The Complete Works (eBook)

George Eliot, the pen name of Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880), remains one of the preeminent figures in Victorian literature. Renowned for her perceptive psychological insights and detailed character development, Eliot's work often explores themes of rural society, morality, and the individual's place within the social fabric. Born in Warwickshire, England, she broke with conventional gender roles by pursuing a literary career in an era when female authors were often marginalized. Her extensive educational pursuits and fluency in multiple languages enabled her to help edit the Westminster Review, a significant intellectual journal of the time. Eliot's 'The Complete Works' encompasses novels, poetry, and essays, with seminal novels like 'Middlemarch', 'The Mill on the Floss', and 'Silas Marner'. 'Middlemarch', in particular, is acclaimed for its deep humanism and ambition, with Virginia Woolf famously praising it as 'one of the few English novels written for grown-up people'. Eliot's literary style combines realism with a compassionate moral sense, weaving intricate plots that reveal the complexities of life in 19th-century England. She adopted a male pen name to ensure her works were taken seriously and to avoid the stereotypes inflicted upon women's writing at the time. Today, George Eliot's legacy endures through her profound influence on the development of the novel as a literary form and her penetrating explorations of personal morality and social ethics.