The Readers Review: Literature from 1714 to 1910 discussion

This is the section where all are invited to post any background information and resources about our author, the novel itself, the time period or historical context in which it was written.

Daniel Deronda was first published in eight parts between Feb and September 1876. It is the last of George Eliot's novels. It is a love story, it is a profound psychological study in human relationships and individual growth, it is a challenging moral argument, and it is an analysis of contemporary Victorian society...It suffered in its own day and perhaps in ours too by the inevitable comparison with its immediate predecessor, Middlemarch...Some of its first readers criticized the novel on grounds that were at once aesthetic and sociological, objecting not only to the presence of 'the Jewish problem' but to the way in which the problem was presented, to a kind of writing which was much more conspicuously ideological and symbolic than anything George Eliot had done before...DD is a novel which (some) have called experimental, and Eliot herself says but my writing is simply a set of experiments in life-an endeavour to see what our thought and emotion may be capable of-what stores of motive, actual or hinted as possible, give promise of a better after which we may strive-what gains from past revelations and discipline we must strive to keep hold of as something more sure than shifting theory.

Taken from the introduction to the Penguin 1986 edition by Barbara Hardy.

There have been remarkably few film/TV adaptations of Daniel Deronda. Wikipedia mentions only four. Three of them seem lost or unavailable and only the latest one can be found on DVD or streaming platforms.

I enjoyed the Andrew Davies TV adaptation from 2002, but for those new to the book it would probably be better to watch it after reading the novel.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0321897/...

The mini series has a great cast including Hugh Bonneville, Greta Scachi, Jodhi May and Edward Fox.

There was a production by the BBC in 1970 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0227889/ but I can’t find any links to the series apart from the British Film Institute Archives. That adaptation included Robert Hardy as Henleigh Grandcourt.

The other two adaptations were both in the silent era, ‘Gwendolin’ 1914, and ‘Daniel Deronda’ 1921. I would have liked to have seen those silent movies, especially the first one which only lasted twenty minutes. Considering the length of the novel that really intrigues me.

She had a teacher Immanuel Oskar Menahem Deutsch (1829-1872) a specialist in Semitic Studies who taught her Hebrew and (solid) Talmudic notions. I cannot say more lest I am spoiling.

You are welcome Adria!

I noticed that George Eliot/the narrator mentioned the Hebrew vowels in Adam Bede, her first novel (1859). This proves that she had already a substantial knowledge of this language.

Trev wrote: "I enjoyed the Andrew Davies TV adaptation from 2002, but for those new to the book it would probably be better to watch it after reading the novel."

I've found this miniseries recently on dailymotion. I thought I'd leave a notice here, because in my experience contents on that portal can sometimes be ... uhm ... volatile.

Washington Post crossword puzzle yesterday, one of the clues:

"Daniel Deronda" author

Got that one easily, Hurrray!

George Eliot often shows up on lists of famous migraineurs

There is an upcoming online lecture about the connections between two of my favourite Victorian authors, George Eliot and Elizabeth Gaskell, hosted by the Gaskell society. Here are the details.

https://gaskellsociety.co.uk/event/el...

https://elizabethgaskellhouse.co.uk/e...

ooh, this looks fun

I enjoyed this book when I read it a few years ago.