Having just finished Silas Marner, I can say I was thoroughly entertained by this fine moral story. But, after Middlemarch and The Mill on the Floss, I was expecting high drama and moral complexities akin to that in Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights. But Silas Marner is something less.
Still, isn't Priscilla stupendous?
"Love does not alter the beloved, it alters itself"
It read like a straight morality tale. One of the characters was redeemed and all the primary characters got their just deserts. Although maybe not all the secondary characters: it was sad for Nancy too that they could not have children. I was concerned Dunsey might get away with his crimes. I hoped for a public execution at least. As I had only read Middlemarch before, I was not sure whether Elliot was the sort of author to allow a character to escape his just punishment or reward. George Gissing may have allowed him to escape.
Last edited by kev67; 12-15-2015 at 01:54 PM.
According to Aldous Huxley, D.H. Lawrence once said that Balzac was 'a gigantic dwarf', and in a sense the same is true of Dickens.
Charles Dickens, by George Orwell
I haven't read Silas Marner for years, but when I did last I was almost continuously weeping as I identified with the central character.
I'm bemused by the comparison of Middlemarch and Wuthering Heights.
Previously JonathanB
The more I read, the more I shall covet to read. Robert Burton The Anatomy of Melancholy Partion3, Section 1, Member 1, Subsection 1
PS, George Eliot doesn't really do nasty characters - good liberal that she is, everyone has a good side (apart from Grandcourt and possibly Rosamund Vincy).
Previously JonathanB
The more I read, the more I shall covet to read. Robert Burton The Anatomy of Melancholy Partion3, Section 1, Member 1, Subsection 1
Originally Posted by JonathanB
Dunstan Cass was thoroughly bad. A scheming, dishonest, abusive, totally selfish character. No one missed him when he left.
I had more sympathy for Rosamund Vincy than for Dunsey Cass. Was Grandcourt in Middlemarch?
According to Aldous Huxley, D.H. Lawrence once said that Balzac was 'a gigantic dwarf', and in a sense the same is true of Dickens.
Charles Dickens, by George Orwell
It is a charming tale. Feel that warm glow and happy satisfaction at the end. I'm reluctant to say less is more, but sometimes a simple tale, simply told, makes a more effective vehicle for a novelist's themes and aims than alot of clever literary convolutions. It's more enjoyable than Wuthering Heights too.Having just finished Silas Marner, I can say I was thoroughly entertained by this fine moral story. But, after Middlemarch and The Mill on the Floss, I was expecting high drama and moral complexities akin to that in Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights. But Silas Marner is something less.
Still, isn't Priscilla stupendous?
ay up
Grandcourt is the baddie in Daniel Deronda.
Previously JonathanB
The more I read, the more I shall covet to read. Robert Burton The Anatomy of Melancholy Partion3, Section 1, Member 1, Subsection 1
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