Status
Available
Collection
Publication
New York : Crown Publishers, [2014]
Description
Biography & Autobiography. Literary Criticism. Nonfiction. HTML: A New Yorker writer revisits the seminal book of her youth--Middlemarch-- and fashions a singular, involving story of how a passionate attachment to a great work of literature can shape our lives and help us to read our own histories. Rebecca Mead was a young woman in an English coastal town when she first read George Eliot's Middlemarch, regarded by many as the greatest English novel. After gaining admission to Oxford, and moving to the United States to become a journalist, through several love affairs, then marriage and family, Mead read and reread Middlemarch. The novel, which Virginia Woolf famously described as "one of the few English novels written for grown-up people," offered Mead something that modern life and literature did not. In this wise and revealing work of biography, reporting, and memoir, Rebecca Mead leads us into the life that the book made for her, as well as the many lives the novel has led since it was written. Employing a structure that deftly mirrors that of the novel, My Life in Middlemarch takes the themes of Eliot's masterpiece--the complexity of love, the meaning of marriage, the foundations of morality, and the drama of aspiration and failure--and brings them into our world. Offering both a fascinating reading of Eliot's biography and an exploration of the way aspects of Mead's life uncannily echo that of Eliot herself, My Life in Middlemarch is for every ardent lover of literature who cares about why we read books, and how they read us. From the Hardcover edition..… (more)
Media reviews
"My Life in Middlemarch" [is in the genre of] the bibliomemoir — a subspecies of literature combining criticism and biography with the intimate, confessional tone of autobiography. ...
Rebecca Mead’s “My Life in Middlemarch” is a beguilingly straightforward, resolutely orthodox and unshowy
Show More
account of the writer’s lifelong admiration for George Eliot and for “Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life”
“My Life in Middlemarch” is an exemplary introduction to the work of George Eliot and a helpful and informed companion guide to “Middlemarch.” Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member japaul22
I'm still not sure exactly what this books was - memoir, literary analysis, biography of George Eliot? - but in the end it really didn't matter. This book was like having a conversation with a good friend about a book you both love. Rebecca Mead analyzes her favorite book, Middlemarch, through
This was a really interesting mix of analysis and the tone hit the perfect mix of scholarly and conversational. It could easily have gotten a pretentious feel, but luckily didn't. I loved revisiting Middlemarch (one of my favorites) through Rebecca Mead's eyes.
Show More
several techniques: using traditional literary analysis, exploring the work by discovering George Eliot's life and influences, and connecting the book to Mead's own life experiences. This was a really interesting mix of analysis and the tone hit the perfect mix of scholarly and conversational. It could easily have gotten a pretentious feel, but luckily didn't. I loved revisiting Middlemarch (one of my favorites) through Rebecca Mead's eyes.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Perednia
Some books are too full, too layered and so rewarding that they cannot be reduced to a blurb. That's true of George Eliot's Middlemarch, which will enrich a reader in different ways through a lifetime of re-reads. It's also true of Rebecca Mead's look at Middlemarch, its author and the ways they
Middlemarch is one of those novels that can capture a reader and never let go. The ups and downs of the fate suffered by the first main character we meet, Dorothea Brooke, so determined to do the right thing and so blind as to the downfall of her own impulse, the way the novel doesn't focus only on Dorothea but takes up the stories of other residents of the bucolic town, the way things don't necessarily turn out the way a reader would suspect but rarely ring false -- Middlemarch is a huge, sprawling, heartfelt and wise book.
Mead, a writer for The New Yorker, encountered the novel while young and fell under its spell. For anyone else who has done the same, her deep love for the book will set off an echo of memory for any sympathetic reader to the first time those pages were opened. The feeling of being where I was when first I read Middlemarch has been hard to shake off for days, and it's because Mead took me there with her own memory. That is powerful writing.
Mead does a wonderful job of reporting on her own reactions to the novel at different stages of her life, noting the ways in which what has happened to her have changed the way in which the book resonates for her. This is a wonderful sort of memoir because it shows that how a person changes can affect other aspects of life, such as the way in which one regards a revered part of one's life (and, yes, devotion to a book can indeed be that strong).
There is more to the novel than the ways in which a reader reacts to it, and there is much more to Mead's book. She also weaves in parts of Eliot's life and philosophy to specifc parts of the novel. And Mead is a discerning literary critic in comparing Eliot's goals with how they can be seen in her writing. She even makes cogent connections between Virgina Woolf and Eliot, which matters because Woolf's review of Middlemarch is the one that is still most often-quoted -- as the book being "one of the few English novels written for grown-up people".
Mead also puts Eliot squarely in the novelist's own time and shows how she was regarded during her lifetime and afterward. The way in which Mead brings this back to herself and her life to conclude My Life in Middlemarch is so satisfying that it's hard to decide which to do first -- read Middlemarch again or read My Life in Middlemarch again.
Show More
have affected her life in My Life in Middlemarch.Middlemarch is one of those novels that can capture a reader and never let go. The ups and downs of the fate suffered by the first main character we meet, Dorothea Brooke, so determined to do the right thing and so blind as to the downfall of her own impulse, the way the novel doesn't focus only on Dorothea but takes up the stories of other residents of the bucolic town, the way things don't necessarily turn out the way a reader would suspect but rarely ring false -- Middlemarch is a huge, sprawling, heartfelt and wise book.
Mead, a writer for The New Yorker, encountered the novel while young and fell under its spell. For anyone else who has done the same, her deep love for the book will set off an echo of memory for any sympathetic reader to the first time those pages were opened. The feeling of being where I was when first I read Middlemarch has been hard to shake off for days, and it's because Mead took me there with her own memory. That is powerful writing.
Mead does a wonderful job of reporting on her own reactions to the novel at different stages of her life, noting the ways in which what has happened to her have changed the way in which the book resonates for her. This is a wonderful sort of memoir because it shows that how a person changes can affect other aspects of life, such as the way in which one regards a revered part of one's life (and, yes, devotion to a book can indeed be that strong).
There is more to the novel than the ways in which a reader reacts to it, and there is much more to Mead's book. She also weaves in parts of Eliot's life and philosophy to specifc parts of the novel. And Mead is a discerning literary critic in comparing Eliot's goals with how they can be seen in her writing. She even makes cogent connections between Virgina Woolf and Eliot, which matters because Woolf's review of Middlemarch is the one that is still most often-quoted -- as the book being "one of the few English novels written for grown-up people".
Mead also puts Eliot squarely in the novelist's own time and shows how she was regarded during her lifetime and afterward. The way in which Mead brings this back to herself and her life to conclude My Life in Middlemarch is so satisfying that it's hard to decide which to do first -- read Middlemarch again or read My Life in Middlemarch again.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Jaylia3
You don’t have to have read Middlemarch to enjoy this book length reflection on and study of it, but My Life in Middlemarch may make you want to get your hands on a copy of George Eliot's classic novel. Layered and deeply considered, My Life in Middlemarch is a fairly brief (278 pages of text)
Rebecca Mead first read Middlemarch as a teenager, strongly identifying at that time with the intellectual and spiritual yearnings of Dorothea, an earnest young woman whose unfortunate marriage to a much older pedant begins the novel. Mead has continued to reread the book every few years into later adulthood, and though Middlemarch remains a favorite, her appreciation of it continues to evolve. It’s a book Mead feels helped shape her, each reading offering new perspectives on love, marriage, ambition, and personal growth as she moved through her own life.
Reading My Life in Middlemarch was like having a conversation with a well informed, thoughtful friend--though my side of the discussion was obviously in my head. I greatly enjoyed all three aspects of the book--memoir, biography and literary consideration--and it’s deepened and enriched the already significant pleasure I am having as I read Middlemarch for the first time.
Show More
and accessible book fully worthy of its insightfully rich subject. The writing manages to transition gracefully between the book’s three roles: memoir of the author’s experiences reading Middlemarch, brief biography of that novel’s boundary breaking Victorian era author George Eliot--pen name of Mary Anne Evans--and literary discussion of Middlemarch and its impact. Rebecca Mead first read Middlemarch as a teenager, strongly identifying at that time with the intellectual and spiritual yearnings of Dorothea, an earnest young woman whose unfortunate marriage to a much older pedant begins the novel. Mead has continued to reread the book every few years into later adulthood, and though Middlemarch remains a favorite, her appreciation of it continues to evolve. It’s a book Mead feels helped shape her, each reading offering new perspectives on love, marriage, ambition, and personal growth as she moved through her own life.
Reading My Life in Middlemarch was like having a conversation with a well informed, thoughtful friend--though my side of the discussion was obviously in my head. I greatly enjoyed all three aspects of the book--memoir, biography and literary consideration--and it’s deepened and enriched the already significant pleasure I am having as I read Middlemarch for the first time.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Sharon.Flesher
When I added My Life in Middlemarch to my list after reading glowing reviews, I expected to encounter something similar to Julie and Julia for the bookish set. Since I've only seen the film version of the latter, I can't adequately judge if this is a valid comparison, but the first parallel I noted
Rebecca Mead, a writer for The New Yorker, has penned this extraordinary memoir about her lifelong relationship with George Eliot's masterpiece, which some critics consider the greatest English novel. Mead combines biography, literary criticism, travelogue and personal reflection to explore the impact a single book can have on a reader. Yet Mead keeps herself in the shadows and the spotlight focused on Eliot.
Mead brings herself into the story somewhat reticently, as if she dares not suggest to her audience she is worthy of sharing a stage with Eliot. While this humility is to her credit, I would have liked to get to know Mead a bit better and understand why this novel, of the hundreds she has undoubtedly read, spoke so strongly to her for three decades.
I did not first read Middlemarch at age 17 as did Mead. My high school experience with Eliot was Silas Marner, which like most of my classmates, I did not appreciate at the time. As a teen, I would've found Middlemarch slightly less tedious than Silas Marner only because it had a bit of romance. I would've been enchanted by the dashing Will Ladislaw and, had I become bored with the other inhabitants of Middlemarch, skipped to the end to find out if he and Dorothea managed to get together.
I was in my 40s when I finally read Middlemarch, but even with three additional decades of maturity, I still did not successfully mine it for profound insights as Mead did, so I'm grateful to have her as a thoughtful and articulate guide to its nuances and I look forward to re-reading it in my 50s.
Show More
was that each author's famous muse steals the show.Rebecca Mead, a writer for The New Yorker, has penned this extraordinary memoir about her lifelong relationship with George Eliot's masterpiece, which some critics consider the greatest English novel. Mead combines biography, literary criticism, travelogue and personal reflection to explore the impact a single book can have on a reader. Yet Mead keeps herself in the shadows and the spotlight focused on Eliot.
Mead brings herself into the story somewhat reticently, as if she dares not suggest to her audience she is worthy of sharing a stage with Eliot. While this humility is to her credit, I would have liked to get to know Mead a bit better and understand why this novel, of the hundreds she has undoubtedly read, spoke so strongly to her for three decades.
I did not first read Middlemarch at age 17 as did Mead. My high school experience with Eliot was Silas Marner, which like most of my classmates, I did not appreciate at the time. As a teen, I would've found Middlemarch slightly less tedious than Silas Marner only because it had a bit of romance. I would've been enchanted by the dashing Will Ladislaw and, had I become bored with the other inhabitants of Middlemarch, skipped to the end to find out if he and Dorothea managed to get together.
I was in my 40s when I finally read Middlemarch, but even with three additional decades of maturity, I still did not successfully mine it for profound insights as Mead did, so I'm grateful to have her as a thoughtful and articulate guide to its nuances and I look forward to re-reading it in my 50s.
Show Less
LibraryThing member librken
I bought and read Middlemarch simply so I could read this book. It did not disappoint, but I did have difficulty as a male over 60 connecting with the author's theses. Also, disagreed with her on a few of them. I'm more grateful that Ms Mead inspired me to read Middlemarch which is the best 19th
Show More
century book I have read next to Anna Karenina. Show Less
LibraryThing member meandmybooks
Really lovely. An exploration of George Eliot's life, her great novel, Middlemarch, and how this novel has been a powerful influence in the author of this book's, Rebecca Mead's, life.
Mead, a journalist, has read Middlemarch many times since she first studied it as a teenager, but, in her forties,
"What if I tried to discern the ways in which George Eliot's life shaped her fiction, and how her fiction shaped her? I wasn't so naive as to think that novels could be biographically decoded, but novels are places in which authors explore their own subjectivity, and I wanted to think about what George Eliot might have sought, and what she might have discovered, in writing Middlemarch.
And cloaked in this quasi-objective spirit of inquiry was another set of questions, these ones more personal, and pressing, and secret. What would happen if I stopped to consider how Middlemarch has shaped my understanding of my own life? Why did the novel still feel so urgent, after all these years? And what could it give me now, as I paused here in the middle of things, and surveyed where I had come from, and thought about where I was, and wondered where I might go next"
Unlike Mead, I've only read Middlemarch once, not many years ago, in my late forties. It is an amazing book. If you haven't read it, you really should. So I can't compare my teenaged, young adult, and middle aged responses to it, as Mead does. Still, I think most readers have A Book, or maybe a few Books, that they've loved forever and whose characters and stories are interwoven with their own lives. The way our favorite books become part of us, and the way our experiences and growing maturity affect each new reading, so that, like a beloved friend or family member, "our" book may change subtly over the years, is an engaging topic, and Mead does a fine job, including enough biographical information to support her points but avoiding the sort of dull navel-gazing that this genre is sometimes prone to. The parallels between events and characters in Middlemarch and those in Eliot's life are very interesting, and I'm now eager to reread that book, as well as to read Scenes of Clerical Life and Adam Bede.
Mead, a journalist, has read Middlemarch many times since she first studied it as a teenager, but, in her forties,
Show More
she embarks on the project of this books to examine..."What if I tried to discern the ways in which George Eliot's life shaped her fiction, and how her fiction shaped her? I wasn't so naive as to think that novels could be biographically decoded, but novels are places in which authors explore their own subjectivity, and I wanted to think about what George Eliot might have sought, and what she might have discovered, in writing Middlemarch.
And cloaked in this quasi-objective spirit of inquiry was another set of questions, these ones more personal, and pressing, and secret. What would happen if I stopped to consider how Middlemarch has shaped my understanding of my own life? Why did the novel still feel so urgent, after all these years? And what could it give me now, as I paused here in the middle of things, and surveyed where I had come from, and thought about where I was, and wondered where I might go next"
Unlike Mead, I've only read Middlemarch once, not many years ago, in my late forties. It is an amazing book. If you haven't read it, you really should. So I can't compare my teenaged, young adult, and middle aged responses to it, as Mead does. Still, I think most readers have A Book, or maybe a few Books, that they've loved forever and whose characters and stories are interwoven with their own lives. The way our favorite books become part of us, and the way our experiences and growing maturity affect each new reading, so that, like a beloved friend or family member, "our" book may change subtly over the years, is an engaging topic, and Mead does a fine job, including enough biographical information to support her points but avoiding the sort of dull navel-gazing that this genre is sometimes prone to. The parallels between events and characters in Middlemarch and those in Eliot's life are very interesting, and I'm now eager to reread that book, as well as to read Scenes of Clerical Life and Adam Bede.
Show Less
LibraryThing member JonArnold
I’ve never actually read Middlemarch, despite Virginia Woolf’s infamous ringing endorsement of it. Blame encountering The Mill On The Floss at precisely the wrong time – it’s clearly a finely written book with a heartbreaking ending but such things merit little consideration to mid-teenage
So, if my memories of George Eliot are so bad I’ve deliberately avoided her ever since, why did I pick this up? Prosaically it was a cheap Kindle daily deal. On a literary ponce level… well I might be strange but I like finding out what others see in works of art that I might miss. What engaged them when I was left cold. If I can find what drives their passion and enthusiasm I might find something I missed. And if they prove to me that what looks like a few shards of dirty broken glass is in fact a hidden diamond, it’s win-win all round. It’s one of the reasons art exists; to help us understand the experiences of others.
What I got was a cross between a memoir and an extended book review. Mead take uses Middlemarch as the shape of the book and uses it in a Proustian way, reminiscing about all those people she used to be from teenager through the anxieties of youth and into a more content middle age. It’s halfway between autobiography and literary essay – Mead is a good enough writer to maintain interest all the way through, even though her own life is perhaps no more or less fascinating than anyone else’s. It’s more interesting to see how much more a book can reveal as we gain experience, what we understand when older that we couldn’t understand when we were young and how our sympathies alter with time. I suppose the measure of success here is that I did want to read Middlemarch afterwards, though I couldn’t shake the suspicion that I wouldn’t have taken a great deal from it when younger. Worth a read to gain an appreciation of one of the canonised greats of English literature, and even for the human element.
Show More
boys. The devisors of the GCSE WJEC curriculum certainly weren’t choosing their books to engage boys with literature.So, if my memories of George Eliot are so bad I’ve deliberately avoided her ever since, why did I pick this up? Prosaically it was a cheap Kindle daily deal. On a literary ponce level… well I might be strange but I like finding out what others see in works of art that I might miss. What engaged them when I was left cold. If I can find what drives their passion and enthusiasm I might find something I missed. And if they prove to me that what looks like a few shards of dirty broken glass is in fact a hidden diamond, it’s win-win all round. It’s one of the reasons art exists; to help us understand the experiences of others.
What I got was a cross between a memoir and an extended book review. Mead take uses Middlemarch as the shape of the book and uses it in a Proustian way, reminiscing about all those people she used to be from teenager through the anxieties of youth and into a more content middle age. It’s halfway between autobiography and literary essay – Mead is a good enough writer to maintain interest all the way through, even though her own life is perhaps no more or less fascinating than anyone else’s. It’s more interesting to see how much more a book can reveal as we gain experience, what we understand when older that we couldn’t understand when we were young and how our sympathies alter with time. I suppose the measure of success here is that I did want to read Middlemarch afterwards, though I couldn’t shake the suspicion that I wouldn’t have taken a great deal from it when younger. Worth a read to gain an appreciation of one of the canonised greats of English literature, and even for the human element.
Show Less
LibraryThing member bookworm12
There are certain books that become part of who we are. For Mead, one of those books is Middlemarch. This is a nonfiction account of her love of the book and experience with it. It is part memoir, part literary analysis and part biography of Eliot. This result is a lovely view of the importance of
Mead explores the context in which Middlemarch was written as she discusses its literary importance. She also talks about different commentaries and literary criticisms that have been written regarding the novel. She explores Eliot’s relationship with her stepsons and with the man who she spent her life with. Their unconventional relationship influenced the way she was perceived throughout the literary world. Eliot’s relationship later in life with a younger man actually reminded me quite a bit of her famous character Dorthea’s situation.
One important thing Mead touches on is the way books change for us depending on when we read them. I’ve had similar experiences with this in my own reading and it never fails to surprise me. I can read a book as a freshman in high school and be enamored with the rebellious teenager and their lust for life. I’ll re-read the same book five years later and identify with the older sister who is worried for her sibling. Then I’ll re-read it again after a few years have passed and be blown away by how the parents in the novel are handling the situation. I notice different parts of the story each time, I relate to different characters and experiences depending on what I’ve gone through. It thrills me to think of what I’ll find in my favorite books as I continue to re-read them throughout my life.
BOTTOM LINE: I loved Mead’s observations about both the book and Eliot. It made me think of the books that have become part of who I am. It’s also made me want to read all the rest of Eliot’s work and The Mill on the Floss is at the top of my list!
Show More
books in the lives of a reader.Mead explores the context in which Middlemarch was written as she discusses its literary importance. She also talks about different commentaries and literary criticisms that have been written regarding the novel. She explores Eliot’s relationship with her stepsons and with the man who she spent her life with. Their unconventional relationship influenced the way she was perceived throughout the literary world. Eliot’s relationship later in life with a younger man actually reminded me quite a bit of her famous character Dorthea’s situation.
One important thing Mead touches on is the way books change for us depending on when we read them. I’ve had similar experiences with this in my own reading and it never fails to surprise me. I can read a book as a freshman in high school and be enamored with the rebellious teenager and their lust for life. I’ll re-read the same book five years later and identify with the older sister who is worried for her sibling. Then I’ll re-read it again after a few years have passed and be blown away by how the parents in the novel are handling the situation. I notice different parts of the story each time, I relate to different characters and experiences depending on what I’ve gone through. It thrills me to think of what I’ll find in my favorite books as I continue to re-read them throughout my life.
BOTTOM LINE: I loved Mead’s observations about both the book and Eliot. It made me think of the books that have become part of who I am. It’s also made me want to read all the rest of Eliot’s work and The Mill on the Floss is at the top of my list!
Show Less
LibraryThing member rmckeown
Recently, I mentioned my interest in 19th century women writers including George Eliot. Her greatest work is Middlemarch, the quintessential novel of the 19th century. Will reading the book for that review, I came across a book about Eliot’s wonderful tale of life in the fictional town of
Rebecca Mead is a staff writer for my favorite magazine, The New Yorker. Eliot’s novel profoundly influenced her love of reading, and, while she admits to slacking off on the amount of books she reads, she still has a special, intimate corner of her mind firmly fixed in Middlemarch. My Life in Middlemarch examines the qualities of the novel which make it the great piece of literature it has become. I remember the first time I read this novel, and I immediately became awestruck by the power of the prose, the meticulous detail, and the close bond I developed with the characters. Middlemarch grabbed me by the lapels, dragged me into the nineteenth century, and introduced me to all the residents there – Jane Austen, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë, Elizabeth Gaskell, and, of course, George Eliot.
Born Mary Ann Evans to Robert Evans, the manager of the Arbury Hall Estate for the Newdigate family in Warwickshire, in 1818. She lived a rather unconventional lifestyle for the 19th century, and adopted a male pseudonym. She wanted her fiction to be taken seriously and separate herself from most female writers of the century know for light comedies. She also wanted to shield herself from criticism because of a long-standing affair she carried on with the married George Henry Lewes, whom she met in 1851. They began living together in 1854 until his death in 1878. While many Victorians carried on affairs, Eliot and Lewes scandalized the world because of their open admission. They considered themselves married for the rest of their lives. She died in 1880.
Mead focuses on the effect the novel had on her from her first encounter with Eliot at age 17. She quotes extensively from the novel, letters, and contemporary reviews and comments by those who knew George. She also explains her philosophy of books, writing, and reading. Mead writes, “Reading is sometimes thought of a s a form of escapism, and it’s a common turn of phrase to speak of getting lost in a book. But a book can also be where one finds oneself; and when a reader is grasped and held by a book, reading does not feel like an escape from life so much as it feels like an urgent, crucial dimension of life itself. There are books that seem to comprehend us just as much as we understand them, or even more. There are books that grow with the reader as the reader grows, like a graft on a tree” (16). Rebecca mead and I have a lot in common!
One frequent source for Mead is Virginia Woolf. Rebecca writes, “the early works, Scenes of Clerical Life, Adam Bede, and The Mill on the Floss, … seem drawn from Eliot’s own rural experience and are peopled with characters so true to life that readers forget they are fictional” (45). She then quotes, Woolf, “‘We move among them, now bored, now sympathetic, but always with that unquestioning acceptance of all that they say and do, which we accord to the great orginals only. We scarcely wish to analyse [sic] what we feel to be so large and deeply human’” (45-46).
I haven’t read Middlemarch in quite a few years, but I will get back to it soon. If you haven’t read it, Rebecca Mead’s My Life in Middlemarch will surely whet you appetite for one of the most noted authors of the nineteenth century. 5 platinum stars.
--Chiron, 2/9/14
Show More
Middlemarch, something like Coventry, England.Rebecca Mead is a staff writer for my favorite magazine, The New Yorker. Eliot’s novel profoundly influenced her love of reading, and, while she admits to slacking off on the amount of books she reads, she still has a special, intimate corner of her mind firmly fixed in Middlemarch. My Life in Middlemarch examines the qualities of the novel which make it the great piece of literature it has become. I remember the first time I read this novel, and I immediately became awestruck by the power of the prose, the meticulous detail, and the close bond I developed with the characters. Middlemarch grabbed me by the lapels, dragged me into the nineteenth century, and introduced me to all the residents there – Jane Austen, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë, Elizabeth Gaskell, and, of course, George Eliot.
Born Mary Ann Evans to Robert Evans, the manager of the Arbury Hall Estate for the Newdigate family in Warwickshire, in 1818. She lived a rather unconventional lifestyle for the 19th century, and adopted a male pseudonym. She wanted her fiction to be taken seriously and separate herself from most female writers of the century know for light comedies. She also wanted to shield herself from criticism because of a long-standing affair she carried on with the married George Henry Lewes, whom she met in 1851. They began living together in 1854 until his death in 1878. While many Victorians carried on affairs, Eliot and Lewes scandalized the world because of their open admission. They considered themselves married for the rest of their lives. She died in 1880.
Mead focuses on the effect the novel had on her from her first encounter with Eliot at age 17. She quotes extensively from the novel, letters, and contemporary reviews and comments by those who knew George. She also explains her philosophy of books, writing, and reading. Mead writes, “Reading is sometimes thought of a s a form of escapism, and it’s a common turn of phrase to speak of getting lost in a book. But a book can also be where one finds oneself; and when a reader is grasped and held by a book, reading does not feel like an escape from life so much as it feels like an urgent, crucial dimension of life itself. There are books that seem to comprehend us just as much as we understand them, or even more. There are books that grow with the reader as the reader grows, like a graft on a tree” (16). Rebecca mead and I have a lot in common!
One frequent source for Mead is Virginia Woolf. Rebecca writes, “the early works, Scenes of Clerical Life, Adam Bede, and The Mill on the Floss, … seem drawn from Eliot’s own rural experience and are peopled with characters so true to life that readers forget they are fictional” (45). She then quotes, Woolf, “‘We move among them, now bored, now sympathetic, but always with that unquestioning acceptance of all that they say and do, which we accord to the great orginals only. We scarcely wish to analyse [sic] what we feel to be so large and deeply human’” (45-46).
I haven’t read Middlemarch in quite a few years, but I will get back to it soon. If you haven’t read it, Rebecca Mead’s My Life in Middlemarch will surely whet you appetite for one of the most noted authors of the nineteenth century. 5 platinum stars.
--Chiron, 2/9/14
Show Less
LibraryThing member abycats
This book made it possible for me to read "Middlemarch" (which I finally decided had to be listened to, rather than read). The author has read and read this book dozens of times and gained all sorts of life lessons from it that I simply would not have seen without her guidance. I'm still baffled at
Show More
the reputation of "Middlemarch" but I now understand better why some people are so devoted to it. Show Less
LibraryThing member spinsterrevival
It’s been over 25 years since I read Middlemarch for Victorian Lit in college, and I vaguely remember enjoying it (way more than Heart of Darkness which we also read, and I loathed) but not really any details; I much more remember where I read most of it which was in Charlotte while visiting my
Mead’s love for the novel has me wanting to return to it, and I think I’ll be checking out the audiobook soon and prepping myself for thirty plus hours of listening. I loved learning more about George Eliot and her fairly untraditional but happy life; the mix of sources here was fascinating, and the author did a wonderful job with the tidbits she shared. My vivid memory of Victorian Lit was learning and truly understanding the word “earnest”, and it sounds as though Eliot was the epitome of earnestness.
As usual I love these reads which mingle memoir and biography, and having this also be a book about books (as she referred to other Eliot writings as well) truly made it perfect for me.
Show More
grandparents.Mead’s love for the novel has me wanting to return to it, and I think I’ll be checking out the audiobook soon and prepping myself for thirty plus hours of listening. I loved learning more about George Eliot and her fairly untraditional but happy life; the mix of sources here was fascinating, and the author did a wonderful job with the tidbits she shared. My vivid memory of Victorian Lit was learning and truly understanding the word “earnest”, and it sounds as though Eliot was the epitome of earnestness.
As usual I love these reads which mingle memoir and biography, and having this also be a book about books (as she referred to other Eliot writings as well) truly made it perfect for me.
Show Less
LibraryThing member DrFuriosa
Fans of Middlemarch will delight in Ms. Mead's interaction with the novel and George Eliot's life and other writings. Initially, I was disappointed that there were not more personal connections, but the research on Eliot was fascinating. She gets short shrift among Victorian authors, and it feels
Show More
like she's finally getting her due. 4.5 stars, really. Show Less
LibraryThing member akblanchard
Journalist Rebecca Mead celebrates George Eliot's brand of high moral seriousness (a frame of mind that is in short supply these days) in this tribute to the Victorian novelist's best-known work, Middlemarch. This book, is not only about Middlemarch--there is plenty here about George Eliot's life
Show More
and Mead's own life as well--but it is worth reading only if you have already read and appreciated Eliot's panoramic masterpiece. Show Less
LibraryThing member LynnB
This book didn't really work for me. The basic message is that, as we mature and go through different aspects of life, a book can take on new meanings and become significant in different ways. That is more appropriately a topic for a magazine article that a full length book.
My Life in Middlemarch
My Life in Middlemarch
Show More
is also a biography of George Elliot, but as such, it doesn't break any new ground. Show Less
LibraryThing member FKarr
I really enjoyed this book. I wish there were appreciations like this of many other novels. The biographical sections were informative. I especially liked the parts where Mead visited those parts of England that served as the setting for Middlemarch; these sections helped me to imagine the setting
Show More
as I read Middlemarch along with this book. Even the 'critical' parts of the book were enjoyable - Mead was not effusive in her praise and was willing to admit Eliot's and the book's flaws. Show Less
LibraryThing member rkreish
Disclosure: I received a review copy from the publisher via Blogging for Books.
Before I started reading lots of crime fiction I was an English major who read a bit of everything. I read Middlemarch just a few months before I graduated and was very impressed: it was a soapy, serialized drama, it was
This is a biblio-memoir, which means it's part a close reading of George Eliot's Middlemarch, part memoir of Rebecca Mead as she's reread the book since she was a teenager, part biographical sketch of Eliot and those close to her, and part a travelogue as Mead tries to understand the world Eliot wrote in and lived in. It's a book that I dipped in and out of because the structure, which follows the structure of each installment of the novel, didn't have the forward momentum I usually look for in my reading. That's not to say the book was uninteresting: I just felt the need to take breaks occasionally.
Before I started reading lots of crime fiction I was an English major who read a bit of everything. I read Middlemarch just a few months before I graduated and was very impressed: it was a soapy, serialized drama, it was
Show More
serious, and Eliot was so generous to her characters. I picked out My Life in Middlemarch not only because of my fondness of the book but because of my fondness of Mead's writing in the New Yorker (lots of profiles as well as other pieces, and her book about the wedding industrial complex is entertaining and fascinating too). If you don't love Middlemarch, I'd avoid this book.This is a biblio-memoir, which means it's part a close reading of George Eliot's Middlemarch, part memoir of Rebecca Mead as she's reread the book since she was a teenager, part biographical sketch of Eliot and those close to her, and part a travelogue as Mead tries to understand the world Eliot wrote in and lived in. It's a book that I dipped in and out of because the structure, which follows the structure of each installment of the novel, didn't have the forward momentum I usually look for in my reading. That's not to say the book was uninteresting: I just felt the need to take breaks occasionally.
Show Less
LibraryThing member debnance
Perfect timing. This book arrived in the mail from the publisher only days after I finished Middlemarch. It’s a book of reflections upon Middlemarch. Mead takes a deep look at Middlemarch, examining letters of author George Eliot, visiting spots from Eliot’s life, and thinking about the
This book added so much to my experience of reading Middlemarch. Thoughtful and erudite.
Show More
relationship between the lives of Middlemarch characters and the life of Eliot and Mead’s own life. This book added so much to my experience of reading Middlemarch. Thoughtful and erudite.
Show Less
LibraryThing member DowntownLibrarian
If you love Middlemarch, you owe it to yourself to read this book. Not only will you have a better and fuller understanding of George Eliot and her masterwork, this is also a reminder that books do indeed change lives.
LibraryThing member Okies
I can see this is a marvellous, learned journey into a writer's love for the book, Middlemarch. I hope I have the patience to finish the audiobook.
Unlike the first commentator below, it's a long time since I read Middlemarch - and I remember that I was awed by it. Then many years later, but still a
Unlike the first commentator below, it's a long time since I read Middlemarch - and I remember that I was awed by it. Then many years later, but still a
Show More
long time ago, I read a biography of Mary Ann Evans, and that was like stepping into a parallel Middlemarch universe. It was intensely interesting, perhaps in the sense of being a voyeur on a private person's life. One part I recall was how affected she was by knowing herself to be plain - hell! Could such a woman be plain?! Show Less
Awards
Audie Award (Finalist — Autobiography/Memoir — 2015)
Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year (Nonfiction — 2014)
San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year (Nonfiction — 2014)
Globe and Mail Top 100 Book (Nonfiction — 2014)