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CHAPTER1
Blondesvs.brunettes:subversive
treatmentofromanticformulas
inTheMillontheFloss
1
Allherfreetimewasgiventonovel-reading.Ifevery
novelistcouldbestrangledandthrownintothesea,
weshouldhavesomechanceofreformingwomen.
GeorgeGissing
LikemanyotherVictoriannovelists,notablyCharlesDickens
andW.M.Thackeray,GeorgeEliotturnedtowritingfictionafter
asuccessfulcareerasajournalistandliteraryreviewer.Astudyof
thearticlesshewroteforTheWestminsterReview,andoccasionally
forotherperiodicals,from1851–1856,revealsthatshewas
aperspicuousandoccasionallysevereliterarycritic.Eliot’swell-
documentedself-doubtandsensitivityaboutanycritiqueofher
ownwritingmaywellbeduetotheexactingcriticalstandards
shesetfortheworkofothers(cf.Ashton1997:50-57).Amongher
journalisticoutput,TheWestminsterReviewarticleentitledHSilly
NovelsbyLadyNovelists”(1856)isthemostsuitablestarting
pointforastudyofGeorgeEliot’srelationshipswithpopular
fiction.
HSillyNovels”presentsawittilyorganizedtypology,which
differentiatesbetweenvariouskindsofnovelswrittenbywomen:
1
Ihavepublishedexpandedversionsofsomeofthematerialcontainedinthis
chapterintwoarticles:HIWheretheDarkWomanTriumphs’:TheMillonthe
FlossasaParodyofaRomanticNovel”:TheNewReview,No.3,Glasgow:
2011;HTheBooksontheFloss:AnAnalysisofMaggieTulliver’sReading”:in:
ThingsandImagesin18thand19thcenturyBritishLiterature,editedbyGrażyna
Bystydzieńska,Warsaw,BritishStudiesCentre,UniversityofWarsaw(2017).
