Eliot, George

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English novelist. Her works include the pastoral Adam Bede (1859); The Mill on the Floss (1860), with its autobiographical elements; Silas Marner (1861), containing elements of the folk tale; and Daniel Deronda (1876). Middlemarch, published serially (1871–72), is considered her greatest novel for its confident handling of numerous characters and central social and moral issues. She developed a subtle psychological presentation of character, and her work is pervaded by a penetrating and compassionate intelligence.

Born in Astley, Warwickshire, George Eliot had a strict evangelical upbringing. In 1841 she was converted to free thought. As assistant editor of the Westminster Review under John Chapman from 1851 to 1853, she made the acquaintance of the writers and thinkers Thomas Carlyle, Harriet Martineau, Herbert Spencer, and the philosopher and critic George Henry Lewes. Lewes was married but separated from his wife, and from 1854 he and Eliot lived together in a relationship that she regarded as a true marriage and that continued until his death. Lewes strongly believed in her talent and as a result of his encouragement the story ‘Amos Barton’ was accepted by Blackwoods Magazine in 1857. This was followed by a number of other short stories, and their success persuaded Eliot to embark on writing her full-length novels including Adam Bede which was highly praised and placed her among the leading contemporary novelists. Lewes died in 1878, bitterly lamented by Eliot. In 1880 she married John Cross (1840–1924), her accountant and a friend of long standing.

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