Dorothea's Lost Dog
"Dorothea Brooke has always irritated me; in fact, she makes my flesh creep. My allergy to this saintly, statuesque heroine, whom everyone else seems to adore, should disqualify me as a lover of Middlemarch, but I hope it won't: when I first read the novel as a junior in college, its greatness made me shiver, but I shivered at, and with, poor Casaubon, struggling with an intractable book and a hectoring wife, and I still do."
These are the opening lines from an essay by Nina Auerbach who is a Professor of Literature at the University of Pennsylvania. I caught this book, "Middlemarch in the Twenty-First Century", edited by Karen Chase as it was being cataloged in my library and took at peek at the essays, and the Auerbach one caught my eye. I want to read it all the way through, but I am afraid it will give too much of the book away (and I have lots to read yet). So I will check it out and read it later. I was quite surprised since Dorothea seems quite a beloved character. At first I was not too thrilled about her (case in point the dog she refused as a gift, which the essay does refer to), but she has grown on me since she married. Now she seems more human maybe. I was also surprised to hear Auerbach say poor Casaubon--so far I have not felt poor Casaubon at all! It is interesting to see such a completely different perspective.
In case you might be interested in this book, it was just published by Oxford University Press. Some of the essays include: "What's Not in Middlemarch", "Space, Movement, and Sexual Feeling in Middlemarch", "Dorothea's Lost Dog", and "A Conclusion in Which Almost Nothing is Concluded: Middlemarch's 'Finale'." Hmm.
These are the opening lines from an essay by Nina Auerbach who is a Professor of Literature at the University of Pennsylvania. I caught this book, "Middlemarch in the Twenty-First Century", edited by Karen Chase as it was being cataloged in my library and took at peek at the essays, and the Auerbach one caught my eye. I want to read it all the way through, but I am afraid it will give too much of the book away (and I have lots to read yet). So I will check it out and read it later. I was quite surprised since Dorothea seems quite a beloved character. At first I was not too thrilled about her (case in point the dog she refused as a gift, which the essay does refer to), but she has grown on me since she married. Now she seems more human maybe. I was also surprised to hear Auerbach say poor Casaubon--so far I have not felt poor Casaubon at all! It is interesting to see such a completely different perspective.
In case you might be interested in this book, it was just published by Oxford University Press. Some of the essays include: "What's Not in Middlemarch", "Space, Movement, and Sexual Feeling in Middlemarch", "Dorothea's Lost Dog", and "A Conclusion in Which Almost Nothing is Concluded: Middlemarch's 'Finale'." Hmm.
posted by Danielle at 11:20 AM
4 Comments:
This sounds like a fascinating book! I wishlisted it, and broke down and ordered a copy of Middlemarch while I was at it (I'm currently reading a library book). I can tell that I'm going to have to revisit this book, as I'm sure I'm missing subtleties.
Thanks for pointing out this book!
The dogs play an interesting role in the book. Eliot clearly had an affection for dogs.
I wasn't irritated by Dorothea at all, even though I saw her as a flawed character.
Sounds wonderful! Thanks for bringing this book to our attention, Danielle!
We are all going to have lots to say about the inconclusive conclusion, I have no doubts.
Hello, I am a devoted follower of your blog. I think this book sounds fascinating and have put it in my (150-plus-item) Amazon basket. I noticed on Amazon that Karen Chase, the editor, has also written a previous book herself about Middlemarch, also published by OUP, and five pounds cheaper. But I like the idea of reading a range of authors and perspectives in one book.
As ever, thank you all for a wonderful blog. I love it.
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