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.
"'Jane Eyre' to 'Scenes of Clerical Life.'" The Women Novelists.
"George Eliot: The Literature of Power and Cup of Strength." Charlotte Bronte, George Eliot, Jane Austin.
"George Eliot." [Book Chapter]
"George Eliot'"and Wirksworth
"George Eliot" and Wirksworth Associations
"George Eliot" in Real Life
"Place and Power"
"Sayings," by George Eliot ("Adam Bede")
"Silas Marner:" George Eliot's Novel Filmed
"The Woman's Man: An Ideal and a Point of View." The Women Novelists.
[A Review of] Felix Holt, the Radical
Boys and Girls from George Eliot
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.
Felix Holt, the Radical [A Review]
George Eliot, Scenes and People in Her Novels
Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life [A Review]
Middlemarch: The Eighth and Last Book.
The Great English Writers from Chaucer to George Eliot: With Selections Illustrating Their Work
The Personal Edition of George Eliot's Works: Poems, Essays, and Leaves from a Note Book, Edited by Esther Wood
To Novelists - and a Novelist
A Batch of Last Year's Novels
A History of English Prose Fiction from Sir Thomas Malory to George Eliot
A Letter from George Eliot
A Link with "Mr. Gilfil's Love Story"
A Literary "Coincidence"-- Where George Eliot got the Drowning Scene for her "Daniel Deronda"
A Literary Study: George Eliot
A Nugget of Wisdom: George Eliot's Opinions of Swiss Watches
A Nugget of Wisdom: George Eliot's Opinions of Swiss Watches
A Prayer by George Eliot
A Professional Woman
A Reviving Fame
A Survey of English Literature
A Traveller's Experiences in the George Eliot Country
A Word About the Quinns-- And Books
About Literature and the Arts
About Some of the George Eliot's Novels
Adam Bede [A Review]
Adam Bede: George Eliot Originals
American Estimation of Popular Writers
An Author's Blunders- Slips in the Chronology of "Adam Bede"
April Magazines: George Eliot's Women
Art and Literary
Art and Literary Gossip
Art. VI. --- Theophrastus Such
Authors and Their Heroes and Heroines
Belles Lettres: Three Novels
Books Received
Books Received
Books Received
Books Received
Books Received
Books: George Eliot Through Her Letters
Cambridge University Local Lectures
Charles Dickens and "George Eliot"
Charles Dickens and George Eliot
Charles Dickens and George Eliot
Children in the Novels of George Eliot
Concerning Four Great Writers
Contributor's Column: The Novels of George Eliot
Corporation Trading: Anti-Municipal Crusade
Critical Assessments [Review of Middlemarch]
Critical Notices
Daniel Deronda [A Review]
Daniel Deronda [A Review]
Daniel Deronda and the "Philosopher's Club"
Daniel Deronda: A Conversation
Deronda the Jew
Diamond Jubilee of "Romola"
Dickens and the Queen
Dodsons and Tullivers
Dorothea Casaubon and George Eliot
Dorothea Casaubon and George Eliot
Dr. Adler on 'Daniel Deronda
Dr. Adler on "Daniel Deronda"
Eliot's Novels
Elizabeth Stuart Phelps on George Eliot
English Men and Women of Letters of the 19th Century
English Poetesses: A Series of Critical Biographies
Essays and Leaves from a Note-book
Essays on Some of the Modern Guides of English Thought in Matters of Faith [A Review]
Essays on Some of the Modern Guides to English Thought in Matters of Faith
Estimate of "George Eliot"
Estimate of "George Eliot"
Felix Holt, the Radical [A Review]
Felix Holt, the Radical [A Review]
Felix Holt, the Radical [A Review]
Felix Holt, the Radical [A Review]
Feminine Fancies, Foibles, and Fashions.
Fiction: Past and Present
Film Version of George Eliot Book
Gems From George Eliot
Gems From George Eliot
Gems From George Eliot
Gems From George Eliot
George Eliot
George Eliot
George Eliot
George Eliot
George Eliot [Book Chapter]
George Eliot [Book Chapter]
George Eliot [Essay on the historical context of George Eliot's works]
George Eliot [Essay]
George Eliot [Essay]
George Eliot [Essay]
George Eliot [Lecture on George Eliot's Writing Style]
George Eliot [Review]
George Eliot and Boadicea
George Eliot and Dinah Bede
George Eliot and Her Heroines: A Study
George Eliot and Her Teachings
George Eliot and Joseph Liggins
George Eliot and Judaism
George Eliot and Judaism; an attempt to appreciate Daniel Deronda
Second Edition
George Eliot and Judaism: An Attempt to Appreciate "Daniel Deronda."
George Eliot and Judaism: An Attempt to Appreciate "Daniel Deronda" (excerpts)
George Eliot and Methodism
George Eliot and Mrs. Humphry Ward
George Eliot and Personal Responsibility
George Eliot and the Jews
George Eliot and the Passionate School of Female Novelists
George Eliot and the Passionate School of Female Novelists
George Eliot and Thomas Hardy: A Contrast
George Eliot as a "Man of Letters"
George Eliot as a Character Artist
George Eliot as a Humourist
George Eliot as a Moral Teacher
George Eliot as a Novelist
George Eliot as a Novelist
George Eliot as a Poet
George Eliot Criticised
George Eliot has adopted a plan with the publication of Middlemarch...
George Eliot in Derbyshire
George Eliot in Derbyshire: A Volume of Gossip About Passages and People in the Novels of George Eliot
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 on the Management of Servants
George Eliot on Women
George Eliot on Women
George Eliot on Women
George Eliot, Her Life and Books
George Eliot, Prophetess
George Eliot: A Critical Study of her Life, Writings, and Philosophy [A Review]
George Eliot: A Roundabout Paper
Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 11 September 1879, p. 3.