THE MARRIAGE QUESTION

A highly illuminating portrait of the acclaimed writer’s evolution as a novelist and a wife.

Carlisle, a professor of philosophy and author of Spinoza’s Religion and Philosopher of the Heart, digs into the unconventional relationship between George Eliot, who was born Mary Ann Evans, and her life partner, George Lewes. “How,” asks Carlisle, “does [the couple’s] defiantly idealized public image connect to the very dark marital interiors portrayed in [Eliot’s] novels, with their recurring scenes of ambivalence, brutality and disappointment? Do these scenes retaliate against the moralism that condemned their author, by smashing the façade of respectable marriage?” If this material sounds too dry or overly academic, not to worry. Carlisle’s ability to distill and connect ideas from such disparate fields as philosophy, theology, and literary analysis only brings Eliot into tighter focus. In addition to examining Eliot’s relationship with Lewes, Carlisle shows her in her artistic element, visiting with such luminaries as Herbert Spencer, Thomas and Jane Carlyle, George Sand, and Franz Liszt. As the author capably demonstrates, Eliot was determined to break away from the strictures of 19th-century British life and lead the fullest possible creative and emotional life. Much of this was made possible by Lewes, who, Carlisle reminds us, exerted abundant energy in buoying her up. “He was steadfastly cheerful,” writes the author, “through her recurrent depressions, relentlessly encouraging through her self-doubt,” and “putting her work before his own…became a daily practice of devotion.” Carlisle’s descriptions of both Eliot and Lewes are engaging throughout. Regarding the latter: “Vigorous, bright, tenacious, not inclined to doubt or nuance: his personality flowed into his literary style….With his scruffy charm, dubious past, literary connections and bold ideas, he had a racy glamour.” Fans of literary history will savor this book.

Carlisle’s empathetic exploration of a unique relationship provides a clear lens through which to view Eliot’s life and work.