Middlemarch Essay & Criticism

Middlemarch Critical Overview

Middlemarch appeared in eight books or volumes between December 1871 and December 1872. In 2000, W. W. Norton published a second edition of its Norton Critical Edition of the novel.

In her journal for January 1, 1873, Eliot reported on the initial response to Middlemarch: “No former book of mine has been received with more enthusiasm.” Indeed, the Saturday Review, for December 7, 1872, stated: “as a didactic novel it has scarcely been equaled.” It also pointed out: “The quarrel with humanity in Middlemarch is its selfishness.” By contrast to this widespread human failing, it stated that “Dorothea is so noble and striking a character—her charm grow[s] upon us as the story advances.” Once the complete novel had been published, Sidney Colvin, writing for Fortnightly Review on January 19, 1873, called Middlemarch “the chief English book of the immediate present” and “the ripest” of all Eliot's novels to date....
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