George Eliot and Judaism: An Attempt to Appreciate Daniel Deronda

George Eliot and Judaism: An Attempt to Appreciate Daniel Deronda

Kaufmann, David

London: Blackwood & Sons, 1878

Internet Archive

1878

George Eliot to David Kaufmann, 31 May 1877. “Hardly, since I became an author, have I had a deeper satisfaction, I may say a more heartfelt joy, than you have given me in your estimate of ‘Daniel Deronda.’ I must tell you that it is my rule, very strictly observed, not to read the criticisms on my writings. For years I have found this abstinence necessary to preserve me from that discouragement as an artist which ill-judged praise, no less than ill-judged blame, tends to produce in me. For far worse than any verdict as to the proportion of good and evil in our work, is the painful impression that we write for a public which has no discernment of good and evil. My husband reads any notices of me that come before him, and reports to me (or else refrains from reporting) the general character of the notice or something in particular which strikes him as showing either an exceptional insight or an obtuseness that is gross enough to be amusing. Very rarely, when he has read a critique of me, he has handed it to me, saying, "You must read this." And your estimate of ‘Daniel Deronda’ made one of these rare instances.” GEL 6: 378-9

Kaufmann, David, George Eliot and Judaism: An Attempt to Appreciate Daniel Deronda, George Eliot's Reading, George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org, Accessed September 7, 2026. https://georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/57509

https://georgeeliotarchive.org/files/original/aa079a8bb71e2730bed1dab54a7d56e0.pdf