Borrow it
Coverart for item
The Resource George Eliot's serial fiction, Carol A. Martin

George Eliot's serial fiction, Carol A. Martin

Creator
Summary
Serialization was a form of publication used extensively by many Victorian writers, although it was primarily associated with more dramatic and sensational novelists than George Eliot. Reviewers of Eliot's Middlemarch noted that many serial installments would "leave their heroine in a position of perplexity or peril. Either she has run away from home, or is left on London Bridge with only fourpence-halfpenny and an opera cloak; or her soul has been softened by the charm of a dragoon, who has killed his first wife." But George Eliot offered only "the commonest incidents of daily life." To some, Eliot seemed a figure apart, aloof not only from Victorian sensationalism but from the entire world of serial publication. Yet half of her book-length fiction originally appeared in installments, either in magazines or in eight bi-monthly or monthly individual parts. She also originally planned to serialize Adam Bede and The Mill on the Floss, but John Blackwood's reaction as he received individually the installments of "Mr Gilfil's Love-Story, " "Janet's Repentance," and the early parts of Adam Bede, along with fear of the impact of public response on her personal life, caused Eliot to change her mind. Nonetheless, like Dickens and many others, Eliot was an effective serial writer who paid close attention to the special requirements of installment structure and endings and who occasionally altered her plan for an installment in the light of public response. Carol A. Martin traces the development of Eliot's technique as a serial writer, exposing the sometimes conflicting demands of serial and whole work and the challenges of serialization: meeting deadlines, overcoming anxieties about public response to a work in progress, and deciding whether to hold fast to artistic vision when response was negative or to reconcile artistry to commercial demands. Martin incorporates material from Eliot's manuscripts, unpublished letters and journal entries, and original reviews, most of which are not indexed or reprinted elsewhere. This engaging study will be of great interest to scholars and students of Victorian literature, especially that by women writers
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Extent
xi, 348 pages
Contents
  • 1. "Vulgar, and below the Dignity of Literature": Part Publication in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
  • 2. Striking Situations and Serial Endings: Eliot's Apprenticeship in Scenes of Clerical Life
  • 3. "An Unfortunate Duck Can Only Lay Blue Eggs": Negotiations to Serialize Adam Bede and The Mill on the Floss
  • 4. The Serialization of Romola: "A More Surprising Thing than Pine-apple for the Million"
  • 5. A "Greater Trial of Readers' Faith and Patience": Middlemarch, a Bimonthly Serial
  • 6. Daniel Deronda, "No Ordinary Love Story or Mechanical Web": The Tale of Two Plots
  • 7. Filling in the Blanks: Readers Respond to the Serialization of Middlemarch and Daniel Deronda
  • Appendix 1: Reviewing History of George Eliot's Novels
  • Appendix 2: Romola Manuscript and Cornhill Pagination
  • Appendix 3: Middlemarch and Daniel Deronda Pagination
Isbn
9780814206256
Instance
Label
George Eliot's serial fiction
Title
George Eliot's serial fiction
Statement of responsibility
Carol A. Martin
Creator
Subject
Genre
Language
eng
Summary
Serialization was a form of publication used extensively by many Victorian writers, although it was primarily associated with more dramatic and sensational novelists than George Eliot. Reviewers of Eliot's Middlemarch noted that many serial installments would "leave their heroine in a position of perplexity or peril. Either she has run away from home, or is left on London Bridge with only fourpence-halfpenny and an opera cloak; or her soul has been softened by the charm of a dragoon, who has killed his first wife." But George Eliot offered only "the commonest incidents of daily life." To some, Eliot seemed a figure apart, aloof not only from Victorian sensationalism but from the entire world of serial publication. Yet half of her book-length fiction originally appeared in installments, either in magazines or in eight bi-monthly or monthly individual parts. She also originally planned to serialize Adam Bede and The Mill on the Floss, but John Blackwood's reaction as he received individually the installments of "Mr Gilfil's Love-Story, " "Janet's Repentance," and the early parts of Adam Bede, along with fear of the impact of public response on her personal life, caused Eliot to change her mind. Nonetheless, like Dickens and many others, Eliot was an effective serial writer who paid close attention to the special requirements of installment structure and endings and who occasionally altered her plan for an installment in the light of public response. Carol A. Martin traces the development of Eliot's technique as a serial writer, exposing the sometimes conflicting demands of serial and whole work and the challenges of serialization: meeting deadlines, overcoming anxieties about public response to a work in progress, and deciding whether to hold fast to artistic vision when response was negative or to reconcile artistry to commercial demands. Martin incorporates material from Eliot's manuscripts, unpublished letters and journal entries, and original reviews, most of which are not indexed or reprinted elsewhere. This engaging study will be of great interest to scholars and students of Victorian literature, especially that by women writers
Member of
Cataloging source
DLC
http://library.link/vocab/creatorDate
1941-2017
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Martin, Carol A.
Government publication
government publication of a state province territory dependency etc
Index
index present
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
bibliography
Series statement
Studies in Victorian life and literature
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Eliot, George
  • Women and literature
  • Serialized fiction
  • Didactic fiction, English
  • Serialized fiction
Label
George Eliot's serial fiction, Carol A. Martin
Instantiates
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 327-335) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
1. "Vulgar, and below the Dignity of Literature": Part Publication in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries -- 2. Striking Situations and Serial Endings: Eliot's Apprenticeship in Scenes of Clerical Life -- 3. "An Unfortunate Duck Can Only Lay Blue Eggs": Negotiations to Serialize Adam Bede and The Mill on the Floss -- 4. The Serialization of Romola: "A More Surprising Thing than Pine-apple for the Million" -- 5. A "Greater Trial of Readers' Faith and Patience": Middlemarch, a Bimonthly Serial -- 6. Daniel Deronda, "No Ordinary Love Story or Mechanical Web": The Tale of Two Plots -- 7. Filling in the Blanks: Readers Respond to the Serialization of Middlemarch and Daniel Deronda -- Appendix 1: Reviewing History of George Eliot's Novels -- Appendix 2: Romola Manuscript and Cornhill Pagination -- Appendix 3: Middlemarch and Daniel Deronda Pagination
Control code
28888791
Dimensions
24 cm
Extent
xi, 348 pages
Isbn
9780814206256
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
System control number
(WaOLN)1594299
Label
George Eliot's serial fiction, Carol A. Martin
Publication
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 327-335) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
1. "Vulgar, and below the Dignity of Literature": Part Publication in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries -- 2. Striking Situations and Serial Endings: Eliot's Apprenticeship in Scenes of Clerical Life -- 3. "An Unfortunate Duck Can Only Lay Blue Eggs": Negotiations to Serialize Adam Bede and The Mill on the Floss -- 4. The Serialization of Romola: "A More Surprising Thing than Pine-apple for the Million" -- 5. A "Greater Trial of Readers' Faith and Patience": Middlemarch, a Bimonthly Serial -- 6. Daniel Deronda, "No Ordinary Love Story or Mechanical Web": The Tale of Two Plots -- 7. Filling in the Blanks: Readers Respond to the Serialization of Middlemarch and Daniel Deronda -- Appendix 1: Reviewing History of George Eliot's Novels -- Appendix 2: Romola Manuscript and Cornhill Pagination -- Appendix 3: Middlemarch and Daniel Deronda Pagination
Control code
28888791
Dimensions
24 cm
Extent
xi, 348 pages
Isbn
9780814206256
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • n
System control number
(WaOLN)1594299

Subject

Genre

Member of

Library Locations

    • Ellis LibraryBorrow it
      1020 Lowry Street, Columbia, MO, 65201, US
      38.944491 -92.326012

Library Links

Structured data from the Bibframe namespace is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by University of Missouri Libraries. Additional terms may apply to data associated with third party namespaces.
Processing Feedback ...