Obscurity to Eminence

Abstract

A party-game list of the three most eminent Victorian women might read: the Queen, Florence Nightingale and George Eliot. Another trio, of the period’s most important novelists, could reasonably consist of Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy and George Eliot. The specific names in both cases can be argued about, but it is virtually impossible to get any other name but Eliot’s into bath trinities of eminence. That in itself is part of the remarkableness of the Eliot phenomenon, but her achievement is perceived as even more extraordinary in the light of her background and upbringing. Even a cursory summary of her life reveals fascinating areas of enigma and paradox. Grasping those is part of the challenging, and exciting, process of understanding Eliot’s fiction.