Zac Granger 11/28/2018 Women’s Literature Professor Fanelli George Eliot In the writing world, readers have seen great writers from many different people. Women and men both have created some of the best pieces of work that the literature world has ever seen. Writing as a woman has not always been as easy as it is in the modern-day writing world. Many women have changed their names to write as men, and many women have not been able to fully write to their potential because of the way women were looked at in the 1800s and even the early 1900s.Many women such as George Eliot formerly known as Mary Ann, Virginia Woolf, Mary Shelley, Sylvia Plath, as well as many others changed the writing world for all female writers that would follow them. George Eliot is one of, if not the only female writer to ever critique other female writers. Because of this she was able to help women produce better writings, and learn from the mistakes in their writing. Although many other women helped, George Eliot shaped the female writing world for the better, and the women then there after saw the benefits from her hard work. George Eliot was born in rural Warwickshire, in November of 1819. Living with her mother and father she left school at a young age to help her father’s household. Thereafter her mother died her and her father moved to Coventry where they lived until his death in 1849. She then settled in London, England for her adult life. “In 1850, Eliot began contributing to the 'Westminster Review', a leading journal for philosophical radicals, and later became its editor.
She was now at the centre of a literary circle through which she met George Henry Lewes.” (Life of George Eliot). Her now husband, George Henry Lewes did everything he could to write her own work, regardless of her gender. “Lewes encouraged Eliot to write. In 1856, she began 'Scenes of Clerical Life', stories about the people of her native Warwickshire, which were published in 'Blackwood's Magazine'. Her first novel, 'Adam Bede', followed in 1859 and was a great success. She used a male pen name to ensure her works were taken seriously in an era when female authors were usually associated with romantic novels.” (Life of George Eliot). From there, she was a very prominent figure in the writing world. Her novels are still read today and are some of the main pieces of writing that is talked about when female writing is spoken of. As stated, her novels were different than most female writers. At the time, female writers were known for the romance. Eliot took it upon herself and wrote more about realism, and psychological insight. She wrote more than just the novels that are spoken of today. She was also a very large figure in the poetry world of literature as well. “Most other readers and critics speculated about various male authors hiding behind the pen name. Eliot wrote with neither an exclusively male nor an exclusively female sensibility, but from a well-roundedhuman perspective—differently from what had previously been considered either gentlemanly or ladylike writing.” (Eliot’s writing). Although many other people had their opinions as well, the
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