GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Wandsworth, 27 June 1859]
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Wandsworth, 27 June 1859]
Title
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Wandsworth, 27 June 1859]
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Sara Sophia Hennell
Date(s)
- 1859-06-27
Place
[Wandsworth]
Letter Content
GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Wandsworth, 27 June 1859]
MS: Yale. Endorsed: June 1859. Hitherto unpublished.
Dear Sara
Just a special word or two to you. I don't know whether you quite understood that I read that part of the M.S. introducing your brother's work, 177 very carefully, and I think I should even on many reperusals, retain the opinion I expressed -- namely, that it is desirable for you to introduce the book so that the reader may understand you at once to have selected it as the best exponent of a particular phase of thought -- without having his attention diverted from that main point by a word which looks like a plea, eulogy or vindication. I should not be disposed to contend for my view very strongly, because I am rather morbidly averse to anything that can be mistaken as a sign of a personal reason for a critical judgment. But whenever I think over the matter, it bears the same aspect to me, except that I have recently thought there might be a note briefly indicating that Mr. Hennell's independent inquiries had led him to results which in Germany had been the outcome of a whole era of critical inquiry. But wouldn't that note come best -- not at the beginning, but where you have arrived at the statement of these results?
After all, I don't think I am a good judge, and I feel strongly that the suggestion Mr. Lewes made should not worry your mind. Unless you felt a disposition at once to fall in with it, I don't see how you could model your book on another person's ideas. A suggestion sometimes becomes our own idea immediately, opening a new possibility to us. If not, it is better to forget it.
Ever yours
Marian.
MS: Yale. Endorsed: June 1859. Hitherto unpublished.
Dear Sara
Just a special word or two to you. I don't know whether you quite understood that I read that part of the M.S. introducing your brother's work, 177 very carefully, and I think I should even on many reperusals, retain the opinion I expressed -- namely, that it is desirable for you to introduce the book so that the reader may understand you at once to have selected it as the best exponent of a particular phase of thought -- without having his attention diverted from that main point by a word which looks like a plea, eulogy or vindication. I should not be disposed to contend for my view very strongly, because I am rather morbidly averse to anything that can be mistaken as a sign of a personal reason for a critical judgment. But whenever I think over the matter, it bears the same aspect to me, except that I have recently thought there might be a note briefly indicating that Mr. Hennell's independent inquiries had led him to results which in Germany had been the outcome of a whole era of critical inquiry. But wouldn't that note come best -- not at the beginning, but where you have arrived at the statement of these results?
After all, I don't think I am a good judge, and I feel strongly that the suggestion Mr. Lewes made should not worry your mind. Unless you felt a disposition at once to fall in with it, I don't see how you could model your book on another person's ideas. A suggestion sometimes becomes our own idea immediately, opening a new possibility to us. If not, it is better to forget it.
Ever yours
Marian.
Signature
Marian.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Sara Sophia Hennell, [Wandsworth, 27 June 1859], 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/93875