Rereading George Eliot : changing responses to her experiments in life / Bernard J. Paris.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Paris, Bernard J.

Series:

SUNY series in psychoanalysis and culture

SUNY series in Psychoanalysis and Culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Eliot, George, 1819-1880--Knowledge--Psychology.

Eliot, George.

Eliot, George, 1819-1880. Daniel Deronda.

Eliot, George, 1819-1880. Middlemarch.

Eliot, George, 1819-1880--Characters.

Psychoanalysis and literature--England--History--19th century.

Psychoanalysis and literature.

Psychological fiction, English--History and criticism.

Psychological fiction, English.

Psychology in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (235 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, c2003.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In a probing analysis that has broad implications for theories of reading, Bernard J. Paris explores how personal needs and changes in his own psychology have affected his responses to George Eliot over the years. Having lost his earlier enthusiasm for her "Religion of Humanity," he now appreciates the psychological intuitions that are embodied in her brilliant portraits of characters and relationships. Concentrating on Eliot's most impressive psychological novels, Middlemarch and Daniel Deronda, Paris focuses on her detailed portrayals of major characters in an effort to recover her intuitions and appreciate her mimetic achievement. He argues that although she intended for her characters to provide confirmation of her views, she was instead led to deeper, more enduring truths, although she did not consciously comprehend the discoveries she had made. Like her characters, Paris argues, these truths must be disengaged from her rhetoric in order to be perceived.

Contents:

Front Matter

Contents

Preface

No Longer the Same Interpreter

“An Angel Beguiled”: Dorothea Brooke

The Two Selves of Tertius Lydgate

“A Dreadful Plain Girl”: Mary Garth

“This Problematic Sylph”: Gwendolen Harleth

“The Crushed Penitent”: Gwendolen’s Transformation

Gwendolen and Daniel: A Therapeutic Relationship?

Deronda the Deliverer

Conclusion

References

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 213-215) and index.

ISBN:

0-7914-8636-2

1-4175-3141-X

OCLC:

61367743