 Frontispiece of 1906 Macmillan edition of Scenes of Clerical Life drawn by Hugh Thomson | |
| Author | George Eliot |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Hugh Thomson |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Short story compilation |
| Publisher | William Blackwood & Sons |
Publication date | 1858 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Followed by | Adam Bede |
Scenes of Clerical Life is George Eliot's first published work of fiction, is an 1858 collection of three short stories, published in book form; it was the first of her works to be released under her famous pseudonym.[1] The stories were first published in Blackwood's Magazine over the course of the year 1857, initially anonymously, before being released as a two-volume set by Blackwood and Sons in January 1858.[1][2] The three stories are set during the last twenty years of the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth century over a fifty-year period.[1] The stories take place in and around the fictional town of Milby in the English Midlands. Each of the Scenes concerns a different Anglican clergyman, but is not necessarily centred upon him.[3] Eliot examines, among other things, the effects of religious reform and the tension between the Established and the Dissenting Churches on the clergymen and their congregations, and draws attention to various social issues, such as poverty,[3] alcoholism[4] and domestic violence.[5]
- ^ a b c Uglow, Nathan (10 October 2002). "Scenes of Clerical Life". The Literary Dictionary Company Ltd. Retrieved 28 October 2008.
- ^ Eliot, p. xli.
- ^ a b Litvinoff, Adrian (11 June 2008). "George Eliot: Review of Scenes of Clerical Life". Retrieved 11 November 2008.
- ^ Earnshaw, Steven (2000). The Pub in Literature: England's Altered State. Manchester: Manchester University Press. p. 220. ISBN 9780719053054.
- ^ Lawson, Kate; Shakinovsky, Lynn (2002). The Marked Body: Domestic Violence in Mid-Nineteenth-Century Literature. New York: SUNY Press. pp. 61–84. ISBN 9780791453759.