George Eliot and Victorian Historiography: Imagining the National Past

by Neil McCaw

Overview

In this new study of George Eliot's fiction, textual attempts to imagine a coherent and unified national past are seen as producing a contradictory vision of Englishness. It is a historiographical national identity, constructing the image of predominant, and conflicting, trends in the Victorian writing of history. The inherent uncertainty caused by the shift between different perceptions of English history leads, in later fiction, to an abandonment of contemporaneous grand narratives. The consequence is a history that anticipates a more modern, radical philosophy of history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312234133
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	07/25/2000
Edition description:	2000
Pages:	203
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.02(d)

About the Author

Neil McCaw is Lecturer in English Studies, School of Cultural Studies, King Alfred's College.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements Introduction: 'Those Far-Reaching Visions of the Past' George Eliot and the (Meta)Narrativity of History Imagining the National Past A Natural History of English Life A Carlylean Counter-Paradigm Theodicy and History Imagining the National Present Unwritten Landscapes: Imagining the National Future Conclusion: Beyond Victorian Historiography Bibliography Index

Editorial Reviews

George Eliot wrote in the wake of the most prominent wave of historical fiction, the era of Scott's and Bulwer-Lytton's . And yet McCaw (English studies, King Alfred's College, Winchester) sees Eliot's fiction as going beyond broad historical realism into a new realm of historicity. His study examines three issues: the method by which Eliot attempted to re-create history in her fiction; the influence of 19th-century British historiography on her perception of the details and processes of history; and the ideological implications of her representation of history, particularly in terms of the politics of national and gender identity. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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