Felix Holt, the Radical

by George Eliot, Lynda Mugglestone (Introduction), Lynda Mugglestone (Noted by)

Overview

When the young nobleman Harold Transome returns to England from the colonies with a self-made fortune, he scandalizes the town of Treby Magna with his decision to stand for Parliament as a Radical. But after the idealistic Felix Holt also returns to the town, the difference between Harold's opportunistic values and Holt's profound beliefs becomes apparent. Forthright, brusque and driven by a firm desire to educate the working-class, Felix is at first viewed with suspicion by many, including the elegant but vain Esther Lyon, the daughter of the local clergyman. As she discovers, however, his blunt words conceal both passion and deep integrity. Soon the romantic and over-refined Esther finds herself overwhelmed by a heart-wrenching decision: whether to choose the wealthy Transome as a husband, or the impoverished but honest Felix Holt.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780140434354
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	12/01/1995
Series:	Penguin Classics Series
Edition description:	Revised
Pages:	592
Sales rank:	248,412
Product dimensions:	5.09(w) x 7.77(h) x 1.30(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

George Eliot was born Mary Ann (Marian) Evans in 1819. After her mother died in 1836, Marian was her father's housekeeper, educating herself in her spare time. After moving to Coventry in 1841 she met progressive intellectuals and became managing editor of the Westminster Review in 1851. She lost her Christian faith and was alienated from her family, moving to London where she met the separated George Henry Lewes. They lived together until his death in 1878. During those years she wrote the fiction, journalism and philosophy she is remembered for under the pseudonym of George Eliot. Edited with an introduction and notes by Lynda Mugglestone

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
George Eliot: A Brief Chronology
A Note on the Text

Felix Holt, The Radical

Appendix A: The Legal Plot of Felix Holt, The Radical

Appendix B: “An Address to Working Men, by Felix Holt”

Appendix C: “The Natural History of German Life”

Appendix D: The Critical Response to Felix Holt, The Radical

Select Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

Nadia May fills the listener in with brisk, breathless cadences, breezing through the lengthy descriptions like a lovable neighborhood gossip…[she] seems to be enjoying herself, which enables the listener to do the same.”

AudioFile

George Eliot insists on dissatisfaction—which is the raw material of social and political change. We can see this effect clearly in [her] most overtly political novel, Felix Holt, the Radical…It has its own integrity, a unity arising from the complexly rendered interrelationships between its election plot and its compelling personal stories.”

Rohan Maitzen

[A] powerful novel of social ambition and illicit love.”

University of Sydney Margaret Harris

The Broadview Press Felix Holt, the Radical is a handsomely-produced and reader-friendly edition of George Eliot’s powerful novel of social ambition and illicit love. Generous selections of contextual material show how George Eliot’s theories of artistic production and understanding of political realities shape the novel, and what her contemporaries made of it. Editors Baker and Womack deploy their expertise in Victorian studies to illuminate this work for the twenty-first century.” — Margaret Harris, University of Sydney

“This edition carefully documents the politics of composition and of England at a critical time in the author’s and the country’s life. Useful appendices establish the context for understanding the novel and its background. The Condition of England Question at last comes alive!” — Ira Nadel, University of British Columbia

From the Publisher

"This edition carefully documents the politics of composition and of England at a critical time in the author's and the country's life. Useful appendices establish the context for understanding the novel and its background. The Condition of England Question at last comes alive!"

Ira Nadel University of British Columbia

"The Broadview Press Felix Holt, the Radical is a handsomely-produced and reader-friendly edition of George Eliot's powerful novel of social ambition and illicit love. Generous selections of contextual material show how George Eliot's theories of artistic production and understanding of political realities shape the novel, and what her contemporaries made of it. Editors Baker and Womack deploy their expertise in Victorian studies to illuminate this work for the twenty-first century."

Margaret Harris University of Sydney