Middlemarch: Part 1 (Classic Books on Cassettes Collection)

Book Description

Vast and crowded, rich in irony and suspense, Middlemarch is richer still in character, with two of the era's most enduring characters, Dorothea Brooke, trapped in a loveless marriage, and Lydgate, an ambitious young doctor.

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On April 10, 1994, PBS stations nationwide will air the first episode of a lavish six-part Masterpiece Theatre production of Eliot's brilliant work, Middlemarch, hosted by Russell Baker and produced by Louis Marks. The Modern Library is pleased to offer this official companion edition, complete with tie-in art and printed on acid-free paper. Unabridged.

Customer Reviews:

A fun read and a good story.......2007-06-20

Remember the first time you read a classic, expecting it to be hard work, dreary "educational" stories, and abstruse language? And then you read it and found out to your delight that good writing meant it was easy to read and kept your interest? Middlemarch is simply fun to read. The language is high, and for some readers perhaps "wordy," but not the type of wordiness that has too many descriptions of things. It's thoughtful. Middlemarch is really an elevated soap opera, with completely filled out and amusing characters, angst filled situations, and lots of interesting history. If you like to read about the Victorian era, enjoy the repression they live under, and like to long for people to speak their hearts when they feel they can't, then you'll like this book. It is very long, but I always appreciate that when it's a good story, and this is definitely a good story.

Brilliant!.......2007-05-29

This one deserves 10 stars, it is really one of the most incredible books I've ever read. I think I've only given a brilliant rating to the Count of Monte Cristo and Bleak House. This is a fascinating character study of the people of Middlemarch, a town in Victorian England. I can't even begin to try to describe the story -- there is Dorothea who makes a dreadful first marriage to an older man, Dr. Lydgate and his disastrous relationship and marriage to the self-centered Rosamund, Fred Vincy and Mary, and much much more.

The way the author pulls her story and characters together is incredible, and the insight into the characters is nothing short of brilliant. To quote from the book jacket and Virginia Wolf "one of the few English novels written for grown-up people."

Just be warned, this is not a sit on the edge of your seat, can't put it down until it's finished type of novel. This is a story to savour and enjoy the multi-faceted characters and the author's glorious prose like a fine red wine or a box of chocolates (or both). If you are looking for high action and adventure, this is not the book for you. Highly recommended for any lover of 19th century English literature, not as dark and brooding as Hardy can be, but the prose is just as lovely, if not better.

too much for me.......2007-05-13

I am an avid reader of many different types of literature, and am used alot of different styles of prose. Despite my past readings however I simply could not enjoy this book. It has a style all of itself. Perhaps other readers enjoyed this highly rated novel, but I did not care for the overall style and the excessive wordiness.

Best Victorian Novel?.......2007-04-13

Most people consider Dickens the greatest English novelist or the greatest Victorian novelist at the very least. While I admire Dickens' abilities, none of his novels that I've read comes close to MIDDLEMARCH in terms of accessibility, wisdom, character development or coherant plotting.

This is not to argue that MIDDLEMARCH is a perfect work of literary art, or at least not in the eyes of today's readers. Many a modern reader will be put off by its length, the challenging vocabulary and complex sentences, Eliot's frequent allusions to political, religious, literary, artistic and philosophical esoterica, her characters' hyperbolic fear of "scandals" (laughable by today's standards), their views on the place of women in society, and Eliot's fussy Victorian "not" phrases that overflow throughout. (A random turn of the pages yields the following examples: "One fine morning a young man whose hair was not immoderately long ...." Same paragraph: "He was sufficiently absorbed not to notice ...." Next paragraph: "... a breathing blooming girl whose form, not shamed by ....") These begin to NOT thrill the reader before too long.

But my litany of minor criticisms aside (and they are minor), Eliot's masterwork certainly challenges GREAT EXPECTATIONS, BLEAK HOUSE and DAVID COPPERFIELD for sheer reading pleasure, and far exceeds Dickens' novels in seriousness of topic and tone. As Virginia Woolf famously observed, MIDDLEMARCH was written for grownups.

The one area in which Eliot clearly cannot challenge Dickens is humor. Dickens was a gifted humorist and created many a character simply to make his readers laugh, whereas Eliot appears to have been mostly uninterested in such trivial pursuits. Perhaps serious Victorian grownups weren't supposed to laugh?

But fear not, if you give it a chance, you too will be swept up into Eliot's MIDDLEMARCH world, and you will find yourself caring a great deal about the fate of Dorothea Brooke, Tertius Lydgate, Will Ladislaw, Mary Garth, and the rest of her pantheon of characters, all of whom, far more than any of Dickens' creations, seem of flesh and blood rather than caricatures on a page.

So, to answer the title question: is MIDDLEMARCH the best Victorian novel? Hard to say, but it gives GREAT EXPECTATIONS an excellent run for the money.

High on my lengthy soon-to-read list: Eliot's DANIEL DERONDA, THE MILL ON THE FLOSS and ADAM BEDE.

One of the Greatest Novels.......2007-01-29

George Eliot was the greatest sculptor of characters. She could do grand magic with words. Through the words of George Eliot, we know each and everyone of the characters in her novel with intimate details and deep sympathy - we could see their faces up close: now they blushed, or darkened, or twitched, or pouted, or lighted up, or looked bewildered. She expressed the most difficult, the most ambiguous, and the most awkward feelings with precision, charm and force. In Middlemarch, the story had a simple, rambling plot, put together to support the cast of characters Eliot lovingly sculpted. Many argue that Middlemarch is one of the greatest novels of all times. Yes, I agree.

Middlemarch (Everyman's Library Classics)

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Middlemarch (Everyman's Library Classics)
George Eliot
Manufacturer: Everyman's Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1857150066

Average customer rating:

Great book, great reading
Caution: This is only HALF of Middlemarch.
Middlemarch Audiobook CD

Middlemarch: Part 1 & Part 2
George Eliot
Manufacturer: Tantor Media
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: 1400102162

Book Description

Complex social interrelationships, and the struggles to hold fast to personal integrity in a materialistic and mean spirited age in England during the 1830s, are the focus of this novel.

Customer Reviews:

Great book, great reading.......2007-01-09

I really enjoyed this performance of my favorite book of all time. I'm mostly writing a review because I think the star rating is excessively low and would like to tip the balance a little higher to say that it is worth listening to this audiobook. Also, there is a great article in the new york times by Verlyn Klinkenborg about listening to Middlemarch while driving across the united states. I like that there are places that I associate with moments in this book, having melded two sensory experiences into one sensation. Give it a whirl!

Also, please consider that the verynegative reviews of this product are more personal disappointments than fair critiques. It is a long book, but a rewarding one (I first heard this when I borrowed it from my local library--look for volume three there if you like--it's worth the trouble to hear the sublime end), and there is more than one way to read a book. I was surprised when I looked for maureen obrian's performance that the entire first page of google's maureen obrian middlemarch was the same review from this reviewer on different book vending sites expressing disappointment that kate reading is not maureen obrian. This performance must have been quite a disappointment, but this response doesn't seem quite fair to me. I'll check out that recording, though, because it sure sounds like it might be terrific. In case you're looking for it alongside me, her name appears to be obrien, not obrian.

Caution: This is only HALF of Middlemarch........2006-07-15

I had this for a month, looking forward to listening to it in the car, when I discovered that this is only PART 1 of Middlemarch, that there are TWO boxes, not one. Do I want to listen to only half of the book? NO! Do I want to pay $90 to listen to the whole thing? No! So what do I do?

Middlemarch Audiobook CD.......2006-07-11

If you were nurtured on the original cassette recording read by Maureen O'Brian, do not expect the same quality of presentation on this recording. Maureen O'Brian was no doubt an actress par excellence and her presentation was lively and enthusiastic. She captured the different characters with such an artistry that this recent recording by Kate Reading falls flat beside it.

Middlemarch (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) (Barnes & Noble Classics)

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The Barnes and Noble Edition
This book can heal souls.
Probably The Best Novel On 19th Century England & The Industrial Revolution

Middlemarch (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) (Barnes & Noble Classics)
George Eliot
Manufacturer: Barnes & Noble Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1593080239

Book Description

Often called the greatest nineteenth-century British novelist, George Eliot (the pen name of Mary Ann Evans) created in Middlemarch a vast panorama of life in a provincial Midlands town. At the story’s center stands the intellectual and idealistic Dorothea Brooke—a character who in many ways resembles Eliot herself. But the very qualities that set Dorothea apart from the materialistic, mean-spirited society around her also lead her into a disastrous marriage with a man she mistakes for her soul mate. In a parallel story, young doctor Tertius Lydgate, who is equally idealistic, falls in love with the pretty but vain and superficial Rosamund Vincy, whom he marries to his ruin.

Eliot surrounds her main figures with a gallery of characters drawn from every social class, from laborers and shopkeepers to the rising middle class to members of the wealthy, landed gentry. Together they form an extraordinarily rich and precisely detailed portrait of English provincial life in the 1830s. But Dorothea’s and Lydgate’s struggles to retain their moral integrity in the midst of temptation and tragedy remind us that their world is very much like our own. Strikingly modern in its painful ironies and psychological insight, Middlemarch was pivotal in the shaping of twentieth-century literary realism.

Customer Reviews:

The Barnes and Noble Edition.......2007-06-20

I've written a review on this somewhere under another edition, but I wanted to comment on the Barnes and Noble Classic Series edition. It's very nice with an introduction by someone scholarly, and footnotes that are included at the very end, but the cover has that filmy stuff over it that tends to start curling off pretty quickly.

The story itself is wonderful.

This book can heal souls........2006-01-11

The author is like a mindreader, a very kind one. The book is readable and funny and the descriptions and dialogue and ideas and idealism and...everything are great. It has all kinds of stories in it, and many different people. I read somewhere that Eliot was "large in spirit", meaning she was forgiving of the worst of us, and I think it's true.

Probably The Best Novel On 19th Century England & The Industrial Revolution.......2005-07-12

George Eliot, (nom de plume of Mary Ann Evans), wrote a literary masterpiece with "Middlemarch." I was forced to read this novel in school at an age when term papers and grades meant more than absorbing the riches this book contains. I reread it recently, after thirty years, and it was/is so worth the revisit! The Barnes and Noble Classic Series Edition of "Middlemarch" contains an excellent Introduction by author and poet Lynn Sharon Schwartz. There is also a brief biography of George Eliot included.

Ms. Eliot created here, an entire community in England in the mid-1800s and called it Middlemarch. She populated this provincial town with people of every station, local squires and their families, tradespeople, the rising middle class, (Middlemarch, right?), & the poor and destitute, ruthless and honest. She crowded them together, with all their ambitions, dreams and foibles, in this magnificent literary soap opera, and wove a wonderful web of plots and subplots. Ms. Eliot also wrote scathing social commentary and used great wit.

The fortunes of Middlemarch are rising in this new era when machines and trains - fast, available transportation - are changing the world, the economy, the politics. Rigid social codes, the British class system, is in danger of being breached. Folks are out to make a quick buck, or a shilling - anything to acquire wealth and enhance social position.

Dorothea Brooks lives in Middlemarch. She is an intelligent, sensitive young woman, who wants to dedicate her life to important endeavors. She does not want to settle for a typical marriage and family, but looks toward a more noble cause. As a woman, a professional life is not open to her, nor is the pursuit of intellect, outside of marriage. She weds the elderly Rev. Casaubon, a cold, narcissistic man, thinking that by assisting him with his scholarly research and writing, she will find happiness.

Dr. Lydgate comes to Middlemarch to begin his medical practice there. He is an idealist, who has dreams of finding a cure for cholera and opening a free clinic. He meets blonde and beautiful Rosamund Vincie, who fancies him for a spouse...along with a new house, new furniture, an extensive wardrobe, etc.

A dashing, romantic Will Ladislaw, nephew of Rev. Casaubon, enters the story, as does Rosie's brother Fred, who wants desperately to marry his Mary, but is out of work and in debt. This cast of richly drawn characters continues to grow with the introduction of Mary's family, the Garths, the banker Bulstrode, friends, relations, and an evil villain or two.

This complex novel and portrait of the times, is one of the best reading experiences I have had in a long while. I cannot recommend it highly enough. 5+ Stars!
JANA

Middlemarch: An Authoritative Text, Backgrounds, Reviews and Criticism (A Norton Critical Edition)

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Middlemarch: An Authoritative Text, Backgrounds, Reviews and Criticism (A Norton Critical Edition)
George Eliot , Marian Evans , and Bert G. Hornback
Manufacturer: W W Norton & Co Inc (Np)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Manufacturer: Cliffs Notes
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ASIN: 0822008254

Book Description

This is a story of the search for happiness, occurring in the maze-like microcosm of 19th-century England. Middlemarch provides a very thorough picture of life in provincial England.

Middlemarch (MAXNotes Literature Guides) (MAXnotes)

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Middlemarch (MAXNotes Literature Guides) (MAXnotes)
Gail Rae
Manufacturer: Research & Education Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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MAXnotes offer a fresh look at masterpieces of literature, presented in a lively and interesting fashion. Written by literary experts who currently teach the subject, MAXnotes will enhance your understanding and enjoyment of the work. MAXnotes are designed to stimulate independent thought about the literary work by raising various issues and thought-provoking ideas and questions. MAXnotes cover the essentials of what one should know about each work, including an overall summary, character lists, an explanation and discussion of the plot, the work's historical context, illustrations to convey the mood of the work, and a biography of the author. Each chapter is individually summarized and analyzed, and has study questions and answers.

Average customer rating:

Brilliant eloquence
An Extraordinary Masterpiece Of 19th Century England & The Industrial Revolution

Middlemarch

Manufacturer: Barnes & Nobles
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Product Description

It was George Eliot's ambition to create a world and portray a whole community--tradespeople, middle classes, country gentry--in the rising fictional provincial town of Middlemarch, circa 1830. Vast and crowded, rich in narrative irony and suspense, Middlemarch is richer still in character and in its sense of how individual destinies are shaped by and shape the community.

Customer Reviews:

Brilliant eloquence.......2006-04-30

I read Middlemarch 30 years ago for a highschool assignment. It was over my young head. Making it through the 900 pages was like climbing a mountain and back. It took me about 600 pages to get into the book, and hundreds of pages were devoted to the politics and goings on of the time - something I had little interest in. A more mature reader would probably have found that fascinating.

YET - Of all the books I have read and heard through the years, it is a few sentences in this book that captured my heart more than any other anywhere. See what you think:

"That element of tragedy which lies in the very fact of frequency, has not yet wrought itself into the coarse emotion of mankind; and perhaps our frames could hardly bear much of it. If we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow and the squirrel's heart beat, and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence. As it is, the quickest of us walk about well wadded with stupidity."

(Middlemarch, a few paragraphs into Chapter 20.)

For writing and insight like that, people make pilgrimages. Eliot's writing has thousands of brilliant paragraphs that are stunning in their eloquence and clarity.

An Extraordinary Masterpiece Of 19th Century England & The Industrial Revolution.......2005-07-27

George Eliot, (nom de plume of Mary Ann Evans), wrote a literary masterpiece with "Middlemarch." This Barnes and Noble hard cover edition is a good one, however I would recommend their newer, paperback publication with an Introduction by author and poet Lynn Sharon Schwartz, or the Penguin Classic version. There is also a brief biography of George Eliot included in the B&N paperback. This superb novel will always rate 5+ Stars for me, but this particular edition is not the best.

Ms. Eliot created here, an entire community in England in the mid-1800s and called it Middlemarch. She populated this provincial town with people of every station, local squires and their families, tradespeople, the rising middle class, (Middlemarch, right?), & the poor and destitute, ruthless and honest. She crowded them together, with all their ambitions, dreams and foibles, in this magnificent literary soap opera, and wove a wonderful web of plots and subplots. Ms. Eliot also wrote scathing social commentary and used great wit.

The fortunes of Middlemarch are rising in this new era when machines and trains - fast, available transportation - are changing the world, the economy, the politics. Rigid social codes, the British class system, is in danger of being breached. Folks are out to make a quick buck, or a shilling - anything to acquire wealth and enhance social position.

Dorothea Brooks lives in Middlemarch. She is an intelligent, sensitive young woman, who wants to dedicate her life to important endeavors. She does not want to settle for a typical marriage and family, but looks toward a more noble cause. As a woman, a professional life is not open to her, nor is the pursuit of intellect, outside of marriage. She weds the elderly Rev. Casaubon, a cold, narcissistic man, thinking that by assisting him with his scholarly research and writing, she will find happiness.

Dr. Lydgate comes to Middlemarch to begin his medical practice there. He is an idealist, who has dreams of finding a cure for cholera and opening a free clinic. He meets blonde and beautiful Rosamund Vincie, who fancies him for a spouse...along with a new house, new furniture, an extensive wardrobe, etc.

A dashing, romantic Will Ladislaw, nephew of Rev. Casaubon, enters the story, as does Rosie's brother Fred, who wants desperately to marry his Mary, but is out of work and in debt. This cast of richly drawn characters continues to grow with the introduction of Mary's family, the Garths, the banker Bulstrode, friends, relations, and an evil villain or two.

This complex novel and portrait of the times, is one of the best reading experiences I have had in a long while. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
JANA

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Middlemarch a Study of Provincial Life

Manufacturer: A. L. Burt Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Average customer rating:

As classics go, it's pretty classic

Middlemarch (Penguin Popular Classics)
George Eliot
Manufacturer: Penguin Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Customer Reviews:

As classics go, it's pretty classic.......2007-09-15

Rarely have I enjoyed a classic with more surprise than Middlemarch. It looks to be an endless and boring morality tale from the plot summary, but reads like a work of high psychological art.
The only other writer who has taken me so convincingly inside the thoughts of so many characters is Shakespeare. A strong compliment, but Eliot shows that she had the goods and somehow weaves an epic and beguilingly entertaining tale out of a quite depressing subject and period.
I recall not wanting this book to end; for an 800-pager, that's strong praise indeed.
They don't write 'em like this anymore!
I love this Penguin edition; they've been doing it right for so long that their versions of the classics have all the right, simple touches.
Truly great writing makes you feel ennobled for having read it; Middlemarch is most decidedly one of those books.

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