism and the Novelist's Point of View," ''Philosophy and Literature'' 36:2 (October 2012), 404–423.</ref>

The revelations about Eliot's private life surprised and shocked many of her admiring readers, but this did not affect her popularity as a novelist. Her relationship with Lewes afforded her the encouragement and stability she needed to write fiction, but it would be some time before the couple were accepted into polite society. Acceptance was finally confirmed in 1877 when they were introduced to [[Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll|Princess Louise]], the daughter of [[Queen Victoria]]. The queen herself was an avid reader of all of Eliot's novels and was so impressed with ''Adam Bede'' that she commissioned the artist [[Edward Henry Corbould]] to paint scenes from the book.<ref name = DNB>[https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/6794 Rosemary Ashton, "Evans, Marian &#91;George Eliot&#93; (1819–1880)"], (Later Works) ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004</ref>

[[File:George Eliot 31 Wimbledon Park Road blue plaque.jpg|thumb|Blue plaque, Holly Lodge, 31 Wimbledon Park Road, London]]

When the [[American Civil War]] [[Battle of Fort Sumter|broke out]] in 1861, Eliot expressed sympathy for the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] cause, something which historians have attributed to her [[Abolitionism in the United Kingdom|abolitionist]] sympathies.<ref name="Fleishman">{{cite book |last1=Fleishman |first1=Avrom |title=George Eliot's Intellectual Life |date=2010 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=140–142}}</ref><ref name="June">{{cite book |last1=Szirotny |first1=June |title=George Eliot's Feminism: The Right to Rebellion |date=2015 |publisher=Springer |pages=26–28}}</ref> In 1868, she supported philosopher [[Richard Congreve]]'s protests against [[Government of the United Kingdom|governmental]] policies in [[History of Ireland (1801–1923)|Ireland]] and had a positive view of the growing movement in support of [[Irish Home Rule movement|Irish home rule]].<ref name="Fleishman" /><ref name="June" />

She was influenced by the writings of [[John Stuart Mill]] and read all of his major works as they were published.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fleishman |first1=Avrom |title=George Eliot's Intellectual Life |date=2010 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=59}}</ref> In Mill's ''[[The Subjection of Women]]'' (1869)  she judged the second chapter excoriating the laws which oppress married women "excellent."<ref name="June" /> She was supportive of Mill's parliamentary run, but believed that the electorate was unlikely to vote for a philosopher and was surprised when he won.<ref name="Fleishman" /> While Mill served in parliament, she expressed her agreement with his efforts on behalf of female suffrage, being "inclined to hope for much good from the serious presentation of women's claims before Parliament."<ref name="Newton">{{cite book |last1=Newton |first1=K. M. |title=George Eliot for the Twenty-First Century: Literature, Philosophy, Politics |date=2018 |publisher=Springer |pages=23–24}}</ref> In a letter to [[John Morley]], she declared her support for plans "which held out reasonable promise of tending to establish as far as possible an equivalence of advantage for the two sexes, as to education and the possibilities of free development", and dismissed [[appeal to nature|appeals to nature]] in explaining women's lower status.<ref name="Newton" /><ref name="June" /> In 1870, she responded enthusiastically to [[Katharine Russell, Viscountess Amberley|Lady Amberley]]'s feminist lecture on the claims of women for education, occupations, equality in marriage, and child custody.<ref name="June" /> It would be wrong to assume that the female protagonists of her works can be considered "feminist", with the sole exception perhaps of [[Romola|Romola de' Bardi]], who resolutely rejects the State and Church obligations of her time.<ref>Sanders, Andrew ''The Short Oxford History of English Literature''. Clarendon Press, 1994. p. 442</ref>

After the success of ''Adam Bede'', Eliot continued to write popular novels for the next fifteen years. Within a year of completing ''Adam Bede'', she finished ''[[The Mill on the Floss]]'', dedicating the manuscript: "To my beloved husband, George Henry Lewes, I give this MS. of my third book, written in the sixth year of our life together, at Holly Lodge, South Field, Wandsworth, and finished 21 March 1860."  ''[[Silas Marner]]'' (1861) and ''[[Romola]]'' (1863) soon followed, and later ''[[Felix Holt, the Radical]]'' (1866) and her most acclaimed novel, ''[[Middlemarch]]'' (1871–1872). Her last novel was ''[[Daniel Deronda]]'', published in 1876, after which she and Lewes moved to [[Witley]], Surrey. By this time Lewes's health was failing, and he died two years later, on 30 November 1878. Eliot spent the next six months editing Lewes's final work, ''Life and Mind'', for publication, and found solace and companionship with longtime friend and financial adviser John Walter Cross, a Scottish commission agent<ref>1881 census</ref> 20 years her junior, whose mother had recently died.