Transcript George Eliot

“Our deeds determine us as much as we determine our deeds.”
Eliot (1819 – 1880)
Mary Anne Evans was born in 22
November 1819, in the South Farm,
Arbury Hall, Neneaton, in England.
Eliot's birthplace at South Farm, Arbury
Her father was a carpenter who rose to be
a land agent. When Eliot was a few
months old, the family moved to Griff, a
'cheerful red-brick, ivory-covered house',
and there Eliot spent 21 years of her life
among people that she later used in her
novels. She was educated at home and in
several schools, and developed a strong
evangelical character.
However, later Eliot rejected her dogmatic
faith. When her mother died in 1836, she
took charge of the family household. In
1841 she moved with her father to
Coventry, where she lived with him until
his death in 1849.
After age sixteen, Eliot had little formal
education.
The other important early influence in her
life was religion. She was brought up
within a narrow low church Anglican
family.
When she was 21, Evans and her father
moved near Coventry.
The closeness to Coventry society brought
new influences into her life and later on
into her writing.
Eliot's first collection of tales, SCENES OF
CLERICAL LIFE, appeared in 1858 under the
name George Eliot- a male name.
In those days writing was considered to be
a male profession.
She wrote several novels and poetry.
She also translated books into English.
The characters in her novels are people
who influenced her life like: her father ,
her first husband and friends from the
Coventry.
She got married twice but she had no
children.
Eliot died On 22 December 1880 at the age
of 61 in London.
The Victorian Period revolves around the
political career of Queen Victoria. She
was crowned in 1837 and died in 1901
(which put a definite end to her political
career). A great deal of change took
place during this period-brought about
because of the Industrial Revolution; so
it's not surprising that the literature of the
period is often concerned with social
reform.
Writers associated with the late Victorian
Period include: George Meredith (18281909), Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889),
Oscar Wilde (1856-1900), Thomas Hardy
(1840-1928), Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936),
A.E. Housman (1859-1936), and Robert Louis
Stevenson (1850-1894).
It was a time of change, but also a time of
GREAT literature!