Adam Bede: Daydreams, Deeds, and Destiny
$250.00
When it was published in 1859, Adam Bede became the most reviewed novel of the year, and proved so popular that Queen Victoria commissioned paintings based on it and a race horse was named after the title character. Contemporary reviewers raved about the novel’s vivid characters and powerful evocation of the provincial life of 60 years earlier. Eliot characterized the book as “a country story—full of the breath of cows and the scent of hay.” We will study Adam Bede both as an historical novel that spoke to its original readers in particular ways and as a book with implications for our own times and dilemmas.
When: Four weekly sessions on Mondays from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Eastern, starting April 8, 2024; note that the third session will be on Wednesday, April 24. All other sessions will be on Mondays.
Cost: C$250 plus 13% HST (approx. US$185 plus 13% HST)
How: We meet on Zoom; you will receive joining instructions approx. 3 weeks before the seminar start date.
Out of stock
LEADER
Nancy Carr is a writer, educator, and discussion leader who currently works for the Loyola University Chicago School of Social Work as an instructional designer. She also has many years of experience at the Great Books Foundation, where she was an editor and professional development instructor. She earned a PhD in English from the University of Virginia with a focus on 19th-century literature, and she largely credits the works of George Eliot with converting her into a Victorianist.
BOOK
Adam Bede by George Eliot
(Penguin Classics)
ISBN-13: 978-0140436648
When it was published in 1859, Adam Bede became the most reviewed novel of the year, and proved so popular that Queen Victoria commissioned paintings based on it and a race horse was named after the title character. Contemporary reviewers raved about the novel’s vivid characters and its powerful evocation of the provincial life of 60 years earlier. Eliot characterized the book as “a country story—full of the breath of cows and the scent of hay.”
And apart from young squire Arthur Donnithorne, the novel is populated mainly with working and relatively poor people, including carpenter Adam Bede, mill hand and lay Methodist preacher Dinah Morris, and village beauty Hetty Sorrel. But under its pastoral surface, Adam Bede is a searching analysis of social arrangements and their effects on character and fate. Eliot’s first novel features her most dramatic plot — one that involves family upheaval, death, and questions of ethical and legal culpability. The framing and commentary of Eliot’s omniscient narrator invest the doings of the villagers of Hayslope with a significance pre-19th century literature largely reserved for the upper classes. The narrator’s emphasis on perspective, empathy, and the moral implications of everyday actions and thoughts constantly invites us to consider the larger ramifications of this “country” story. As we discuss Adam Bede, we will look at it both as an historical novel that spoke to its original readers in particular ways and as a book with implications for our own times and dilemmas.
“It would be a poor result of all our anguish and our wrestling if we won nothing but our old selves at the end of it.” — narrator in Adam Bede
Online seminar payments are nonrefundable. Discount codes must be used at the time of purchase.
All seminars are subject to a minimum enrollment of 7 participants. See full terms and conditions for Classical Pursuits online seminars. By registering for a seminar, you agree to abide by our code of conduct.
Classical Pursuits will record this seminar, and make each session privately available to registered participants for up to two weeks after that session.
Additional information
| Discount | Concert ticket, Not eligible for discount, Five times, With friend, Gift registration |
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