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.
Women Writers: Their Works and Ways Volume 1
Women of Renown
Wit and Humour
Wise, Witty and Tender Sayings in Prose and Verse, selected from the Works of George Eliot
Village Life of George Eliot
Victorian Prose Masters; Thackeray - Carlyle - George Eliot - Mathew Arnold - Ruskin - George Meredith (George Eliot)
Transatlantic Latter-Day Poetry
To-day's Books
To-day's Books
To Day's Books
The Woman Question: From a Socialist Point of View
The Use of Episode in the Teaching of Fiction
The True Story of George Eliot in Relation to "Adam Bede," Giving the Real Life History of the More Prominent Characters
The Sunderland Equitable Industrial Society's Library
The Strong Side of Daniel Deronda
The Story of a Remarkable Literary Imposture
The Spanish Gypsy, A Poem [A Review]
The Spanish Gypsy, A Poem [A Review]
The Reviewer: George Eliot's Forthcoming Novel
Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939), 25 March 1876, p. 12.
The Rev. H. J. R. Marston on Goldsmith
The Religious Teachings of George Eliot
The Reflection of English Character in English Art
The Prince Consort As a Novel Reader
The Popularity-monger
The Poetry of George Eliot
The Old Fiction: Some Facts about "Adam Bede"
The Novels of George Eliot
The Novels of George Eliot
The Morality of Thackeray and George Eliot
The Moral Influence of George Eliot
The Moral Element in English Literature
The Mill on the Floss [A Review]
The Mill on the Floss [A Review]
The Mill on the Floss [A Review]
The Mill on the Floss [A Review]
The Mill on the Floss [A Review]
The Mill on the Floss [A Review]
The Mill on the Floss [A Review]
The Mill on the Floss [A Review]
The Melancholy of "Middlemarch"
The Manuscripts of George Eliot's Works
The Literary Lounger: The Magazines
The Literary Examiner [Review of The Mill on the Floss]
The Late George Eliot and Wirksworth
The Last Number of the Quarterly Review has a Review of the Novels of "George Eliot"
The Influence of George Eliot's Later Novels
The Influence of George Eliot's Early Novels
The Impressions of Theophrastus Such
The Humour of George Eliot
The Great Four
The Future of Single Women
The French George Eliot
The Essays of George Eliot
The Encyclopedia Britannica: The Third New Volume
The Country of George Eliot
The Bookmarker
The Book World: Women Novelists of To-Day
The Book of the Month
The Beginning of George Eliot's Art: A Study of "Scenes of Clerical Life"
The Autobiography of Mark Rutherford
The Authorship of "Adam Bede"
The Art of George Eliot in Silas Marner
The Art of George Eliot
The "Globe" and the "Daily News"
Studies in Poetry and Criticism
Studies in Early Victorian Literature
Standard Liberal Works, For Sale at the Investigator Office
St. Paul's Literary Society: Miss Serrell's Paper
Some "New" Humourists
Sir Theodore Martin on Books
Scenes of Clerical Life / Adam Bede
Scenes From the "George Eliot" Country
Scenes and Characters from the Works of George Eliot
Sayings of George Eliot
Sayings From George Eliot
Sayings From George Eliot
Sayings From George Eliot
Rosamond and Lydgate
Romola: Theatre Royal Attraction-- George Eliot's Novel
Romola: George Eliot's Novel Filmed
Reviews: George Eliot as an Essayist
Reviews: A New Work on George Eliot
Review of The Spanish Gypsy
Religious Services
Recognition of the Rev. J. Spanswick at Longford
Recent Novels - Scenes of Clerical Life and White Lies
Profits of Authorship [A Review of Middlemarch]
Portsmouth Literary and Scientific Society
Place and Power
Personal and Society Gossip
Our Royal Jubilee and Scripture Prophecy
On George Eliot's 'Armgart'
Old Novels and New
Nuneaton and the Memory of "George Eliot"
Museum and Library
Multiple Classified Advertisements
Multiple Classified Advertisements
Mr. Swinburne's New Volume
Mr. Swinburne On Charlotte Bronte
Mr. Ruskin on George Eliot
Mr. Noble on "George Eliot"
Mr. Noble on "George Eliot"
Mr. Herbert Spencer's Autobiography
Mr. G. W. E. Russell M P. on the "Genius of George Eliot"
Mr. Charles Dickens and George Eliot
Mr. Charles Dickens and George Eliot
Mortimer Collins and George Eliot
Mordecai: A Protest Against the Critics by a Jew
Middlemarch: a Study of Provincial Life [A Review]
Middlemarch, a Study of Provincial Life [A Review]
Middlemarch and Daniel Deronda
Middlemarch [A Review]
Middlemarch [A Review]
Manchester Literary Club
Literature: George Eliot's New Novel [A Review of Middlemarch]
Literature: George Eliot as a Poet
Literature: Essays by George Eliot
Literature, Science, and Art Gossip
Literature, Science, and Art
Literature, Science and Art
Literature, Science and Art
Literature, Music, Science, and Art
Literature of the Week
Literature of the Week
Literary, Scientific, and Artistic Notes
Literary, Artistic, and Scientific
Literary Review [Review of The Mill on the Floss]
Literary and Other Notes
Literary and Other Notes
Letters on Men and Things: On George Eliot (Continued)
Letters on Men and Things: On George Eliot
Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society
Lecture on George Eliot
Lecture by Dr. Talbot on "Middlemarch"
Jews in Fiction — III: Daniel Deronda
Introduction, The Personal Edition of George Eliot's Works: Poems, Essays, and Leaves from a Note Book
Interesting Link with "Adam Bede"
Instinctive Horror
In a Walled Garden (George Eliot Mentions)
Impressions of Theophrastus Such
Impressions of Theophrastus Such
Impressions of Theophrastus Such
Heroines of Fiction: Scott's Jeanie Deans and Cooper's Lack of Heroines
Gossip from the London Papers
George Eliot's Poetry, and Other Studies
George Eliot's Novels: Cheap Reissues
George Eliot's Novels
George Eliot's Novels
George Eliot's Novel
George Eliot's New Story [A Review of Middlemarch]
George Eliot's New Story [A Review of Middlemarch]
George Eliot's New Story [A Review of Middlemarch]
George Eliot's New Romance
George Eliot's New Novel [A Review of Middlemarch]
George Eliot's New Novel [A Review of Middlemarch]
George Eliot's New Novel [A Review of Middlemarch]
George Eliot's New Novel [A Review of Middlemarch]
George Eliot's New Novel [A Review of Middlemarch]
George Eliot's Middlemarch [Review]
George Eliot's Middlemarch [A Review]
George Eliot's Forthcoming Novel
George Eliot's First Romance
George Eliot's Continental Influence
George Eliot's Characters
George Eliot's Art: Its Real Goal
George Eliot's Account of "Dinah Morris"
George Eliot's "Adam Bede" [Review]
George Eliot's 'The Mill on the Floss' [A Review]
George Eliot: Thoughts Upon Her Life, Her Books, and Herself
George Eliot: The Realisticness of Dorothea
George Eliot: The Loss of Great Writers
George Eliot: Some Sayings from Her Novels
George Eliot: Some Sayings from Her Novels
George Eliot: Some Sayings from Her Novels
George Eliot: Sermon by Rev. Robert Collyer on the Greatest Novelist
George Eliot: Scenes and People in Her Novels
George Eliot: Scenes and People in her Novels
George Eliot: Her Mind and Art
George Eliot: Her Life and Works
George Eliot: Her Felix Holt
George Eliot: Her Best Characters
George Eliot: Her Best Characters
George Eliot: Characteristics of the Great Novelist
George Eliot: An American Understanding
George Eliot: A Roundabout Paper
Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 11 September 1879, p. 3.
George Eliot: A Critical Study of her Life, Writings, and Philosophy [A Review]
George Eliot, Prophetess
George Eliot, Her Life and Books
George Eliot on Women
George Eliot on Women
George Eliot on Women
George Eliot on the Management of Servants
George Eliot on Human Nature
George Eliot on Human Nature
George Eliot on Human Nature
George Eliot on Human Nature
George Eliot on Human Nature
George Eliot on Human Nature
George Eliot on Human Nature
George Eliot on Human Nature
George Eliot in Derbyshire: A Volume of Gossip About Passages and People in the Novels of George Eliot
George Eliot in Derbyshire
George Eliot has adopted a plan with the publication of Middlemarch...
George Eliot Criticised
George Eliot as a Poet
George Eliot as a Novelist
George Eliot as a Novelist
George Eliot as a Moral Teacher
George Eliot as a Humourist
George Eliot as a Character Artist
George Eliot as a "Man of Letters"
George Eliot and Thomas Hardy: A Contrast
George Eliot and the Passionate School of Female Novelists
George Eliot and the Passionate School of Female Novelists
George Eliot and the Jews
George Eliot and Personal Responsibility
George Eliot and Mrs. Humphry Ward
George Eliot and Methodism
George Eliot and Judaism: An Attempt to Appreciate "Daniel Deronda" (excerpts)
George Eliot and Judaism: An Attempt to Appreciate "Daniel Deronda."
George Eliot and Judaism; an attempt to appreciate Daniel Deronda
Second Edition