How to Read Middlemarch (Pt 2)
The Great Work, Continued
I finally finished Middlemarch and its associated material a while ago, but it's taken me some time to get my energy back enough to write this.
I keep going on about how much of an effort it was to read, but it really was an effort. That's why I've put together this handy guide (Part 2).
If you didn't read Part 1 of this guide, check it out! I'll assume that you already have yourself a copy of Middlemarch and are up to Book Five.
7) Give yourself a pat on the back, you're halfway through!
Book 5: The whole hinge of this love plot has really hinged here, but I still feel like I'm kind of missing the point. Lily says 'finally we're getting some plot' but I don't know that every single person in Middlemarch talking about one single plot point for 100 pages qualifies? I am really not in a position to comment here because anyone who has read my writing will know that plot isn't exactly my strong point - maybe what I think it is and what it is are two different things.
Book 6: This is kind of fitting the bill of the book I thought MM was going to be? There's lots of gossiping around the town and whatnot. I am not great at paying attention as I'm reading this part as I really want to get to the end? I thought things would speed up around halfway but they don't. The lag becomes a serious issue. 'SINGULAR. FOCUS. ' I repeat to myself as I try to get 100% on Spiderman on Playstation while Middlemarch sits ignored, leaving a dent in my couch and my consciousness.
Book 7: This feels like a real book again. George Eliot really despises Rosamund, huh? 'Perhaps I have not been the best reader', I think to myself as Lily tells me that the two characters I like the least, Lydgate and Tertius, are actually the same person. Everytime I read the name Tertius I just start thinking about Stardust and forget what's happening in the book. You want a real quick and cute read? This isn't it, but Stardust could be!
Book 8: Home stretch! There are some hoo-boy contrivances at the end that I was a bit eye-roll-emoji at, but overall I enjoyed Book 8 the most. It would be correct to say that I enjoyed each of the books more than the book before, and not just because I knew I was getting closer to the end. The end doesn't feel novel at all, but maybe it was for the Victorians? I feel like Eliot ripped off Donna Tartt more than a little bit with a big semi-philosophical Finale chapter??
8) Better Book Club Wow It’s The End of Middlemarch (or is it?) Book Club Call
Get chatting! There's a lot to unpack here. We had a lot to say about Middlemarch - most of it I have included in these guides. Overall the consensus was that while no one would be rushing out to recommend everyone in the world read Middlemarch, we also wouldn't say 'OH NO DON'T READ THAT TERRIBLE BOOK', and would probably enjoy talking to someone else about their thoughts and opinions - feel free to mouth off in the comments if you have read it yourself.
I didn't read the Audiobook version but apparently it's very good. The narrator was praised by 2/3 of Better Book Club for their excellent voice work.
9) You're done? Not even close! Homework time:
Get hold of the Norton Critical Edition (mentioned in Part 1 of this very guide), and turn to the back, where you'll find around 170 pages of extra material for your 'enjoyment'.
Why are you doing this to yourself? you ask. It doesn't seem like you even liked the book very much. Well guess what? I love homework and also I love to procrastinate all the other things I'm supposed to be doing (SINGULAR FOCUS lol). Also, Middlemarch is so highly regarded, called one of the greatest works of fiction in the English language by many writers and critics alike, and I wanted to know why. There is no shortage of extraneous material out there, so why not read it all?
Before you start reading, though:
10) Time for another Podcast! (No worries if not!)
Remember the In Our Time podcast from our friends at the BBC. Now that you know all about the Great Reform Act, it's time to learn about Middlemarch itself from some more academics on the radio.
The reason I say listen to the podcast before reading the Norton Critical Edition is that some of the things that they talk about on the podcast are also discussed in the Critical Edition, and my preference is always for someone to talk about something in a general, undetailed sense, and then I go and read about it more detail later. If that doesn't appeal to you or you're not interested in doubling up on information, you can reverse or even skip this step entirely.
11) Crack Open the Ol' Norton Critical Edition
a) Letters/Journal Entries
There are some interesting letters from Eliot's publisher, John Blackwood, about the progress she is making on Middlemarch and their plans for publication.
Eliot wrote this in her journal, right after the publication of Book 8. I have thought about it a lot.
Hardly anything could have happened to me which I would regard as a greater blessing, than the growth of my spiritual existence when my bodily existence is decaying. The merely egotistic satisfactions of fame are easily nullified by toothache, and that has made my chief consciousness for the last week.
Her journal is largely unremarkable tbh, or perhaps I was just fatigued, but that passage stuck out. It was the only one I highlighted.
I don't know why that's stuck with me so much but it really has. I'm sitting at the kitchen table writing this over a month after I actually finished reading the book, a stomach full of peanuts and and a Joan Baez record playing in the background. I wonder what it would be like not to sit in the grip of anxiousness constantly. Lately it feels as if simply breathing is enough to make my breath feel unsteady. I am projecting, I know, but still.
b) Contemporary (1870s) Reviews
My favourites were by Henry James and Leslie Stephen. James had a lot to say about Eliot's shortcomings when it came to the characterisation of Will Ladislaw, and her issues with perspective in general. That is not to say it was a negative review. He opens by saying:
Middlemarch is at once one of the strongest and one of the weakest of English novels.
I think one of James' main issues was one of mine? Will Ladislaw is supposed to be the big ol love of Dorothea's life, she gives up basically everything to be with him, but I don't ever feel like I understand why. Dorothea certainly swoons over him, and I wanted to swoon over him too, only I found not much swoon-worthy about him at all. In opposition to Casaubon, sure, I guess, but is that enough? I didn't think so, and Henry James agrees with me.
c) Contemporary (1994) Reviews & Essays
I am really running out of steam here - by now I have read over 1000 pages of Middlemarch and Middlemarch adjacent material. The good ones are:
Allusive Mischaracterisation in Middlemarch - Claudia Moscovici
Conservative Reform in Middlemarch - Cherry Wilhelm
What Rosy Knew: Love, Language and Lore in Middlemarch - Alan Shelston
They're all really interesting but I don't know that I would 100% recommend reading them unless your goal is either to be some kind of Middlemarch scholar, or if you have a novel to write and a vicious cycle of procrastination and guilt has driven you towards an unyielding wall of Victorian thought. Here are some highlights (lol)
Fred is basically anyone with a Twitter account.
On the name - Middlemarch
On the ‘Moral Imagination of George Eliot’
12) This is (almost) it! The actual home stretch this time
Let's get even more contemporary (like in the last 30 years):
I’ve only read half of this article in The Telegraph because it’s paywalled and Pocket will only save the first few paragraphs but I have read enough to know it is dumb. You can tell it’s dumb because it’s 1) in the Telegraph, and 2) called ‘Unhappy in Marriage? Let the 19th Century’s Greatest Novel be Your Guide’. I don’t even know why I’m including it here. Don’t read it. Certainly don’t pay to read it. The Telegraph is so stupid. If someone does have access to the Telegraph paywall though, feel free to screencap the whole thing and send it to me.
Dorothea is constantly compared to St Theresa in all kinds of reviews, including this essay in The Paris Review, which is quite good. One of the things about being raised atheist is that I am constantly missing religious symbology in books. It is especially detrimental when reading classics including a lot of the Russians. The edition I read did have handy footnotes like ‘this is a reference to St Jupiter’ or whatever, but unhelpfully it will not tell you who St Jupiter is or what is implied by the reference.
This article in Lithub is one of many which reference the famous Virginia Woolf quote, saying Middlemarch is: “one of the few English novels written for grown-up people.” That quote is truncated! Here is the whole thing:
This is from the Alan Shelston essay in the Norton Critical Edition
Here is a link to a New York Times article. I haven’t read it as I’m still boycotting the NYT, but you can read it if you like.
13) That's it. You're done.
JUST KIDDING. THERE IS A BBC MINISERIES. PART 3 INCOMING SOON LOLOLOL BYEEEEEE