GE to Abraham Benisch, London, 16 December 1876
Title
GE to Abraham Benisch, London, 16 December 1876
Title
GE to Abraham Benisch, London, 16 December 1876
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Abraham Benisch
Date(s)
- 1876-12-16
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Abraham Benisch, London, 16 December 1876
MS: Jewish Museum, London. Published: Anglo-Jewish Letters, ed. Cecil Roth, 1938, p. 312.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
December 16. 76.
Dear Sir
Heartfelt thanks for your kind letter and the copy of the current [Jewish Chronicle.]
You are probably better aware than I am that the elements in [Daniel Deronda] which have called forth your generously appreciative words have met in the ordinary public chiefly with an ignorant surprize and lack of sympathy. This was what I expected. But I did not expect the cordial encouragement [by] which you and other instructed men have given me to believe that my anxious effort at a true presentation is not a failure, and may even touch the feeling of your people to welcome issues.
I am not accustomed to write with much confidence in my effect, my choice of subjects being adjusted to my own taste and not to any prevalent mode, and I certainly could never have written [Daniel Deronda] if a deep impersonal historic interest had not made me independent of minor considerations. Nothing could have caused me to regret my work except the evidence that Jews of high character and culture felt my presentation to be unreal and unjust.
I am indebted to you -- and also to Dr. Hermann Adler -- for the most authoritative assurance that I have no such cause for regret. And it may interest you to know that close upon your letter there came one from a gentleman now in the Jewish Theological Seminary at Breslau, apparently as a professor, whose words are in perfect agreement with your own. I remain, dear Sir,
Yours sincerely
M. E. Lewes.
MS: Jewish Museum, London. Published: Anglo-Jewish Letters, ed. Cecil Roth, 1938, p. 312.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
December 16. 76.
Dear Sir
Heartfelt thanks for your kind letter and the copy of the current [Jewish Chronicle.]
You are probably better aware than I am that the elements in [Daniel Deronda] which have called forth your generously appreciative words have met in the ordinary public chiefly with an ignorant surprize and lack of sympathy. This was what I expected. But I did not expect the cordial encouragement [by] which you and other instructed men have given me to believe that my anxious effort at a true presentation is not a failure, and may even touch the feeling of your people to welcome issues.
I am not accustomed to write with much confidence in my effect, my choice of subjects being adjusted to my own taste and not to any prevalent mode, and I certainly could never have written [Daniel Deronda] if a deep impersonal historic interest had not made me independent of minor considerations. Nothing could have caused me to regret my work except the evidence that Jews of high character and culture felt my presentation to be unreal and unjust.
I am indebted to you -- and also to Dr. Hermann Adler -- for the most authoritative assurance that I have no such cause for regret. And it may interest you to know that close upon your letter there came one from a gentleman now in the Jewish Theological Seminary at Breslau, apparently as a professor, whose words are in perfect agreement with your own. I remain, dear Sir,
Yours sincerely
M. E. Lewes.
Signature
M. E. Lewes.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Abraham Benisch, London, 16 December 1876, Complete George Eliot Letters(2026), George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org, Accessed September 7, 2026. https://georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/91970