George Eliot, Felix Holt, the Radical

Nathan Uglow (Trinity All Saints, Leeds)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.07: English Writing and Culture of the Victorian Period, 1837-1901.
Vol. editors: Gillian Fenwick (University of Toronto), Jessica Gossling (Goldsmiths College, University of London)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1866

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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Recommended Reading

George Eliot's novel,

Felix Holt

is set against the backdrop of the general election of 1832 as it apparently occurred in the fictional town of Treby Magna. During the composition of the work, Eliot pursued three main lines of research. First she consulted the Annual Register for 1832 and the Times newspaper as far back as 1829, when the proposed Bill for Catholic Emancipation led to an increase in religious dissension, and up to the reports of the 1832 polling day rioting. These accounts she filled out by reading memoirs such as Samuel Bamford's

Passages in the Life of a Radical

. Second, she dipped into Blackstone's famous codification of English law to create a complex legal argument about the ownership of the Transome estates, the reversion of which to their proper owner constitutes a…

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2177 words

Citation: Uglow, Nathan. "Felix Holt, the Radical". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 March 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=5168, accessed 27 November 2024.]

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George Eliot, Felix Holt, the Radical

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