Casaubon is one of the greatest characters ever invented. Not a week goes by I don't think of him and see (often on Substack) would-be Casaubons seeking the Key to All Mythologies about tech, AI, startups, etc. Glorious every time.
I will never forget the moment I read the last passage in Middlemarch. I was sweeping the kitchen floor, listening to the audiobook. The last line hit me with such force I made an audible cry and stood frozen, broom in hand, tears filling my eyes. It is a quote I come back to again and again when my life feels small and hidden. I loved this review.
Thank you, thank you, for your wonderful words about Middlemarch!
One thing I’ve always loved about this book is that Eliot named it for the place where it happens, and that the place-name includes “middle.” It universalizes her story about “those who have found for themselves no epic life,” and who “rest in unvisited tombs.”
Thanks again. Your post was a great way for me to start my day.
Your newsletters are such a service. There's the recommendation, which I always pay attention to. And there's the way you write yourself, which I take to be a reflection of Mr Miller, and which/whom I warm to and feel inspired by. Thank you once again.
One of my wife's favorite works, if not the favorite, is David Copperfield by Dickens. She recently reread it and likes it even more. This past summer she read Middlemarch. She told me that she loved it as much as David Copperfield.
"We are on a perilous margin when we begin to look passively at our future selves, and see our own figures led with dull consent into insipid misdoing and shabby achievement."
Which so perfectly encapsulated my personal feelings about myself, I've never been able to forget it.
This is my favorite review of yours so far! I was eagerly awaiting it and you captured the novel exquisitely. It will also be a novel that I return to, having merged into my mental geography of places and people I would like to revist (and at times miss). Comparing my selected quotes with yours, I realize that I seem to gravitate toward humor, as I had underlined many sections that made me laugh out loud. Thanks for having motivated me to read Middlemarch via your classic novel goal list! I'll be curious to see what is on your list for next year...
I was kind of stumped for a way to do the review honestly. Then it just occurred to me that if I interviewed myself I could get away with something less formal than usual, which would be just the thing. Glad it worked! It was fun to do.
My favourite Middlemarch character would be Caleb Garth, perhaps because his qualities remind me of my own father. What makes Middlemarch timeless is that the characters are recognizable - their traits and personalities can be seen in people the reader knows, and in the reader themselves. In many ways, the main characters personify different paths that any person could take. If you are an idealist, do you wait patiently for opportunity to do more like Caleb Garth; become all talk a little action like Mr. Brooke; try to force your way on others like Bulstrode... each character could be an inspiration or a cautionary tale to every reader.
I love this review—great idea for a format. Wonderful beginning—great quote about literature being an alternative way to learn (a much better way for me). Thank you for reminding me why I loved this novel and remain so grateful I finally got myself to begin it a couple years ago. Stay with it for a bit, you’re in for some unforgettable vicarious living.
I wouldn’t set myself up to advise but I enjoy the Barsetshire Chronicles or if you like, The Chronicles of Barsetshire. Especially, as I think most do, Barchester Towers, the second volume. If you like it you should love it. Trollope was an interesting man who was a public servant most of his life though rose in this respect. He wrote prolifically and was a disciplined scrivener. I hope you find him enjoyable.
I would second the Barsetshire Chronicles, which mainly focuses on the Anglican clergy with gentle satire, but with some wonderful forays into the world of the rural upper class - Doctor Thorne has a local election that rivals the one in Middlemarch for comic effect. The first, The Warden, is a brief prelude to Barchester Towers, so they should be read together, but otherwise each book is a standalone novel, with main characters in one becoming secondary or background characters in another.
The other Trollope series worth reading are the Palliser novels, which is to English politics what the Barchester Chronicles are to English clergy.
I read this book last year. It took me about six off and on months. I had to ration myself because it was so much fun to read!
This quote cited by you from the book reminds me of FDR’s New Deal, which I have been thinking about lately: “Wrong reasoning sometimes lands poor mortals in right conclusions: starting a long way off the true point and proceeding by loops and zigzags, we now and then arrive just where we ought to be.”
Indeed. “… for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on un-historic acts, and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life and rest in unvisited tombs.”
I used that as the closing line in my book about a little known Victorian painter, Nelly Erichsen. And I called the book Nelly Erichsen: A Hidden Life...
A Middlemarch favorite sentence from Mrs. Garth's (once a governess now a housewife) internal conversation: "She thought it good for them to see that she could make an excellent lather while she corrected their blunders "without looking," - that a woman with her sleeves tucked up above her elbows might know all about the Subjunctive Mood or the Torrid Zone - that, in short, she might possess "education" and other good things ending in "tion," and worthy to be pronounced emphatically, without being a useless doll."
Casaubon is one of the greatest characters ever invented. Not a week goes by I don't think of him and see (often on Substack) would-be Casaubons seeking the Key to All Mythologies about tech, AI, startups, etc. Glorious every time.
Eliot’s revelation of his inner life is comic genius.
I will never forget the moment I read the last passage in Middlemarch. I was sweeping the kitchen floor, listening to the audiobook. The last line hit me with such force I made an audible cry and stood frozen, broom in hand, tears filling my eyes. It is a quote I come back to again and again when my life feels small and hidden. I loved this review.
Such a powerful moment. I’m glad you loved the review!
Thank you, thank you, for your wonderful words about Middlemarch!
One thing I’ve always loved about this book is that Eliot named it for the place where it happens, and that the place-name includes “middle.” It universalizes her story about “those who have found for themselves no epic life,” and who “rest in unvisited tombs.”
Thanks again. Your post was a great way for me to start my day.
What a wonderful observation.
Your newsletters are such a service. There's the recommendation, which I always pay attention to. And there's the way you write yourself, which I take to be a reflection of Mr Miller, and which/whom I warm to and feel inspired by. Thank you once again.
Thanks, Christopher! It’s a delight to work on these reviews. I’m glad they connect!
One of my wife's favorite works, if not the favorite, is David Copperfield by Dickens. She recently reread it and likes it even more. This past summer she read Middlemarch. She told me that she loved it as much as David Copperfield.
Wow. It is one of those perfect novels.
"We are on a perilous margin when we begin to look passively at our future selves, and see our own figures led with dull consent into insipid misdoing and shabby achievement."
Which so perfectly encapsulated my personal feelings about myself, I've never been able to forget it.
There are so many moments like that, ones that nearly pin you to the wall.
This is my favorite review of yours so far! I was eagerly awaiting it and you captured the novel exquisitely. It will also be a novel that I return to, having merged into my mental geography of places and people I would like to revist (and at times miss). Comparing my selected quotes with yours, I realize that I seem to gravitate toward humor, as I had underlined many sections that made me laugh out loud. Thanks for having motivated me to read Middlemarch via your classic novel goal list! I'll be curious to see what is on your list for next year...
I was kind of stumped for a way to do the review honestly. Then it just occurred to me that if I interviewed myself I could get away with something less formal than usual, which would be just the thing. Glad it worked! It was fun to do.
My favourite Middlemarch character would be Caleb Garth, perhaps because his qualities remind me of my own father. What makes Middlemarch timeless is that the characters are recognizable - their traits and personalities can be seen in people the reader knows, and in the reader themselves. In many ways, the main characters personify different paths that any person could take. If you are an idealist, do you wait patiently for opportunity to do more like Caleb Garth; become all talk a little action like Mr. Brooke; try to force your way on others like Bulstrode... each character could be an inspiration or a cautionary tale to every reader.
Yes, I agree. I too enjoyed Caleb Garth, particularly the role he plays in helping Fred Vincy sort himself out.
I love this review—great idea for a format. Wonderful beginning—great quote about literature being an alternative way to learn (a much better way for me). Thank you for reminding me why I loved this novel and remain so grateful I finally got myself to begin it a couple years ago. Stay with it for a bit, you’re in for some unforgettable vicarious living.
I’m glad you enjoyed it!
It’s quite something to reawaken my interest in a novel, but you have elegantly succeeded here. Thank you Joel. Have you read much Trollope?
I’ve read exactly no Trollope. Where should I start?
I wouldn’t set myself up to advise but I enjoy the Barsetshire Chronicles or if you like, The Chronicles of Barsetshire. Especially, as I think most do, Barchester Towers, the second volume. If you like it you should love it. Trollope was an interesting man who was a public servant most of his life though rose in this respect. He wrote prolifically and was a disciplined scrivener. I hope you find him enjoyable.
I would second the Barsetshire Chronicles, which mainly focuses on the Anglican clergy with gentle satire, but with some wonderful forays into the world of the rural upper class - Doctor Thorne has a local election that rivals the one in Middlemarch for comic effect. The first, The Warden, is a brief prelude to Barchester Towers, so they should be read together, but otherwise each book is a standalone novel, with main characters in one becoming secondary or background characters in another.
The other Trollope series worth reading are the Palliser novels, which is to English politics what the Barchester Chronicles are to English clergy.
Excellent! This is a great format for introducing such a long and varied narrative (and picking out aphorisms was a good idea - she's so sharp).
I re-read it after 40 years over the summer, taking it at a very leisurely pace. Marvellous.
It really is an amazing book. So incredibly wise.
I read this book last year. It took me about six off and on months. I had to ration myself because it was so much fun to read!
This quote cited by you from the book reminds me of FDR’s New Deal, which I have been thinking about lately: “Wrong reasoning sometimes lands poor mortals in right conclusions: starting a long way off the true point and proceeding by loops and zigzags, we now and then arrive just where we ought to be.”
It took me about three months. I started in August and finished just before Halloween. I get the need to ration; it’s infectious.
Loved this and now I “have to” (get to) read Middlemarch again!
Excellent!
And it has my favorite closing lines in all of literature.
Indeed. “… for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on un-historic acts, and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life and rest in unvisited tombs.”
I used that as the closing line in my book about a little known Victorian painter, Nelly Erichsen. And I called the book Nelly Erichsen: A Hidden Life...
The 2019 movie A Hidden Life quotes it at the end as well.
Yes. Stops me in my tracks every time. Thanks for this article. Much enjoyed revisiting these characters.
I'm going to put this on my list. I'm in the middle of rereading Anna Karenina, and a lot of what you like about Middlemarch applies to that novel.
I bet that’s true—an immersive world you can leap inside for however long you please.
Anna Karenina is my other favorite novel, with Middlemarch!
A Middlemarch favorite sentence from Mrs. Garth's (once a governess now a housewife) internal conversation: "She thought it good for them to see that she could make an excellent lather while she corrected their blunders "without looking," - that a woman with her sleeves tucked up above her elbows might know all about the Subjunctive Mood or the Torrid Zone - that, in short, she might possess "education" and other good things ending in "tion," and worthy to be pronounced emphatically, without being a useless doll."