George Eliot

The course will study George Eliot's major works, including Adam Bede , Middlemarch , and Daniel Deronda , as well as examples of her essays and criticism. We will consider her experiments with literary realism, which helped secure for the novel form a position as high art. Giving attention to George Eliot's emphasis on conflicting ethical systems, from sympathy, utilitarian economics, and theology, to theories of physiological necessity, we will also examine the question of choice--including personal, women¿s social, professional, and marriage choices--that lies at the heart of many of her novels.