LEADER 03982nam 2200649 a 450 001 9910882200403321 005 20200520144314.0 010 $a1-282-71928-9 010 $a9786612719288 010 $a1-59403-387-0 035 $a(CKB)2670000000033432 035 $a(OCoLC)680622268 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebrary10411007 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000741288 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)12311447 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000741288 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10720692 035 $a(PQKB)10204820 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000459278 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11299124 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000459278 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10460569 035 $a(PQKB)10701362 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC557452 035 $a(EXLCZ)992670000000033432 100 $a20081112d2009 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aurcn||||||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 14$aThe Jewish odyssey of George Eliot /$fGertrude Himmelfarb 205 $a1st ed. 210 $aNew York $cEncounter Books$dc2009 215 $a1 online resource (189 p.) 300 $aBibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph 311 $a1-59403-596-2 311 $a1-59403-251-3 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. [155]-171) and index. 327 $a"The Jewish question" -- George Eliot's initiation into the Jewish question -- Daniel Deronda's initiation and revelation -- Hep! hep! hep! : a sequel to Daniel Deronda -- The reception of Daniel Deronda -- Epilogue. 330 $aIt is one of the curiosities of history that the most remarkable novel about Jews and Judaism, predicting the establishment of the Jewish state, should have been written in 1876 by a non-Jew – a Victorian woman and a formidable intellectual, who is generally regarded as one of the greatest of English novelists. And it is still more curious that Daniel Deronda, George Eliot's last novel, should have been dismissed, by many of her admirers at the time and by some critics since, as something of an anomaly, an inexplicable and unfortunate turn in her life and work. Yet Eliot herself was passionately committed to that novel, having prepared herself for it by an extraordinary feat of scholarly research in five languages (including Hebrew), exploring the ancient, medieval, and modern sources of Jewish history. Three years later, to reenforce that commitment, she wrote an essay, the very last of her writing, reaffirming the heritage of the Jewish “nation" and the desirability of a Jewish state – this well before the founders of Zionism had conceived of that mission. Why did this Victorian novelist, born a Christian and an early convert to agnosticism, write a book so respectful of Judaism and so prescient about Zionism? And why at a time when there were no pogroms or persecutions to provoke her? What was the general conception of the “Jewish question," and how did Eliot reinterpret that “question," for her time as well as ours? Gertrude Himmelfarb, a leading Victorian scholar, has undertaken to unravel the mysteries of Daniel Deronda. And the mysteries of Eliot herself: a novelist who deliberately wrote a book she knew would bewilder many of her readers, a distinguished woman who opposed the enfranchisement of women, a moralist who flouted the most venerable of marital conventions – above all, the author of a novel that is still an inspiration or 330 8 $aprovocation to readers and critics alike. 606 $aZionism in literature 606 $aJudaism in literature 606 $aJews in literature 615 0$aZionism in literature. 615 0$aJudaism in literature. 615 0$aJews in literature. 676 $a823/.8 700 $aHimmelfarb$b Gertrude$0134074 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910882200403321 996 $aThe Jewish odyssey of George Eliot$94209650 997 $aUNINA