What is scenes of clerical life?
Scenes of Clerical Life is George Eliot ‘s first published work of fiction, a collection of three short stories, published in book form; it was the first of her works to be released under her famous pseudonym.
Did George Eliot write scenes of clerical life?
George Eliot’s “identity” was revealed in a letter to The Times, but this claim was immediately refuted in a letter from Eliot herself. In 1858 Charles Dickens wrote to Eliot to express his approval of the book, and was among the first to suggest that Scenes of Clerical Life might have been written by a woman.
Who is Janet Dempster in scenes of clerical life?
Janet Dempster, the protagonist in “Janet’s Repentance” George Eliot’s first fiction, Scenes of Clerical Life, comprises three scenes, or sketches, of individual clergy in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century English Midlands: “The Sad Fortunes of the Reverend Amos Barton,” “Mr. Gilfil’s Love Story,” and “Janet’s Repentance.”
What happens to the curate’s wife in scenes of clerical life?
However, she dies in childbirth soon afterwards, leaving the curate to live out the rest of his life alone and die a lonely man. Janet’s Repentance is the only story in Scenes of Clerical Life set in the town of Milby itself.
How many copies of scenes of clerical life were sold?
However, the complete Scenes of Clerical Life was met with ‘just and discerning applause’, and considerable speculation as to the identity of its author. Sales were no better than satisfactory, following a first printing of 1,500 copies, but Blackwood was none the less confident of Eliot’s talent.
What happens to Janet in scenes of clerical life?
After Tryan dies, Janet, like many of Eliot’s heroines, undertakes a life of love, mercy, and service. Although Scenes of Clerical Life is Eliot’s first fiction about religion, she had been thinking about religion for at least a decade prior to the publication of Scenes of Clerical Life.