Description
Classic Literature. Fiction. Historical Fiction. HTML: Victorian-era novelist George Eliot (the pen name of female writer Mary Anne Evans) is best known for her multi-layered takes on nineteenth-century British society, such as the masterpiece Middlemarch. She takes on a similarly ambitious task in the engaging tale Romola, albeit one that is set in Renaissance Italy rather than her own era. This historical novel adroitly captures the social upheaval and cultural ferment that arose during this remarkable period..
Genres
Collection
Publication
Penguin Classics (1997), Edition: Reprint, 688 pages
User reviews
LibraryThing member john257hopper
I found this a lovely read, full of striking imagery and an almost lyrical feel. Yes, the central characters are largely Victorian stereotypes, especially Romola herself, but sonehow this did not bother me due to the sheer quality of the writing. I also like anything set in Rinascimento Italy, so
Show More
that was a winner for me also. Show Less
LibraryThing member Poquette
Romola was a tremendous undertaking – both to write and to read. As historical novels go, it is one of a kind. In telling the story, Eliot provides a crash course in Florentine history circa 1492. In fact, she filled several notebooks (one of which is in my collection) preparatory to writing it.
My edition (Modern Library Classics) is excellent for the introduction and notes, which are indispensible for the modern reader who may be unfamiliar with Florentine history. Many people find notes to be off-putting. I do not.
While I enjoyed Romola very much, I dare not recommend it because it is – you must be warned – heavy going, perhaps not everyone’s cup of tea. But if you have a taste for the Renaissance and George Eliot, I say, give it a go. It is a painless way to absorb plenteous information about the Florentine Renaissance. At least the introductory proem should not be missed – a prose poem that presents Eliot at the height of her literary powers.
Show More
Come to find out, 1492 was significant for more than one reason – to the Florentines, at least – the other reason being the death of Lorenzo de Medici, “the Magnificent.” His death initiated a period of political uncertainty in Florence which included many dramatic events such as an invasion by the French King Charles VIII in 1494, a period of plague and the rise and fall of Savonarola. These events are played out in high relief against the remarkable story of Romola, the heroin who showed all the outward signs of saintliness without actually being one.My edition (Modern Library Classics) is excellent for the introduction and notes, which are indispensible for the modern reader who may be unfamiliar with Florentine history. Many people find notes to be off-putting. I do not.
While I enjoyed Romola very much, I dare not recommend it because it is – you must be warned – heavy going, perhaps not everyone’s cup of tea. But if you have a taste for the Renaissance and George Eliot, I say, give it a go. It is a painless way to absorb plenteous information about the Florentine Renaissance. At least the introductory proem should not be missed – a prose poem that presents Eliot at the height of her literary powers.
Show Less
LibraryThing member gbill
700 pages is a long way to go for three stars.
The time period is 1492-1498 Florence, where political winds are shifting and various factions are vying for power – the old guard Mediceans, the religious reformers under priest and fiery orator Savonarola, and the Arrabbiati, those who would put
Eliot interweaves this with the fictional story of Tito Melema, an educated young Greek, new to Florence but who quickly immerses himself into its politics. He is pleasant enough on the surface, but commits unpardonable acts against his own father, who he leaves in slavery, a young girl, who he deceives in a sham marriage, and Romola, his real wife, who he betrays not only by having a ‘wife’ on the side, but also by selling his father-in-law’s library when he dies, counter to the man’s final wishes and Tito’s promises. He also slickly plays on all of the political ‘teams’, maneuvering so that he’ll be successful regardless of whoever comes out on top.
It’s when his evil is revealed to the reader’s horror, and when it’s placed side by side with Romola, a sweet, smart young woman who has a strong sense of filial duty, a commitment to marriage, and a natural inclination to help the poor and downtrodden, that the novel is most successful. The scenes between the two, while few and far between, are electric.
However, my goodness, their relationship is so mired in the density of the book that I can’t possibly imagine a higher rating. Eliot clearly did a lot of research, but loads up too much of the first parts of the novel with the results of that, as well as an onslaught of Italian words and phrases, to the book’s detriment. She does explain the political maneuvering reasonably well, and it’s not a question of getting lost in the characters, but she’s tedious in her delivery. There are convenient coincidences in the plot that I forgive as being common to 19th century literature, but the plot meanders and in my view the book is just not well executed, certainly nowhere near her classic ‘Middlemarch’, or other historical fiction tomes, such as ‘War and Peace’.
If you’re an Eliot fan, interested in the time period, or just like the challenge of getting through giant books (all of which are true for me btw :), you may like Romola; otherwise, you should probably look elsewhere.
Quotes:
On man’s search for meaning, which is timeless. Wow, and on page one, loved this:
“And as the faint light of his course pierced into the dwellings of men, it fell, as now, on the rosy warmth of nestling children; on the haggard waking of sorrow and sickness; on the hasty uprising of the hard-handed labourer; and on the late sleep of the night-student, who had been questioning the stars or the sages, or his own soul, for that hidden knowledge which would break through the barrier of man’s brief life, and show its dark path, that seemed to bend no whither, to be an arc in an immeasurable circle of light and glory. The great river-courses which have shaped the lives of men have hardly changed; and those other streams, the life-currents that ebb and flow in human hearts, pulsate to the same great needs, the same great loves and terrors. As our thought follows close in the slow wake of the dawn, we are impressed with the broad sameness of the human lot, which never alters in the main headings of its history – hunger and labour, seed-time and harvest, love and death.”
On lying:
“But he had borrowed from the terrible usurer Falsehood, and the loan had mounted and mounted with the years, till he belonged to the usurer, body and soul.”
On marriage:
“Romola had an energy of her own which thwarted his, and no man, who is not exceptionally feeble, will endure being thwarted by his wife. Marriage must be a relation either of sympathy or of conquest.”
On old age:
“I think all lines of the human face have something either touching or grand, unless they seem to come from low passions. How fine old men are, like my godfather! Why should not old women look grand and simple?”
On selflessness:
“There are so many things wrong and difficult in the world, that no man can be great – he can hardly keep himself from wickedness – unless he gives up thinking much about pleasure or rewards, and gets strength to endure what is hard and painful.”
No connection to the previous book! Maybe it took so long to get through this that I forgot the previous book. :) Maybe it’s a sign to stop pointing out the connections.
The time period is 1492-1498 Florence, where political winds are shifting and various factions are vying for power – the old guard Mediceans, the religious reformers under priest and fiery orator Savonarola, and the Arrabbiati, those who would put
Show More
pleasure first. There are several historical figures who make cameos but it’s Savonarola’s struggles with corrupt Pope Alexander VI (perhaps known to the reader from history or from the Showtime series The Borgias :) and his desire to purify Florence through the ‘Bonfire of the Vanities’ that is the main focus of the ‘historical fiction’ aspect of the book, carrying on to his ultimate execution.Eliot interweaves this with the fictional story of Tito Melema, an educated young Greek, new to Florence but who quickly immerses himself into its politics. He is pleasant enough on the surface, but commits unpardonable acts against his own father, who he leaves in slavery, a young girl, who he deceives in a sham marriage, and Romola, his real wife, who he betrays not only by having a ‘wife’ on the side, but also by selling his father-in-law’s library when he dies, counter to the man’s final wishes and Tito’s promises. He also slickly plays on all of the political ‘teams’, maneuvering so that he’ll be successful regardless of whoever comes out on top.
It’s when his evil is revealed to the reader’s horror, and when it’s placed side by side with Romola, a sweet, smart young woman who has a strong sense of filial duty, a commitment to marriage, and a natural inclination to help the poor and downtrodden, that the novel is most successful. The scenes between the two, while few and far between, are electric.
However, my goodness, their relationship is so mired in the density of the book that I can’t possibly imagine a higher rating. Eliot clearly did a lot of research, but loads up too much of the first parts of the novel with the results of that, as well as an onslaught of Italian words and phrases, to the book’s detriment. She does explain the political maneuvering reasonably well, and it’s not a question of getting lost in the characters, but she’s tedious in her delivery. There are convenient coincidences in the plot that I forgive as being common to 19th century literature, but the plot meanders and in my view the book is just not well executed, certainly nowhere near her classic ‘Middlemarch’, or other historical fiction tomes, such as ‘War and Peace’.
If you’re an Eliot fan, interested in the time period, or just like the challenge of getting through giant books (all of which are true for me btw :), you may like Romola; otherwise, you should probably look elsewhere.
Quotes:
On man’s search for meaning, which is timeless. Wow, and on page one, loved this:
“And as the faint light of his course pierced into the dwellings of men, it fell, as now, on the rosy warmth of nestling children; on the haggard waking of sorrow and sickness; on the hasty uprising of the hard-handed labourer; and on the late sleep of the night-student, who had been questioning the stars or the sages, or his own soul, for that hidden knowledge which would break through the barrier of man’s brief life, and show its dark path, that seemed to bend no whither, to be an arc in an immeasurable circle of light and glory. The great river-courses which have shaped the lives of men have hardly changed; and those other streams, the life-currents that ebb and flow in human hearts, pulsate to the same great needs, the same great loves and terrors. As our thought follows close in the slow wake of the dawn, we are impressed with the broad sameness of the human lot, which never alters in the main headings of its history – hunger and labour, seed-time and harvest, love and death.”
On lying:
“But he had borrowed from the terrible usurer Falsehood, and the loan had mounted and mounted with the years, till he belonged to the usurer, body and soul.”
On marriage:
“Romola had an energy of her own which thwarted his, and no man, who is not exceptionally feeble, will endure being thwarted by his wife. Marriage must be a relation either of sympathy or of conquest.”
On old age:
“I think all lines of the human face have something either touching or grand, unless they seem to come from low passions. How fine old men are, like my godfather! Why should not old women look grand and simple?”
On selflessness:
“There are so many things wrong and difficult in the world, that no man can be great – he can hardly keep himself from wickedness – unless he gives up thinking much about pleasure or rewards, and gets strength to endure what is hard and painful.”
No connection to the previous book! Maybe it took so long to get through this that I forgot the previous book. :) Maybe it’s a sign to stop pointing out the connections.
Show Less
LibraryThing member JuandeBeret
....mmmmm....odd little book, this. Unlike her other masterpieces, Silas Marner, Adam Bede and Mill on the Floss, Mary Anne Evans here delves into 15th Cent. Florentine history and, quote, puts her best blood, unquote, into this fault-filled work of art. Takes some getting used to but well worth
Show More
the effort. Show Less
LibraryThing member nsenger
Under every guilty secret there is hidden a brood of guilty wishes, whose unwholesome infecting life is cherished by the darkness.
I chose to read Romola for the 2017 Back to the Classics Challenge as my "Classic set in a place you'd like to visit." The story takes place in Florence, Italy, which is
Tito Melema, a handsome young Greek scholar, finds himself in Florence after being shipwrecked. As he tries to work his way up the social and political ladder he meets Romola, the beautiful daughter of one of Florence's most distinguished scholars, Bardo de Bardi. But Tito is haunted by the knowledge that his adoptive father may have survived the shipwreck, and he is torn between the desire to succeed and his filial duty to search for his father. Romola knows knows nothing of Tito's past or of his plans to undercut her father's dying wish. Their story plays out against the backdrop of Renaissance Italy and its religious and political upheaval.
Romola is well worth a read, especially for those who enjoy Victorian literature and/or historical fiction. I particularly enjoyed the Florentine setting and Romola's efforts to deal with Tito's bad decisions. The characters are complex and interesting, and their dilemmas and conflicts are universal.
I didn't know much about the time period before I started the book, and I think that hindered my enjoyment and understanding of the novel. While I did enjoy Romola, I would have appreciated it a lot more if the notes in my Modern Library Kindle edition would have been linked to the text. There were dozens of historical notes that I didn't read simply because navigating to them without an internal hyperlink was too cumbersome and time consuming. So while I recommend Romola the book, I do not recommend the Modern Library Kindle edition. If you read it, get yourself a copy in print or an ebook with links to the notes.
I chose to read Romola for the 2017 Back to the Classics Challenge as my "Classic set in a place you'd like to visit." The story takes place in Florence, Italy, which is
Show More
one of my bucket-list destinations. Written by George Eliot in 1863, Romola transports the reader to Florence in 1492, where the main characters rub elbows with Niccolo Machiavelli, Girolamo Savonarola, members of the Medici family, and other historical figures of the time.Tito Melema, a handsome young Greek scholar, finds himself in Florence after being shipwrecked. As he tries to work his way up the social and political ladder he meets Romola, the beautiful daughter of one of Florence's most distinguished scholars, Bardo de Bardi. But Tito is haunted by the knowledge that his adoptive father may have survived the shipwreck, and he is torn between the desire to succeed and his filial duty to search for his father. Romola knows knows nothing of Tito's past or of his plans to undercut her father's dying wish. Their story plays out against the backdrop of Renaissance Italy and its religious and political upheaval.
Romola is well worth a read, especially for those who enjoy Victorian literature and/or historical fiction. I particularly enjoyed the Florentine setting and Romola's efforts to deal with Tito's bad decisions. The characters are complex and interesting, and their dilemmas and conflicts are universal.
I didn't know much about the time period before I started the book, and I think that hindered my enjoyment and understanding of the novel. While I did enjoy Romola, I would have appreciated it a lot more if the notes in my Modern Library Kindle edition would have been linked to the text. There were dozens of historical notes that I didn't read simply because navigating to them without an internal hyperlink was too cumbersome and time consuming. So while I recommend Romola the book, I do not recommend the Modern Library Kindle edition. If you read it, get yourself a copy in print or an ebook with links to the notes.
Show Less
LibraryThing member TheGalaxyGirl
Welp, I finally had to give up at page 395. Many pages left to go, and I just couldn't bring myself to finish. I was bored. I found myself inadvertently skimming, and then having to go back and reread because I couldn't remember the last five pages. It's too slow, and the Victorian wifely
Show More
submissiveness was just getting on my nerves. It was only Eliot's pointed and sculpted prose which got me that far. And the thought of another notch on my bookcase wasn't enough to give up the amount of life it would take for me to finish. Show Less
LibraryThing member ivanfranko
A landmark book in my reading life. It rumbles away in the background long after the end. George Eliot is an incomparable writer. She was well ahead of the field in the English Novelists Stakes.
A great historical novel about a turbulent time among the Italian states. Soundly researched wherein the
A great historical novel about a turbulent time among the Italian states. Soundly researched wherein the
Show More
reader is left in no doubt about her thoroughness. Expertly plotted, providing tension through 700 pages. I was riveted from the start, just as I was when I read Daniel Deronda. Show Less
Subjects
Awards
Original language
English
Original publication date
1862 (Serialised in 14 parts from July 1862 - August 1864)