Abstraction and the Subject of Novel Reading: Drifting through Romola

• Published in: Novel : a forum on fiction Vol. 42; no. 3; pp. 490 - 496
• Main Author: Kurnick, David
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Providence Duke University Press 01.09.2009; Duke University Press, NC & IL
• Subjects: Eliot, George (Mary Ann Evans) (1819-1880); Gallagher, Catherine; Heroism; Literary characterization; Literary characters; Literary Criticism; Literary Theory; Literature and Literary Studies; Mathematical extrapolation; Narrative modes; Narrative plot; Narrators; Novels; Victorians

This essay aims to deepen our understanding of the intellectual and affective characteristics of novel reading by examining the tendency of George Eliot's heroines to drift free of the constraints of their own plots. It focuses on Eliot's historical novel (1862-63) and in particular on the...