Contemporaries on George Eliot's Works
An understanding of how George Eliot’s contemporaries were reading and responding to her published works helps us appreciate her reach, her fame, and her historical significance.
In this section, you will find commentary on Eliot's works published in periodicals during and shortly beyond her lifetime.
The George Eliot Archive offers far more reviews and commentary on Eliot's works than any print volume. As a digital scholarly edition, we are able to continuously expand as new items are identified. We have relied on the work of editors of printed collections as our starting point and continued to build our collection well beyond what has been available. Our digital edition more than quadruples the number of previously collected reviews of Middlemarch, facilitating new avenues of inquiry into the novel's early reception.
We also have an extensive collection of articles reporting on and summarizing lectures presented on George Eliot’s works and on her literary influence within and outside of England. As these documents demonstrate, Eliot's writing garnered widespread acclaim from professional critics and common citizens alike, who generally praised the creativity, wit, complex characters, and the moral philosophy incorporated into her writings.
If you are unable to locate a specific review or article about Eliot's works in this section, please let us know. We'll find it, upload it, and send you the link.
Old Novels and New
Museum and Library
Our Royal Jubilee and Scripture Prophecy
The Story of a Remarkable Literary Imposture
Dr. Adler on "Daniel Deronda"
Dickens and the Queen
The "Globe" and the "Daily News"
"Place and Power"
Mr. Swinburne's New Volume
Literature, Music, Science, and Art
The Sunderland Equitable Industrial Society's Library
Art and Literary
Literary, Scientific, and Artistic Notes
Literature, Science, and Art
Art and Literary Gossip
Sir Theodore Martin on Books
George Eliot's New Novel [A Review of Middlemarch]
George Eliot's New Story [A Review of Middlemarch]
"George Eliot" and Wirksworth Associations
A Link with "Mr. Gilfil's Love Story"
Corporation Trading: Anti-Municipal Crusade
Religious Services
Literature, Science, and Art Gossip
Literature of the Week
The Rev. H. J. R. Marston on Goldsmith
George Eliot: Sermon by Rev. Robert Collyer on the Greatest Novelist
George Eliot: Characteristics of the Great Novelist
George Eliot [Essay]
Literary and Other Notes
Fiction: Past and Present
George Eliot and Boadicea
Wit and Humour
Portsmouth Literary and Scientific Society
George Eliot's Account of "Dinah Morris"
[A Review of] Felix Holt, the Radical
Multiple Classified Advertisements
Multiple Classified Advertisements
The Last Number of the Quarterly Review has a Review of the Novels of "George Eliot"
George Eliot's Characters
George Eliot, Prophetess
George Eliot's Forthcoming Novel
George Eliot [Essay]
George Eliot's "Adam Bede" [Review]
George Eliot [Review]
George Eliot [Essay on the historical context of George Eliot's works]
George Eliot [Lecture on George Eliot's Writing Style]
A Batch of Last Year's Novels
Impressions of Theophrastus Such
Impressions of Theophrastus Such
Impressions of Theophrastus Such
Art. VI. --- Theophrastus Such
George Eliot as a Poet
George Eliot and Methodism
George Eliot's New Novel [A Review of Middlemarch]
Middlemarch: The Eighth and Last Book.
George Eliot's New Novel [A Review of Middlemarch]
Literature: George Eliot's New Novel [A Review of Middlemarch]
George Eliot and Judaism
George Eliot's Novel
Adam Bede: George Eliot Originals
George Eliot on Human Nature
Film Version of George Eliot Book
The Religious Teachings of George Eliot
"George Eliot" in Real Life
Romola: George Eliot's Novel Filmed
Literature: Essays by George Eliot
Romola: Theatre Royal Attraction-- George Eliot's Novel
George Eliot: Her Best Characters
George Eliot: Some Sayings from Her Novels
Books: George Eliot Through Her Letters
George Eliot: Her Felix Holt
George Eliot's Art: Its Real Goal
"Silas Marner:" George Eliot's Novel Filmed
The Reviewer: George Eliot's Forthcoming Novel
Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939), 25 March 1876, p. 12.
A Nugget of Wisdom: George Eliot's Opinions of Swiss Watches
A Nugget of Wisdom: George Eliot's Opinions of Swiss Watches
George Eliot and Her Teachings
George Eliot's Novels: Cheap Reissues
George Eliot as a "Man of Letters"
George Eliot: Her Best Characters
George Eliot: A Roundabout Paper
Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 11 September 1879, p. 3.