内容简介

This Norton Critical Edition of George Eliot's highly regarded novel of provincial English life is based on the 1874 edition, the last corrected by the author. Ample explanatory annotation has been provided by the editor.
　　"Backgrounds" elucidates Eliot's ideas on life and art with generous selections from her letters, journals, essays, and other fictional works. Five contemporary reviews record Middlemarch's initial reception.
　　"Recent Criticism" collects eleven essays——seven of them new to the Second Edition——that center on the novel's major themes. Mark Schorer, Jerome Beaty, Cherry Wilhelm, Bert G. Hornback, Robert B. Heihnan, Lee R. Edwards, Alan Mintz, T. R. Wright, Matthew Rich, Alan Shelston, and Claudia Moscovici provide their varied perspectives.
　　A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are also included. ABOUT THE SERIES: Each Norton Critical Edition includes an authoritative text, contextual and source materials, and a wide range of interpretations—from contemporary perspectives to the most current critical theory——as well as a bibliography and, in many cases, a chronology of" the author's life and work.