Jane Austen and George Eliot The Lady and The Radical
In October 1851, a chance meeting in a Piccadilly bookshop changed the course of literary history. For it was here that Mary Ann Evans, an unworldly young scholar, was introduced to the love of her life, the critic George Lewes. Encouraged and supported by Lewes, Evans became the queen of literary London under her pen name, George Eliot.
In nurturing Eliot’s talent, Lewes drew inspiration from the works of an unfashionable author of the previous generation by the name of Jane Austen. On the face of it, Austen and Eliot had little in common. Jane Austen was a genteel spinster who spent her life in Hampshire, painting Regency domestic dramas with delicate irony and unfailing charm. George Eliot, meanwhile, was a radical intellectual who lived scandalously with a married man, travelled widely in Europe and documented with stirring realism the social upheavals of her age.
And yet, when George Eliot embarked on her career as an author in the late 1850s, the works of Jane Austen were at her side, feeding her imagination. Separated by time, circumstance and temperament, the two writers nevertheless had a vital impetus in common: to prove the value of a woman’s eye in a man’s world.
Packed with quotes from letters, diaries and the nation’s favourite novels, this lively history traces the surprising connections between two of our brightest literary stars and shows, for the first time, how each can be illuminated by the other’s light.
Reviews
“This is a work of extraordinary historical detail and scholarship into two of Britain’s most adored writers, meticulously researched and beautifully told. Come for the literature, revel in the authors and stay for the history in this delightful, inspiring book.”
Emily Maitlis
“I absolutely loved this book. A wonderful read that sheds light on the previously little-known connection between two of our most brilliant authors. I hope Edward Whitley’s fascinating slice of literary history will entice some of the many admirers of Jane Austen to try a little George Eliot, who is a truly magnificent writer.”
Cressida Cowell
“Enthralling”
Alice Loxton, author of Eighteen: A History of Britain in 18 Young Lives
“Edward Whitley’s book is a highly readable dual biography with a convincing analysis of how influence can work, even with authors as apparently chalk and cheese as Jane Austen and George Eliot. He reminds us that, at the highest level we call genius, great literature is a conversation.”
John Sutherland, Emeritus Lord Northcliffe Professor of Modern English Literature at University College London
Share this book
Buy this book
- Hardback, 304 pages
- ISBN: 9781785909542
- 20 March 2025
-
£10.00
£20.00
You save £10.00 (50%)
- eBook
- ISBN: 9781785909986
- 20 March 2025
-
£7.50
£14.99
You save £7.49 (50%)