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.
George Eliot: An American Understanding
George Eliot: Sermon by Rev. Robert Collyer on the Greatest Novelist
George Eliot: Characteristics of the Great Novelist
George Eliot: The Realisticness of Dorothea
George Eliot [Essay]
George Eliot [Essay]
Literary and Other Notes
Fiction: Past and Present
Victorian Prose Masters; Thackeray - Carlyle - George Eliot - Mathew Arnold - Ruskin - George Meredith (George Eliot)
The Encyclopedia Britannica: The Third New Volume
George Eliot and Boadicea
Critical Assessments [Review of Middlemarch]
George Eliot [Book Chapter]
"George Eliot." [Book Chapter]
"George Eliot: The Literature of Power and Cup of Strength." Charlotte Bronte, George Eliot, Jane Austin.
A Survey of English Literature
George Eliot [Book Chapter]
Scenes From the "George Eliot" Country
In a Walled Garden (George Eliot Mentions)
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 on Women
George Eliot's Characters
Gems From George Eliot
"The Woman's Man: An Ideal and a Point of View." The Women Novelists.
"'Jane Eyre' to 'Scenes of Clerical Life.'" The Women Novelists.
George Eliot, Prophetess
Gems From George Eliot
Gems From George Eliot
Sayings From George Eliot
Sayings of George Eliot
George Eliot's Forthcoming Novel
George Eliot on Women
George Eliot [Essay]
Sayings From George Eliot
George Eliot's "Adam Bede" [Review]
Sayings From George Eliot
George Eliot on Women
Gems From George Eliot
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
George Eliot: Her Mind and Art
George Eliot
George Eliot's First Romance
Deronda the Jew
Impressions of Theophrastus Such
Impressions of Theophrastus Such
Impressions of Theophrastus Such
George Eliot, Her Life and Books
Art. VI. --- Theophrastus Such
George Eliot as a Poet
A History of English Prose Fiction from Sir Thomas Malory to George Eliot
Women Writers: Their Works and Ways Volume 1
Belles Lettres: Three Novels
Adam Bede [A Review]
Studies in Poetry and Criticism
Critical Notices
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]
The Use of Episode in the Teaching of Fiction
The Art of George Eliot in Silas Marner
The Poetry of George Eliot
George Eliot and Judaism
George Eliot on Human Nature
George Eliot's Novel
Adam Bede: George Eliot Originals
George Eliot on Human Nature
The Art of George Eliot
Film Version of George Eliot Book
The Religious Teachings of George Eliot
Contributor's Column: The Novels 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's 'The Mill on the Floss' [A Review]
George Eliot: Her Best Characters
George Eliot: Some Sayings from Her Novels
Books: George Eliot Through Her Letters
George Eliot: Some Sayings from Her Novels
A Prayer by George Eliot
George Eliot on Human Nature
George Eliot: Her Felix Holt
George Eliot: Some Sayings from Her Novels
"Sayings," by George Eliot ("Adam Bede")
George Eliot on Human Nature
George Eliot's Art: Its Real Goal
"Silas Marner:" George Eliot's Novel Filmed
George Eliot on Human Nature
George Eliot on Human Nature
George Eliot on Human Nature
George Eliot on Human Nature
Mr. Ruskin on George Eliot
The Reviewer: George Eliot's Forthcoming Novel
Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939), 25 March 1876, p. 12.
George Eliot: A Roundabout Paper
Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 11 September 1879, p. 3.
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 and Judaism: An Attempt to Appreciate "Daniel Deronda" (excerpts)
The Personal Edition of George Eliot's Works: Poems, Essays, and Leaves from a Note Book, Edited by Esther Wood
Introduction, The Personal Edition of George Eliot's Works: Poems, Essays, and Leaves from a Note Book
Transatlantic Latter-Day Poetry
Boys and Girls from George Eliot
The Great English Writers from Chaucer to George Eliot: With Selections Illustrating Their Work
George Eliot, Scenes and People in Her Novels
Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot, Jane Austen: Studies in Their Works
Bonnell, Henry H. (Henry Houston). Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot, Jane Austen: Studies In Their Works. New York [etc.]: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1902.