Silly Novels by Lady Novelists and Other Essays

One of the most famous novelists in the English literary canon, the likes of Middlemarch and Silas Marnerare household names, but Eliot’s essays are often overlooked. This collection brings together some of her most important essays and seeks to celebrate her non-fiction writing. In ‘Silly Novels by Lady Novelists’ Eliot states a desire – some few years before her best-known works – to turn her hand to novel-writing, and decries the trivial nature of contemporary writers, setting out a manifesto for good writing. In ‘Woman in France’ she considers the history of women’s writing, and the complications women face in order to write – something Eliot knew much about herself, adopting a male name to publish the work she did not publish anonymously. Taken together, this collection gives a rare and valuable insight into the author’s writing, and shines a light on her pioneering subtle form of feminism. 'As one comes back to [Eliot’s] books after years of absence they pour out, even against our expectation, the same store of energy and heat, so that we want more than anything to idle in the warmth.' — Virginia Woolf