A Good Read: The Sequel

Dr Jane MacKay - "Jane Austen & George Eliot: Decorum and Heresy...Opposite Brands of Genius"

Lady Anne Hotel, Stamford, 6th October 2007

Click here for a gallery of pictures taken at the event.

Dr Jane MacKay gave us a fascinating account of the differences between two great women writers of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Jane Austen and George Eliot were two very different women, separated by time, class and family circumstances. The only thing they had in common was that neither of them had children - Jane because she never married and George Eliot because she knew how to use contraception so that she could concentrate on her writing.

Jane Austen (1775-1817) was a woman of the 18th century. She died when she was in her early forties. She never met another writer. She never married, but lived among her large extended family. She was part of the gentry and was very conventional and an orthodox Christian - in her books, those who behaved immorally did not find a lifetime's happiness.

George Eliot (1819-1880) was a woman of the 19th century, a time of great change in all aspects of life. She lived until she was over sixty so she had twenty years more time to write than Jane. She was the centre of literary circles in London and Germany. She lived with her intellectual partner for twenty-four years and had several sexual partners. She was unconventional and despised the class system. She broke away from organised religion and was heartbroken when her brother Isaac rejected her because of this and her unconventional lifestyle.

Both authors read voraciously from a young age, but whereas Jane Austen read fiction, George Eliot was a true 'Renaissance Woman' who read much more widely and translated Strauss's 'Life of Jesus' from German at the age of twenty-two and then taught herself Hebrew to make sure that she had got her facts right. She also learnt a great deal from reading Shakespeare.

The women's differences continue into the purpose behind their books. Jane Austen's heroines are trying to know themselves: they have painful journeys of self-discovery to make. She values character above personality. George Eliot is trying to answer the big questions of life in her novels. She supports individual conscience above the laws of state and church.

Both women wrote great novels. Finally, Dr Jane MacKay pointed out the value of such great literature: good novels give you access to all human experiences, they cheer you up when you are down, and they keep you company when you are older.