George Eliot, Judaism and the Novels Jewish Myth and Mysticism [Hardcover]

This is the first study to argue that Jewish Mysticism influenced all Eliot's novels and not just her Jewish novel, Daniel Deronda , and leaves the reader with a very different George Eliot from that assumed by most previous criticism. Though previous studies have attempted to qualify the still-dominant view that George Eliot is firmly as part of the realistic tradition, this study goes further by demonstrating that a cohesive mythic structure with its basis in Jewish mysticism is identifiable in her fiction. Providing helpful background and factual information about the Golem and other aspects of Kabbalah, this work will appeal to anyone interested in the myth of the Golem, the re-writing of Victorian culture from a Judaic perspective, and George Eliot studies in general.Introduction: Jewish Myth, Mysticism and George Eliot's Fiction George Eliot and Kabbalism: Historical and Literary Context Kabbalistic Philosophy and the Novels From Formless Matter to Matter with Form The Relationship between Creator and Creature Ideals of Perfection Science, Pseudo-Science and Transgression Investing Form with Essence Homelessness and Speechlessness The Messianic Potential Conclusion: Social Critique, Education, Allegory Notes Bibliography

'...the authors offer much that is provocative, and students and scholars of Eliot will find their book worth pondering.' - M.E. Burstein, Choice

SAKEEN NURBHAI is a Lecturer in English Literature at St Martin's College, Lancaster. He has published several articles on George Eliot as well as prose fiction and poetry.

KENNETH NEWTON is Professor of English at the University of Dundee. He is the author of George Eliot: Romantic Humanist, In Defence of Literary Interpretation, Interpreting the Text, and has edited collections of literary theory.