With a single drop of ink for a mirror, the Egyptian sorcerer undertakes to reveal to any chance comer far-reaching visions of the past. This is what I undertake to do for you, reader. With this drop of ink at the end of my pen, I will show you the roomy workshop of Mr. Jonathan Burge, carpenter and builder, in the village of Hayslope, as it appeared on the eighteenth of June, in the year of our Lord 1799.

Adam Bede

Accusé d'avoir volé de l'argent à une petite congrégation calviniste, le tisserand Silas Marner s'en défend : cependant, un couteau de poche et la bourse retrouvée chez lui semblent prouver le contraire... Rejeté par sa promise, Silas quitte la ville, le cour brisé. Quel avenir l'attend ?

Le roman, emblématique d'une Angleterre à l'aube de la révolution industrielle, a été adapté six fois pour le cinéma et deux fois pour la télévision.

George Eliot est le pseudonyme de Mary Ann Evans (1819-1880). Durant son enfance, elle reçoit une éducation très religieuse dont elle s'émancipe peu à peu lorsqu'elle rencontre le libre-penseur Charles Bray. Elle fait scandale à deux reprises, une première fois en affichant ouvertement son couple avec un homme marié, une seconde fois en se mariant avec un homme bien plus jeune qu'elle. Son ouvre, qui compte entre autres "Middlemarch" et "Daniel Deronda", est célèbre pour la fine analyse psychologique de ses personnages, que l'auteure situe toujours dans une Angleterre décrite avec la force de son écriture réaliste.

Silas Marner

More than three centuries and a half ago, in the mid spring-time of 1492, we are sure that the angel of the dawn, as he travelled with broad slow wing from the Levant to the Pillars of Hercules, and from the summits of the Caucasus across all the snowy Alpine ridges to the dark nakedness of the Western isles, saw nearly the same outline of firm land and unstable sea-saw the same great mountain shadows on the same valleys as he has seen today-saw olive mounts, and pine forests, and the broad plains green with young corn or rain-freshened grass-saw the domes and spires of cities rising by the river-sides or mingled with the sedge-like masts on the many-curved sea-coast, in the same spots where they rise today. And as the faint light of his course pierced into the dwellings of men, it fell, as now, on the rosy warmth of nestling children; on the haggard waking of sorrow and sickness; on the hasty uprising of the hard-handed labourer; and on the late sleep of the night-student, who had been questioning the stars or the sages, or his own soul, for that hidden knowledge which would break through the barrier of man's brief life, and show its dark path, that seemed to bend no whither, to be an arc in an immeasurable circle of light and glory.

Romola

Silas Marner, a weaver in the slum of Lantern Yard, stands falsely accused of stealing funds from his small Calvinist congregation. His life in tatters, Silas flees south and settles near the village of Ravenloe, only to have his life disrupted again when a local scoundrel, Dunsey Cass, steals his small fortune. It is only after becoming the guardian of an orphaned child that Silas's luck begins to change as he is transformed from an embittered man into one capable of love and forgiveness, with the means for spiritual rebirth and redemption from his ruinous past. In Silas Marner George Eliot subtly critiques the impacts of industrialization, the role of the upper class and the function of organized religion. The work has been adapted many times, most notably by the BBC with Ben Kingsley portraying Silas Marner. HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.

A young carpenter living in the fiction community of Hayslope, Adam Bede falls desperately in love with a local beauty, Hetty Sorrel. When two newcomers arrive in town-a gallant young captain and Hetty's gentle cousin Dinah-the affections and desires of these young people are pitted against the pressures of their social situations. Adam Bede is the first novel written by author George Eliot and was met with critical acclaim upon publication in 1859. Generally believed to be one of the best examples of realism in English literature, the novel has never been out of print. HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.

Ce sommet de l'histoire du roman anglais (qui en compte d'ailleurs beaucoup) date de 1860. Le thème principal en est l'amour tragique entre un frère et une soeur, qui se brouillent de longues années pour se réconcilier dans la mort. Entre-temps, la jeune fille a été amoureuse d'un infirme, puis du fiancé de sa cousine : mal lui en prendra. Le meilleur du livre est dans la peinture poétique de l'existence quotidienne la plus humble, dans «le sentiment de la question mystérieuse de la vie humaine et de la vie de la nature, des mystères sublimes auxquels nous participons en le sachant aussi peu que la fleur qui pousse» (Marcel Proust). On aimera ainsi «la nouveauté des images venant d'une vue tendre et neuve des choses».

Le moulin sur la Floss

In the fictional town of Middlemarch, selflessness, social reform, and romantic love struggle to survive against human foolishness, economic missteps, and societal ideals. Young and intelligent, Dorothea Brooke hastily marries Casaubon, a middle-aged scholar working tirelessly on his "masterpiece, " The Key to All Mythologies. Their union soon sours, and Dorothea becomes trapped in a difficult situation that worsens upon the death of her husband. Elsewhere in town, Tertius Lydgate, an idealistic young doctor, is caught in an ill-fated union with the sweet but superficial Rosamund Vincy. Intertwined within the lives of these two unfortunate couples is the handsome artist Will Ladislaw, who is sympathetic to Lydgate's ideas about science and medicine, and who develops feelings for his uncle's wife-Dorthea Brooke. Through the voices of the characters in Middlemarch, author George Eliot brings to life various issues of her day, including the role of women, the nature of marriage, political reform, and the status of education. Hailed as the greatest novel in the English language by British author Martin Amis, Middlemarch has been adapted twice for television. HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.

Middlemarch

Depuis l'installation du tisserand Silas Marner dans la campagne anglaise, près du village de Raveloe, les langues vont bon train. Cet homme solitaire, venu de la ville, au regard étrange, aux transes soudaines, et qui passe ses journées devant un métier à tisser, suscite à la fois méfiance et fascination. 

Chaque soir, Silas Marner s'enferme et contemple avec ravissement le fruit de son travail, des pièces d'or et d'argent. Jusqu'au jour où ce beau trésor se volatilise et où Silas découvre, près de son feu, une fillette aux cheveux d'or. 

Tout en portant un regard très réaliste sur l'Angleterre rurale du XIXe siècle qui inspira les débuts de son ouvre, George Eliot, dans ce roman de 1861, écrit un véritable conte moral, où l'on voit un homme cheminer vers sa renaissance spirituelle.

Silas Marner - Le tisserand de Raveloe

Men can do nothing without the make-believe of a beginning. Even science, the strict measurer, is obliged to start with a make-believe unit, and must fix on a point in the stars' unceasing journey when his sidereal clock shall pretend that time is at Nought. His less accurate grandmother Poetry has always been understood to start in the middle; but on reflection it appears that her proceeding is not very different from his; since Science, too, reckons backward as well as forward, divides his unit into billions, and with his clock-finger at Nought really sets off in medias res. No retrospect will take us to the true beginning; and whether our prologue be in heaven or on earth, it is but a fraction of that all-presupposing fact with which our story sets out.

Adam Bede

Résumé

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