There followed an unhappy period of leaden poetry (“The Spanish Gypsy” anyone?) until, by dint of sheer perseverance, something new began to fizz. The book was politely reviewed, but didn’t sell. Eliot labored anxiously, but in “Romola” she never really hit her stride. Evans was a social pariah, but Eliot was now a success.Īnd how disabling success can be. Her stories were much talked about, but Eliot’s authorship and life were also subjects of gossip and speculation writing under a pen name, the journalist and translator Marian Evans was also scandalously cohabiting with a married man. They received rave reviews, sold enviably well and were even quoted in debates in Parliament. Her previous books had captured a zeitgeist. In 1863, George Eliot received the largest advance that had yet been offered for a novel the £7,000 paid for “Romola” were well-earned.
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