The real life of Mary Ann Evans
Subtitle: George Eliot, her letters and fiction
By: Rosemarie Bodenheimer.
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Published: 1994
Place of publication: Ithaca
Language: eng
Number of pages: 295
Subjects: Eliot, George, 1819-1880.; Autobiographical fiction, English -- History and criticism.; Women and literature -- England -- History -- 19th century.; Novelists, English -- 19th century -- Correspondence.; Novelists, English -- 19th century -- Biography.; English letters -- History and criticism.; Letter writing -- History -- 19th century.; Self in literature.
Genres: Correspondence.; Biography.
Description: Bodenheimer defines the personal paradoxes that helped to shape Eliot's fictional characters and narrative style. Bodenheimer revisits pivotal episodes in Mary Ann Evans's life and career, including the "Holy War" through which she asserted her youthful religious skepticism; her decision to elope with the married writer George Henry Lewes; and her marriage with John Cross after Lewes's death.

Bodenheimer also discusses the rumor campaign that led to the discovery that "George Eliot" was a woman, and she traces the trajectory of Eliot's impassioned conflict between her ambition and her womanhood.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [269]-288) and index.