The Lifted Veil

By George Eliot

Book Overview

Horror was my familiar. Published the same year as her first novel, Adam Bede , this overlooked work displays the gifts for which George Eliot would become famous--gritty realism, psychological insight, and idealistic moralizing. It is unique from all her other writing, however, in that it represents the only time she ever used a first-person narrator, and it is the only time she wrote about the supernatural. The tale of a man who is incapacitated by visions of the future and the cacophony of overheard thoughts, and yet who can't help trying to subvert his vividly glimpsed destiny, it is easy to read The Lifted Veil as being autobiographically revealing--of Eliot's sensitivity to public opinion and her awareness that her days concealed behind a pseudonym were doomed to a tragic unveiling (as indeed came to pass soon after this novella's publication). But it is easier still to read the story as the exciting and genuine precursor of a moody new form, as well as an absorbing early masterpiece of suspense. The Art of The Novella Series Too short to be a novel, too long to be a short story, the novella is generally unrecognized by academics and publishers. Nonetheless, it is a form beloved and practiced by literature's greatest writers. In the Art Of The Novella series, Melville House celebrates this renegade art form and its practitioners with titles that are, in many instances, presented in book form for the first time.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0976658305
• ISBN13: 9780976658306
• Release Date: September 2006
• Publisher: Melville House Publishing
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 5.3" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

Must Read Melancholy Romance

Wow... This book had me saying wow early on, and perhaps this was the first sign that I was in the presence of significant literature. Basically, George Eliot (literature buffs know this is Mary Anne Evans) strikes you in 'The Lifted Veil' immediately with a somber punch worthy of Edgar Allen Poe, followed by drama, romance, and a hint of the mystic. The tone remains constant in it's dark mood, but this did little to dampen my enthusiasm as a reader. Already this book has climbed into my top 20 short stories involving romance. I really would hate to spoil your reading of this great tale with spoilers, but suffice it to say the allusion of the title is referring to the marital veil primarily, and not the veil of death, although that could be also intended on a lesser note. So, basically, I would consider this a great read for anyone ever contemplating marriage, as a cautionary tale. It really does have some good insight into that, as well as the 'pecking order' of family relationships. Overall, a period romance with a very personal, very somber, slightly mystic and very male feel to it, which distinguishes it greatly. Highly recommended.