Middlemarch

The novel Middlemarch ( 1871-72; first time in book form: 1874) by English author George Eliot is one of the most important Victorian novels of the 19th century. Its original title is Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life.

The novel

The author ( George Eliot is the pen name of Mary Ann Evans ) depicts this as a typical English town circa 1830, in the age of onset of the industrialization. The name of this fictitious town is Middlemarch. The four different storylines leave a multifaceted picture of the English society of the time arise. The over 800 page book covers all areas of life that are still relevant for us: relationships, love, intrigue, the individual in relation to society, religion, art, science.

The remarkable character studies of the novel are timeless realistic: The " heroine " of this Bildungsroman, but especially historical novel, Dorothea Brooke, is idealistic and naive. In their desire to do good and to sacrifice themselves for others, it is compared with Saint Teresa of Ávila. She married Edward Casaubon, an elderly, supercooled scholar who has been working for years on its large, scientific publication, without realizing that research has long since caught up with him. She wants to help him in his scientific work, but it can not be part of it them and treated them condescendingly. Here, as in the character representation of other female characters with a distinct criticism of George Eliot's due to the poor education that we women of that time had given to be.

After the disillusioning experience of this marriage Dorothea marries after Casaubon's death against the will of their surroundings the man she loves: the young artist Will. You learn to find their place in Victorian society. Here, too, criticized the author - albeit indirectly - the subordinate role of women.

However, it is by no means a "heart - and pain - Roman", but demanding literature, which seems strange sometimes modern by the humorous comments of the authorial narrator, the friendly and ironically shows the typical human frailties of the characters.

Expenditure

• Middlemarch. Ed. with notes by David Carroll. With an introduction by Felicia Bonaparte, Oxford [ua ]: Oxford Univ. Press, 2008.
• Middlemarch, a study of provincial life. Translated from English by Ilse Leisi, afterword by Max Wildi. Manesseplatz Verlag, Zurich 1962, ISBN 3-7175-8002-7.

Filming

The novel was filmed by the BBC and broadcast as a six part series of 12 January 1994 to 16 February 1994 British television. Protagonists were Juliet Aubrey ( Dorothea ), Rufus Sewell (Will), Robert Hardy ( Arthur Brooke ), Douglas Hodge ( Dr. Lydgate ), Michael Hordern (Peter Featherstone ) and Patrick Malahide ( Rev. Edward Casaubon ).

An earlier film adaptation comes from the year 1968.