Middlemarch (Penguin Classics) by George Eliot Reviewed by Arthur George Sedgwick
The Atlantic Monthly
"The verdict which public opinion has pronounced, or, rather, is from time to time pronouncing, on the writings of George Eliot is certainly a very complicated one. That she is an acute delineator of character, a subtle humorist, a master of English, a universal observer and a comprehensive student, a profound moralist, ? all this is part of her established reputation. That she is, besides this, a poet of great force and originality would, if we took as the test the most widely published criticism, be also established. That she has also succeeded, ? in an age in which the public has been satiated with novels, and critics have begun even to doubt whether novel-writing were not a thing of the past..." Read the entire Atlantic Monthly review.