Middlemarch by George Eliot - Readalong

[CramptonHodnet]

This is the Readalong thread for anyone feeling brave enough to tackle this huge novel this autumn/winter

Am actually up to date this week! Been quite struck by how differently I view characters in the novel this time round - remembered really rooting for Lydgate, for example, but this time just appalled at his attitudes towards women and view him very differently as a consequence.

Dottie Yes! I was looking forward to rediscovering Tertius, but my older self feels quite differently! I think I may have to adjust my world view to pre- and post-Mumsnet. It's opened my eyes to so many things, but I never expected to find myself revising my previous literary opinions...

Agree it's disconcerting. I also hadn't taken much notice of the commentary on religion before. I liked some of the more acid comments by the narrator such as One’s self-satisfaction is an untaxed kind of property which it is very unpleasant to find depreciated.

And I'm far more aware of the dissection of local society: the posts filled via nepotism rather than in relation to skill, which is such a revelation to Lydgate; the Vincy household's supposedly genial get-together with that brief mention of the governess in the background - which I thought indirectly referenced Bronte - which highlighted their obliviousness to the situation of other classes and made them seem a lot less genial.

Crampton I was thinking about your comments on Austen, and I've been noticing Austen-like aspects of the novel ever since, which I totally missed last time. I came across this article about Eliot reading Austen and Austen's influence on her work, you might like to have a look at it : www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/without-austen-no-eliot

Hello, just checking in. Chapters 21-24 for this week then.

Hi IsFuzzy yes we've just finished chapter 20 so next weekend discussing 20 to 24.

Hi, just to let you all know Crampton's having some problems signing into MN but hopes the problem will be sorted out soon. She thinks others may have had similar problems, so let's hope we're all back together by next week. I have a hectic weekend so probably won't be up to date before Monday. Take care fellow M'marchers.

Hello M'marchers! Thank you for your message, Dottie. No worries, we will all reconnect soon. I have a spare hour and have brought the book to my favourite café. I'm reading chapters 23 and 24 while enjoying a medium flat white and a purple Cadbury's snack.

Hi everybody, I was wondering what was going on, thought it was my wifi going wrong.

The image of Dorothea sitting alone crying on her honeymoon in Rome is one of the saddest things I have ever read. It made me want to cry.

Comments for last week's chapters 21 to 24:
Chp. 21 When Ladislaw first visits and Casaubon returns worked well: liked the contrast between the stirrings of Ladislaw’s feelings for Dorothea and Dorothea’s realisation that her husband also has an inner self that she hadn’t been conscious of when considering what he could do for her.

Opening of part three with Fred Vincy - narrator’s comments on the poor judgements made by parents in not educating their children about money or economy make it clear that most of the blame for Fred’s spendthrift habits and immaturity a result of poor upbringing rather than weak character. This gave me a stronger sense of Eliot’s ideas about morality and personality. Also thought there was a parallel building between Fred and Ladislaw: both men who are dependent on others financially and have no clear goals other than pleasure; interesting to see how each develops over the course of the plot.

Also got an impression that Eliot promoting the idea that character is not fixed – example of Dorothea’s final understanding of her husband’s situation, which also starts to raised doubts about her earlier ideas of what virtuousness and self-sacrifice were, starting to see that she was actually quite self-centred before - thinking about what she wanted from others and what she wanted to do for them rather than what they might actually need.

Discussion of the Garths revealed more about social hierarchies and social hypocrisy – comment on gentleman thieves as ‘kleptomaniacs’ - in provincial towns: the gentry wary of the tradespeople and the tradespeople looking down on those not as wealthy as them…and an emphasis on markers of social status like possessions rather than on other forms of worth/value – reminded me of Austen’s Emma and her attempts to stop her friend Harriet from marrying a farmer because of how this would impact on the suitability of maintaining the friendship.

Also really liked Mrs Garth the way that she’s determined to make it clear that women can do housewife and be ‘learned’ in other things and be more than a ‘useless doll’.

This week's chapters 25 to 28
The illness of Fred bringing Lydgate together with Rosamund works well as a device, but interesting to compare their actual feelings – Rosamund dreaming of a ‘house’ as much into social status as her parents – similar to Fred in that way but doesn’t have his ‘sentiment’. Rosamund in many ways seems the epitome of the ‘doll’ figure that Mrs Garth is busy distancing herself from – but it’s again made clear that this is largely due to the expectations that society places on girls like Rosamund and the way in which her education has formed her in relation to those expectations. Whereas Lydgate seems so bound up in science/medicine that’s he’s utterly naïve when it comes to what’s appropriate behaviour with young, unmarried women.

Seems to be more and more in the story about false expectations, lack of communication, people misreading each other, responding to 'false' outward signs or projecting their own desires/needs onto others.

The chapter centred on Dorothea’s return from her honeymoon really poignant, particularly the section where she’s aware of her world ‘shrinking’ and the fear of the boredom that might come with that. Also some wonderful phrasing: Celia’s concept of ‘learning as a kind of damp’ that spreads from person to person.

Hello Dottie, thank you so much for keeping the faith with this. I'm badly behind because my inbox won't stop pinging with work (which is a good thing) but hoping to have a massive binge and catch up, even if I have to read a bit skimmishly
I am finding that I am not focusing as much as I thought I might - I think this will have to be my last Victorian novel for a while as I find I'm rather yearning to dip into 20th century stuff (unusually for me).

Thank you very much for those comments, Dottie. They are spot on, I agree absolutely, particularly about the false expectations and lack of communication between people. Fred has gone down in my estimation as a character, but as you say, his upbringing was very indulgent. I'm up to chapter 30. I find that it takes persistence to read the novel but I'm glad I'm sticking with it.

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Hi, I'm not enjoying the book enough to keep going on my own, I was really in this more for discussing it with others, so if the thread gets going again great, otherwise I'm bowing out.

That's understandable, Dottie, as you are the one keeping the boat afloat at the moment. Never mind. I'll plan to read it to the end anyhow. I'm enjoying the read in the main.

Hello. Anyone still reading?

One of my favourite bits so far (about Lydgate):
"he was assailed by the vulagar hateful trials of a man who has bought and used a great many things which might have been done without and which he is unable to pay for". I've felt like that quite often!

Hello! No, I moved onto other books, but I might pick Middlemarch up again.

Ha ha, recently. I can relate to that :)

I have just finished! I started last April . To all those thinking of giving up - stick with it. Halfway through it got much more readable and I started to really enjoy it. Quite missing it now!

I have a couple of books on the horizon that I really want to read, but will pick up Middlemarch again. Thanks, recently.