![]() And so it goes for the inhabitants of MIDDLEMARCH amid the larger events of the time, cholera epidemics, political and religious upheavals, and the rapid English industrialization. Calumny ruins physician Lydgate, even as his wife, Rosamond, schemes behind his back to retain her lavish style. Banker Nicholas Bulstrode\’s past deeds return with a mysterious man with catastrophic consequences. Dorothea and Casaubon marry for the wrong reasons, trapped in misery. Reading MIDDLEMARCH, one realizes how little we\’ve changed over the last 146 years. The predominant themes of marriage, gossip and rumor, debt and finances, chance and self determination, prejudice, pride, and conformity run through the novel, as they do our lives today. It is considered by many to be the greatest English language novel ever written, a “cathedral of words.” What more could I add? The Victorian prose style and historical references aside, MIDDLEMARCH, at its core, seemed to me a perfectly modern novel. Much has been written about MIDDLEMARCH since its publication in 1871-1872.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |