Felix Holt, the Radical

by George Eliot Narrated by Wanda McCaddon

Overview

“If a woman really believes herself to be a lower kind of being, she should place herself in subjection....If not, let her show her power of choosing something better.” This is the challenge thrown down to George Eliot's heroine, Esther Lyon, who dreams of marrying into a life of refinement. But as she struggles to make her choice between two men, Esther finds her values challenged.

Felix Holt is a respectably educated young man who has relinquished opportunity for life as an artisan. An idealist, he burns to participate in political life so that he may improve the lot of his fellow artisans. Contrasted with Holt is the intelligent heir Harold Transome, whose political ambitions are a matter of business. Plot twists involving lines of inheritance and legitimacy complicate the love triangle.

Editorial Reviews

AudioFile

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.”

Rohan Maitzen

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.”

University of Sydney Margaret Harris

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

From the Publisher

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

Ira Nadel University of British Columbia

"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!"

Margaret Harris University of Sydney

"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."

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169806212
Publisher:	Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Publication date:	01/01/2006
Edition description:	Unabridged

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