Brother Jacob

Description

First published 1860.

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Customer Reviews

Brother Jacob
Brother Jacob by George Eliot. Published by MobileReference (mobi).

This ebook has a very good table of contents. ToC is linked to every chapter. It works great on my Kindle!

2008-11-23 (USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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The Lifted Veil

Description

The Lifted Veil is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by George Eliot is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of George Eliot then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection.

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Customer Reviews

Must Read Melancholy Romance
Wow...

This book had me saying wow early on, and perhaps this was the first sign that I was in the presence of significant literature. Basically, George Eliot (literature buffs know this is Mary Anne Evans) strikes you in 'The Lifted Veil' immediately with a somber punch worthy of Edgar Allen Poe, followed by drama, romance, and a hint of the mystic. The tone remains constant in it's dark mood, but this did little to dampen my enthusiasm as a reader. Already this book has climbed into my top 20 short stories involving romance.

I really would hate to spoil your reading of this great tale with spoilers, but suffice it to say the allusion of the title is referring to the marital veil primarily, and not the veil of death, although that could be also intended on a lesser note. So, basically, I would consider this a great read for anyone ever contemplating marriage, as a cautionary tale. It really does have some good insight into that, as well as the 'pecking order' of family relationships.

Overall, a period romance with a very personal, very somber, slightly mystic and very male feel to it, which distinguishes it greatly.

Highly recommended.

2010-04-13 (Oklahoma) | Helpful Votes: 12 | Rating: 5

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Scenes of Clerical Life

Description

The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Fiction / Classics; Fiction / Fairy Tales, Folklore

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Customer Reviews

a neglected gem
Scenes of Clerical Life by George Eliot. Published by MobileReference (mobi).

If you want realism get this ebook. It's a fabulous introduction to Eliot, as well as one of her best works.

2008-11-21 (Hartford, CT) | Helpful Votes: 3 | Rating: 5

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George Eliot's first published fictional work is a neglected gem by the literary genius
George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) was born in Warwickshire in 1819. Her father was an estate manager and farmer. Little Mary Ann knew life in rural England. She would make rural Britain during the time of the industrial revolution her main fictional focus. She is the author of great classics "Middlemarch" "Adam Bede" "The Mill on the Floss" "Romola
and "Daniel Deronda/"
Prior to the publication of these classics there is the charming and touching work "Scenes of a Clerical Life." Mary Ann was living without benefit of clergy with the author/scientist/man of letters George Henry Lewes who couldn't divorce his mad wife to mary the homely but brilliant Mary Ann (she spoke seven languages and had written widely on biblical criticism, science, book reviews and essays of erudition and wit). Lewes suggested she try her hand at fiction. The result is this collection of three stories which was published monthly in the liberal "Westminster Review" owned by the Blackwood Family in 1857. It was later published in book form under the pen name of "George Eliot". Charles Dickens was the only critic who correctly observed that these stories had to have been written by a woman.
The three tales are:
1. The Sad Fortunes of the Rev. Amos Barton-The setting for this story as for the other two is the mythical Midlands town of Milby. Barton is an a very average cleryman who is not well liked by his parishoners. He is in dire poverty supporting several children and a sickly wife Millie. When Mrs. Barton dies we see how the church folks support Barton in his grief. The story is short and touching.
2. Mr. Gilfil's Love Story. This second clergyman in the trilogy of tales is a kindhearted old minister of the gospel. Eliot takes us back to 1788 to the story of his lost love for the beautiful Caterina. Caterina was born in Italy to an opera singer. When he died she was taken to England to be raised by a rich family. Her chief purpose is to sing for the family. She falls in love with a wealthy aristocratic soldier who dies. Mr. Gilfil who has loved her all along then marries Caterina. She herself dies in childbirth. Despite his grief Mr. Gilfil ministers for many years to the people in Milby. This tale is a tragic story of love and loss and
redemptive service to other people. Eliot told realistic stories about ordinary people. She is the a novelist of great psychological depth as well as able to puncture the balloons of hypocrisy always afloat in human society.
Janet's Repentance. Janet is a wealthy woman who is also a battered wife. She is married to Mr Dempster who is a wealthy powerful attorney. Dempster is also an incorrigble drunk and wife beater. One night he cast Janet out into the cold. She is rescued by kind friends and the saintly Rev. Mr. Tryan. We see Janet rescued from despair to a life of useful service. We also overhear debates by the townspeople (serving as a Greek chorus in Eliot's works) commenting on the theological controversies of the day.
These three stories would lead to George Eliot's name becoming known in the literary London world and among the reading publis. Soon her authorial star would rise high in the wild blue yonder of literary immortality. Do yourself a favor and read this book.

2007-10-08 | Michael Mills (Knoxville Tennessee) | Helpful Votes: 3 | Rating: 5

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Eliot's first is still a landmark
Eliot's first work here is still surprising in its form, its message, and its outlook. Eschewing the romantic elements of the early-mid 19th century, Eliot embraced (if not practically invented) realism--not necessarily that real life should constitute all texts, but that real people should inhabit them, changing characters, three-dimensional people with which the reader is nearly forced to sympathize. Eliot's narrators are constantly, though never tediously, beckoning our sympathies to these people--drab, regular, nondescript characters which still hold our fervent attention to the end.

I will not speak of the plots here, for you can look elsewhere for that. Suffice it to say that Eliot is the only feminist I will ever read. Her descriptions, always important and vital to the meaning of the story, are utterly incredible. This book is more like poetry in this regard--its imagery, its vibrancy.

If you buy this book, think of some of these questions:
-Why is it called "The Sad Fortunes of Amos Barton" and not "...of Milly Barton"?
-Always keep in mind the muddling of characters and concepts. Are there are any ideal characters in this book, or are nearly all characters both execrable and sympathetic at the same time? If there is an ideal character, why would Eliot do this? (Milly)
-When does Janet make her first appearance in her story? Why?

That's enough. This book isn't read enough. It's a fabulous introduction to Eliot, as well as one of her best works. Her scope here is much more focused than than of her other works, though not to disparage those too much...it's less than 400 pages, whereas Middlemarch is around 1000! Read this, then pick up Middlemarch.

If you want realism, and if you think Henry James isn't very readable, pick up this book.

2006-03-02 (Atlanta) | Helpful Votes: 5 | Rating: 4

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Middlemarch (Oxford World's Classics)

Product Details

• Condition: New
• ISBN13: 9780199536757
• Notes: BUY WITH Assurance, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and worship army to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

Description

This panoramic work--considered the finest novel in English by many critics--offers a complex look at English provincial life at a crucial historical moment, and, at the same time, dramatizes and explores some of the most potent myths of Victorian literature. The text of this edition comes from the Clarendon Middlemarch, the first critical edition of the novel.

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Customer Reviews

Great Edition
Middlemarch is an enduring classic and I will always love it. I know the book is long, but it's one of those books that you will be proud to display on your bookshelf. This particular edition was really helpful; the editor's notes were illuminating and the book provided translations and context where needed. I have read the book before without editor's notes and having those explanatory notes really name a big difference. Also, this particular edition was really affordable.

2010-07-05 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Horrible formatting for the Kindle edition
The book itself is fine. However, the font style and formatting used by the Oxford press is really unattractive, and there is no way to change the font style. You can change the size of the font but not the actual font style itself. It is a very old style and looks like something from the 1800s. I'm sure this was fine for printed books in the 1800s, but it looks horrible on a Kindle 2 screen in the 2000s. Come on Oxford, when you convert your books to an e-reader format, you need to put some thought into how the work will be displayed on e-readers. When given a choice, I always use the Oxford edition of classics, but for this book I switched over to the Penguin edition just because of the way the work is displayed on the Kindle 2 screen. Horrible job Oxford!

2010-06-22 | Steven T. Shelton (New York, New York) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 1

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Review of Middlemarch
Finally. Finally after four weeks of reading I finish this novel.

So, in summary, this is what I gathered from the book. This is a story about three couples - Fred and Mary, Dorothea and Ladislaw and Rosamund and Lyndgate. These six people live in a town called Middlemarch - and Eliot does not build a vague fictional town here, she details every last little thing down to pages upon pages of motives behind elections, decisions made and fainting spells. Every bit of gossip is laid out and every substantial movement of a main character dissected and looked at from all angles.

In short, this was the longest book I've ever read. And I'm sad to say I just did not like it all that much.

I often remarked to my family as I was trudging my way through this novel that, at times, it felt as if I was sitting and watching a snail decide which direction to move in. Now, don't get me wrong - the characters were vibrant. They could have sprung off the page, full of life if Eliot (to borrow a Tolkien term here) had not the patience of an Ent. So. Much. Detail. Ugh. I cannot get over how long this book took to read.

I loved the Epilogue though (and for more reasons than it just signifying the end!) and I'm proud of myself for sticking it through and for grasping the story and understanding the significance of why she wrote it the way she did. It had to be done that way - the actual "action" in the book would have been disappointing on its own without all of the build-up. But instead of feeling a triumphant release at the ending I felt more a calm sigh of relief and had a "thank God" moment (both for it being the end and for getting what I wanted at the end of the book).

I would not have read this book if I hadn't been involved in the 1001 Books to Read Before you Die challenge. And honestly, I'm dreading the next George Eliot I pick up, but at least I've armed myself with some knowledge and know how to approach it now. Bits at a time with plenty of action-filled books in between.

2010-03-16 (Georgia) | Helpful Votes: 4 | Rating: 3

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Don't be intimidated--it is truly transcendent
I must admit that I was intimidated for years by this novel. It sat on my shelf for ages, neglected in favor of "easier" books to read. Once I started it though, I couldn't put it down.

I generally read really quickly, but you really should take your time with every word of this novel. Otherwise you miss sentences like the following:

"If we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow and the squirrel's heart beat, and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence." !!!!!!!!!!! AMAZING.

Not to mention a lushly romantic plot that really tears you apart. I couldn't believe how breathless I was during the interactions of two of the main characters. Deeper messages aside, this was an emotional experience. I read Middlemarch like I read novels that will not be in print more than 10 years. So don't be intimidated by the density of the prose like I was!

2010-03-02 (NY) | Helpful Votes: 13 | Rating: 5

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A Faithfully Hidden Life
This novel by Mary Ann Evans - nom de plume, George Eliot - who lived with a man out of wedlock for most of her life and who throughout her adult life was a confirmed nonbeliever - or "nullifidian" as she would say - proved a difficult one for me to spend a week rereading. I am, no doubt, overly impressionable about literature and oversensitive to the world in which I inhabit whilst in an author's grasp. But I was clinically depressed through, say, the last few hundred pages of the book, and then felt my eyes tear in tender exultation through the final thirty. Those few hundred pages are necessary, I see again now, for making this book into a true work of art rather than a soap opera or soap box speech, but the strain on the reader - or this reader - is well-nigh unbearable. What Ms. Evans does here is to build up a moralistic universe in her provincial Middlemarch filled with humbug and cant and then bring it crashing down around the sometimes tawdry cast of characters which she deftly creates.

For, make no mistake, the true heroes of this book are Dorothea ("Gift of the gods" in Greek) and Ladislaw (an obviously somewhat domesticated version of the poet Shelley). They are the hub of the wheel around which all the other spokes revolve. They are, with their ardent natures and spiritual longings, the characters that linger - at times like guttering candles - in the back of the reader's mind all through this heavy weave of a novel. We are conscious all along of the "real" life going on as it does in the "pallid quaintness" of Dorothea's "blue-green boudoir":

"Nothing had been outwardly altered there; but while the summer had gradually advanced over the western fields beyond the avenue of the elms, the bare room had gathered within it those memories of an inward life which fill the air as with a cloud of good or bad angels, the invisible yet active forms of our spiritual triumphs or spiritual falls."

In the meantime (i.e., through the greater part of the novel) Ms. Evans painfully yet deftly guides us through what she at one point calls "the irony of events." So immersed do we become in the tedious banalities of the inward lives of the characters, the human misery and spiritual stolidness of these village worthies that the entire world comes to seem a very washed-out realm indeed. So that when things finally do come around for Dorothea and Ladislaw, the cosmos of Middlemarch is turned upside-down in a wondrous moment:

"The wind was dashing against the window-panes as if an angry spirit were within it, and behind it was the great swoop of the wind: it was one of those moments in which both the busy and the idle pause with a certain awe."----For Lo! The two soul-mates of the novel have - the ultimate taboo in a world ruled by class, money fears and concerns, petty gossip and scandal that can ruin one - tremblingly, kissed!

The reader can have no idea how breathtaking and world-shattering this moment is from this review. It comes after hundreds of pages in which the one has been dragged through the spiritual wasteland of Middlemarch, in which men and women have had their souls and livelihoods crushed by the mundane and quotidian, described by Ms Evans with Inquisitorial detail. One has begun to wonder if love, yes love, exists at all in the world.

For, again, it is exalted, Romantic love with which Ms. Evans is primarily concerned, thrown into sublime relief by her detailed, plodding description of the drab world. To lift a phrase from the last sentence in the book, it is for those who have "lived faithfully a hidden life" - much as Ms. Evans did - which the rest of the world scorns, for whom this book is written.

2009-08-27 (Greenville, SC USA) | Helpful Votes: 12 | Rating: 4

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The Lifted Veil and Brother Jacob

Description

An Unabridged Edition of Both The Lifted Veil & Brother Jacob

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Customer Reviews

The dark Hyde to Eliot's more familiar, 'warm' Jekyll works.
My previous experience of reading George Eliot (admittedly about a decade ago) had been unhappy - her celebrated humanism seemed like so much fussy interference; 'Silas Marner' was too cosy, and I could not get past the infuriating first chapter of 'Middlemarch'. I've always felt a bit guilty about abandoning 'the greatest English novelist', and this volume of two short tales was a perfect opportunity to see whther my tastes had matured.

'The Lifted Veil' is a dark masterpiece, part-Gothic tale, written in the stilted style of famous horror stories like 'Frankenstein', in which inexplicable horror is described with unnervingly inappropriate articulacy; part-Henry James study of an idle, wealthy man tormented by the unknowability of a woman and her faithfulness (shades of Proust too, who worshipped Eliot).

As Gothic, its influence on cinema has been slight, although the narrator who narrates his own death looks to 'Sunset Boulevard', while a character who can see others' minds was recently enacted in 'What Women Want'. The story begins with one of the best, most shocking openings in English literature, as the hero Latimer, blighted with the gift of 'prevision', gives a detailed account of the way he will die, alone in a crumbling mansion, abandoned by careless servants.

At times, the story reads like a textbook psychological study with a solipsistic hero who lost his beloved mother at a young age, whose father resented him as inadequate, and whose brother's fiancee he loves. The various previsions he has are full of those details Freudian critics enjoy. But those previsions are described in ominous tableaux, and the switch from 'real life' into these states has a genuinely disorienting effect on the reader.

The text has always been seen as valuable as a rare instance of Eliot in effect denying or questioning the humanist principles of her most characteristic work and her interest in progressive science - its narrative is hermetic, anti-humanistic, circular: conflating time to an eternal, hellish present.

'Brother Jacob' is more like the Eliot I remembered, the story of a confectioner's apprentice who steals from his mother to emigrate to Jamaica where he intends to be given his fortune. Although it is a (sour) moral fable, with every character emerging badly, rather than warmly humanistic, the novels' irritations are here - the bossy, intrusive narration; the portrait of a growing, bourgeois community, lifelessly focusing on their obsessions with status and money, where every metaphor is inextricably linked with commerce and consumption. Each character is a caricature: the 'humour' is smug, smart-alecky, sarcastic and sneering. The tale is full of the details English Literature critics enjoy - colonialism, mental defectives, assumed identities etc.

The volume is worth reading for Sally Shuttleworth's exhaustive introduction, which discusses the stories in the context of Eliot's life and work (both are seen as negative allegories for writing and the writer), British Imperialism, laissez-faire economics, gender, the growth of science and progressive philosophy as the new religion etc.

2001-09-21 | Helpful Votes: 11 | Rating: 3

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Between Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll
A little-read story of George Eliot's "The Lifted Veil" is a lovely example of the intersection between humanities and science in 1859: it ends with a revivification scene worthy of Mary Shelley. Written just before Eliot admitted to being the author of *Adam Bede*, the emasculated protagonist, Latimer, mirrors Eliot herself in his desire for solitude. Exceedingly well-crafted Victorian writing. (I don't know the other story *Brother Jacob* well: it espouses that the wages of sin are embarassment and ostracization.)

2000-06-11 | Helpful Votes: 5 | Rating: 4

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Middlemarch, Volume I

Description

Volume 1 of 4. Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life. A novel by George Eliot, the pen name of Mary Anne Evans, later Marian Evans. Themes include the status of women, the nature of marriage, idealism and self-interest, religion and hypocrisy, political reform, and education. Virginia Woolf described Middlemarch as "one of the few English novels written for grown-up people". This book is a reproduction of the 1871 First Edition.

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Customer Reviews

Great Love Story. A Classic To Be Read Over & Over.
George Eliot's classic novel "Middlemarch" is a timeless treasure that deserves to be read over and over again. My favourite characters in the novel are Dorothea, Will (I always thought of Orlando Bloom playing him while I was reading), Rosamond, Mary and Fred. Very well-written, though Bulstrode's shady past is somewhat confusing to me. great read, though.

2010-06-19 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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If You Haven't Read This, You Can't Consider Yourself Educated
My dad believes this is the greatest novel written in the nineteenth century and the second greatest novel of all time. The number one spot he gives to Ernest Hemingway's THE SUN ALSO RISES. He made me read this when I was in junior high school and because I was kind of being forced, I didn't like it so much.

But last night I went back to this story about life in a provincial English town and now I see what I didn't see back then and that my dad was right, when he said about this book, "You can't consider yourself educated if you haven't read it."

2010-06-16 (Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Not my kind of book.
I'm reading this book for my Great Books class at university and it is one of the hardest reads for most of the class. I have a lot of difficulty getting into the story and find myself skipping huge parts of it and just using sparknotes to see if I missed anything.

2010-02-22 | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 2

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Reviewed plenty of times, but it's a favorite, so I'll add one more...
I'll give you my favorite quote. Will Ladislaw, a devoted admirer of the book's lead- Dorothea, is caught by her in what appears to be a precarious situation with another woman (I won't reveal who). This woman flippanty tells Will he can follow Dorothea (who fled the scene), and "explain his preference":

'He found another vent for his rage by snatching up [her] words again, as if they were reptiles to be throttled and flung off. "Explain! Tell a man to explain how he dropped into hell! Explain my preference! I've never had a PREFERENCE for her, any more than I have a preference for breathing. No other woman exists by the side of her. I would rather touch her hand if it were dead, than I would touch any other woman's living."'

Quick review: one aspect of this novel is about unwise choices in marraige, HOWEVER, this novel is NOT anti-marraige (as the most popular positive review seems to allude). In fact, at its core is the idea of marraige for love and, in several cases, this novel examplifies the need of pushing through trials with your spouse (Lydgate, Garth, and even creepy Bulstrode). No character walks away from their marraige in this novel, and ultimately it has happy endings.

What I love most about Dorothea is that she LEARNS throughout the novel. That she changes. In the beginning she is prudish, opinionated, and spurns romance to marry a man under a disillusioned ideal it will broaden her usefulness. At first I didn't care for her, I liked her sister better (who becomes somewhat silly later on). Through her trials, Dorothea softens. She is humbled. She sees the value in others and spurns viscious gossip and judgments. By the end of the book, my opinion of her has managed to rotate 180 degrees.

I've already said more than I intended, but I hope you give this novel a chance.

2010-02-15 (WA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Want to read a long book?
This was a monster of a book. Not recommended if you are a flaky reader. Luckily I was forced to read this giant in about a week or so. However, I must admit that I lost track of a few of the characters throughout the book, which is why a family tree is helpful. But I suppose it just takes a matter of getting used to something and then it becomes second nature.

I felt the same way about shows like Lost and Heroes. I was a little turned off by how many characters there were. However, the more I watched the show, the easier it became for me to figure out each of the characters back stories and how they were connected. Middlemarch should be given the same chance and learning curve. It takes time. Overall, it's a good read if you are into a long book. I usually don't have the patience for a book this long, but at least I can add it to my impressive reading list of books.

2009-12-20 (Colorado) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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