Felix Holt, the Radical

by George Eliot

Overview

Felix Holt, the Radical (1866) is a social novel written by George Eliot about political disputes in a small English town at the time of the First Reform Act of 1832.

In January 1868, Eliot penned an article entitled "Address to Working Men, by Felix Holt". This came on the heels of the Second Reform Act of 1867 which expanded the right to vote beyond the landed classes and was written in the character of, and signed by, Felix Holt.

Set during the time of the Reform Act of 1832, the story centers on an election contested by Harold Transome, a local landowner, in the "Radical cause" ("Radical" because Transome's version of "radicalism" isn't radical at all, but rather an application of the term to his politically stagnate lifestyle), contrary to his family's Tory traditions. Contrasting with the opportunism of Transome is the sincere, but opinionated, Radical Felix Holt. A subplot concerns the stepdaughter of a Dissenting minister who is the true heir to the Transome estate, but who is unaware of the fact. She becomes the object of the affections of both Harold Transome and Felix Holt.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781618957009
Publisher:	Bibliotech Press
Publication date:	08/19/2019
Pages:	348
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.94(d)

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