As it was I who chose this book, I thought I would just put a little bit in about the author herself.
Mary Ann Evans was born in Warwickshire in 1819. She only went to school for a very short time, as she had to return home to be her father's housekeeper , on the death of her mother. She educated herself , until she was asked to translate Strauss's document "A Life of Jesus". She later became assistant editor for the Westminster Review. She met a writer called George Lewis who was separated from his wife. They lived together until Lewis died. He had persuaded her to write fiction, under the name of George Eliot. She wrote prolifically and successfully, and became one of the most influential of English Novelists. She displayed great insight into the minds of her many and varied characters.
It is because I had really enjoyed "The Mill on the Floss,"Middlemarch' and 'Daniel Deronda' when I read them years ago, that I chose 'Adam Bede' for us to look at. I hope we enjoy it, and I hope that people are not having too much trouble tracking down a copy.

Hi Ren.

I read the first couple of chapters in bed last night, and I've read a few more today.

I'm certainly enjoying it so far: George Eliot is introducing the different characters superbly well and she describes the physical and social setting wonderfully. As a natural city-dweller who normally finds Bethnal Green at its worst infinitely preferable to any village green, I can assure you that it takes a real talent to make me read about the alleged attractions of the countryside without snorting derisively, but Eliot has managed it. And I get a good idea of what it must have felt like to be a far-from-rich but not-too-poor villager in the Midlands in those days.

I'm looking forward eagerly to the unfolding of the story. I've sometimes found the rather leisurely pace of the Victorian novel more than a bit tedious, but not in this case.

I didn't have any difficulty finding a copy. There seem to be several good paperback editions, including well annotated volumes in the Oxford World Classics and Penguin Classics series, both at less than £4. I settled for the World's Classics edition The notes in this edition are great: as an atheist with a Roman Catholic upbringing, I find the explanation of the Methodist connotations of some of the words particularly useful.

Yes, I am enjoying meeting the characters too, they are superbly described. I found an interesting quote from Stephen Gill (No, I dont know who that is) He said:
" Reading the novel is a process of learning simultaneously about the world of Adam Bede and the world of "Adam Bede" .' I am really enjoying the villagers' chat, although some of the dialect is hard to fathom, even for a West Country girl like me. How are our American readers with it?

I've got to get to the library this weekend so I can check out a copy. I have Middlemarch and Daniel Deronda, but not this one. I LOVED Middlemarch, so I hope to like this.

I read the first two chapters on the internet (gotta love the internet), but I need a hard copy. Screen reading gets unbearable. I have to say I can't wait to find out who the "stranger" is.

Eliot's command of the English language--the way she manipulates words and comes up with the most unique, humorous, vivid, STRANGEST descriptions--it just blows me away. Here's one I loved: "If Gyp had a tail he would doubtless have wagged it, but being destitute of that vehicle for his emotions...." And the description of Mr. Casson's person, consisting "principally of two spheres..." hilarious! Villagers never swarming, "as incapable of an undertone as a cow or a stag" turning "his back on his interlocutor," throwing questions "over his shoulder as if he meant to run away from the answer..." I just love this stuff.

Okay, couple 'a questions. The Methodist, at this point of history, are still part of the Church of England, right? They're like the low-church evangelical branch? (What is Eliot's view in this regard--by the way? Here, we see neither condemnation nor embracing of evangelism--a sort of humorous and tender portrayal of two sides, in a way. I thought she flirted with evangelism for awhile and then abandoned it, but I don't know. I've never read much about her.)

Question 2: Bessy belonged to that class "with wom you may venture to eat 'an egg, and apple, or a nut.' What does this mean? Someone enlighten me.

Glad you suggested this one. I was straying away from Eliot after Middlemarch (one of my favorite books, but what a project, what a lot of effort to read). This has got me back to reading her and recalling why it's worth the effort!

Quote:

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Bessy belonged to that class "with wom you may venture to eat 'an egg, and apple, or a nut.' What does this mean? Someone enlighten me.

---

Apparently it comes from an old proverb:
"An egg, an appla and a nut, you may eat though dressed by a slut."
I suppose it means these things can't be tainted by the person preparing them for you.

I, too, am struggling to read the book online, but with 55 chapters I know that I won't be able to keep it up.

Skylarb, I've been reading the book at MasterTexts.com , the print is larger than that of most other sites, but the pop ups are dreadfully annoying. Have you found a better site?

Whilst poking around on the net (courtesy of Google), I came across an original review of the book, dated 1859, in the archives of Atlantic Monthly which might be of interest to some of you.

I really am enjoying the book so far. Did anyone else think it a little unusual for a preacher to be female in those days? I thought that came a little later in the century, but apparently not! Dear old Google came up trumps once again and I found the following excerpt at:

http://home.new.rr.com/jenniferstolpa/dissertation_abstract.htm

"Revisioning Christian Ministry: Women and Ministry in Agnes Grey, Ruth, Janet's Repentance, and Adam Bede "

>>> In the mid-nineteenth century, the advent of Anglican sisterhoods, the reinstatement of the female diaconate, and the increased work for bible women and district visitors provided women in England with new opportunities to participate in the church, reflecting the desire of a number of women for an expanded role in the church. Many Victorian novels of the 1840s and 1850s which deal with religious issues reflect the developing arguments for and against women's greater and more recognized involvement in the church's ministry.

Anne Brontë's Agnes Grey (1847), Elizabeth Gaskell's Ruth (1853), and George Eliot's Janet's Repentance (1858) and Adam Bede (1859) offer support for women's equal participation in official Christian ministry. These three novelists equate the ministerial efforts of female characters with the recognized duties of clergymen. This equality is in contrast to the images of women as subordinate helpers or temporary substitutes which are found in a great number of Victorian novels.

As Brontë, Gaskell, and Eliot redefine concepts of self-sacrifice, authority, and ministry across gender boundaries, their novels challenge readers to see Christianity not as a repressive tool for a patriarchal society, but as a potentially liberating force for women (and men) from the dominant binary gender ideology of the time which limited women's roles within Christianity. Using the theoretical framework of Christian feminism and theological discussions of ministry, this study shows that Brontë, Gaskell, and Eliot uncover a Christian ethic that supersedes the dominant gender ideology and supports women's ability to occupy an equal ministerial role.<<<

I was reading it somewhere else--I need to find the URL again. Small text but no pop up adds. I think it was the Yale Online Library or something like that. I'll try to find it again. I'm going to try to buy a copy Monday at the bookstore.

I was aware that female preachers figured somewhat prominently in the early evangelical movement in Christianity, though modern evangelicals tend to gloss over that part of evangelical history because the present evangelical position (in most evangelical churches, with some exceptions) is a male only pastorate. I knew the Methodists, in particular, were known to have female preachers, as I believe were the Quakers (?) I'm not sure when the Methodists became a seaparte denomination than the Church of England, though. I think it was rather later than this book. I'd like to get some historical context...maybe find an edition with notes, since it looks like their may be a lot of religious politics / satire in this one.

I haven't got much further with my reading, and unless the copy I have on order comes through in time I'll have to bow out of this one.

Methodism certainly began as a movement within the Church of England, and John Wesley (who died in 1791) never regarded himself as anything other than a minister of that church. He and his followers seem to have formed a "Methodist Society" in the C of E in 1739. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica:

Quote:

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In spite of Wesley's wish that the Methodist Society would never leave the Church of England, relations with Anglicans were often strained.

In 1784, when there was a shortage of ordained ministers in America after the Revolution, the Bishop of London refused to ordain a Methodist for the United States. Wesley, acting in an emergency and on biblical principles that allow (as he thought) a presbyter to ordain, ordained Thomas Coke as superintendent and two others as presbyters. In the same year, by a Deed of Declaration, he appointed a Conference of 100 men to govern the Society of Methodists after his death.

The definite break with the Church of England came in 1795, four years after Wesley's death. After this, English Methodism, with vigorous outposts in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, rapidly developed as a church.

---

So the break came about four years before Adam Bede starts.

Women preachers seem to have been a contentious matter from the beginning. According to the introduction and notes in the Oxford World's Classics edition, Wesley "conceded women's right to preach with reluctance". The (Wesleyan) Methodist Conference finally forbade women to preach in 1803, four years after Dinah preaches her sermon at Hayslope. But Methodism was already breaking up into sects, and the Primitive Methodists continued to permit and encourage women preachers.

One Methodist woman preacher was George Eliot's aunt Elizabeth Evans, who told her niece of an experience in 1802 with Mary Voce, a young woman condemned to death for infanticide at Nottingham. This story, according to George Eliot, gave her "the germ of Adam Bede." Elizabeth Evans went on to join the Primitive Methodists, and continued to preach. She finished in a group called the Derby Faith Folk.

Izzi, I for one , hope very much that your copy comes through. I would really miss your valuable input on this.

Here's where I was reading it online--small print, so not good on the screen, but it uses limited paper if you want to print and has no ads:

http://www.princeton.edu/~batke/eliot/bede/

Thank you very much for the historical background--I appreciate it!

I have read through Chapter 5 thus far. Poor Seth!

I like this Irwine character. Has anyone else read Middlemarch, and does he remind you of Farebrother at all? These inteteresting minsiter's Eliot draws--a little lax, no zeal, no true calling--but tolerant, nonjudgmental, kind--the kind of person you'd like to hang out with.

I love her descriptions, and I like her insight here (and this is a theme that has reappeared in many of my recent varied readings)--this idea that people caught up in reforming all of humanity, or saving humanity--your philanthropists, reformers, etc.--may get so caught up in the abstract that they aren't really kind to INDIVIDUALS.

Anyway, there is a lot to think about in this book.

And now that I've read a little farther, I have to say Poor Adam! And I have to wonder if Irwine is going to fall for the lady preacher.

I picked-up my copy today from the public library. They have multiple copies of the latest novels, but only one copy of most of the classics, so I'm lucky I got it.

Thanks for the link Skylarb, I won't be able to print the book off, my poor old Epson wouldn't survive the ordeal! The pop-ups on that other site were so distracting, I found myself wondering what I'd just spent the past 10 minutes reading, and having to go over it all again.

I'll try to carry on reading from the site in your link for a while and see how it goes.

Today I 'met' Mrs Poyser. What a gem!
This is a quote I found about her from The Atlantic Monthly,October 1859
"The characters are drawn with a free and impartial hand, and one of them is a creation for immortality. Mrs. Poyser is a woman with an incorrigible tongue, set firmly in opposition to the mandates of a heart the overflows of whose sympathy and love keep the circle of her influence in a state of continual irrigation. Her epigrams are aromatic, and she is strong in simile, but never ventures beyond her own depth into that of her author."
I am so much looking forward to more of her!

Nice to consider the contrast between Dinah and her aunt there; I had not thought of it in that light.

Some of the dialect is tough to work through, at least for this American but I'm enjoying how very descriptive the characters and surroundings are. Just in the beginning chapters, the characters have such personality. I'm eager to dive into the rest.

I had a little trouble with the dialect too (I always do, with any dialect), but I've grown accustomed now. I'm really getting interested in the book, but will wait to bring up some discussion points so as not to post any spoilers.

What strikes me is the way that Eliot describes people and places. She makes Adam, Seth, Dinah, Hetty, Mrs. Poyser seem so real. It is the same with the kitchen and the dairy of Hall Farm, I can really see them.

So far, I haven't had any trouble with the dialect. It may sound strange, but it sort of reminds me of how some of the older mountain people around here talk. Like "Mester", "May-happen", and the way words are shortened seem the same.

I'm even more impressed by her insight into he human psyche and human motivations. She captures all this very well, but at the same time in a satirical, amusing way.

I finsihed the book this weekend and will pop in in a week or so to see what others think. I don't want to do any spoiling. I knew nothing about this book when I read it--I didn't even read the blurb on the back cover--and I'm glad I didn't, because that made it surprising.

I have a confession to make. I am not quite done with the book, but I cheated and read the last chapter (gasp). I read it with my mouth hanging up wondering how events transpired over the course of the book to have this happen. It actually gave me the impetus to read 75 pages yesterday and I read more on the train this morning. I truly enjoy how the author has fleshed out the characters. Even those that seem minor (Totty for example) are so 3-dimensional. I can imagine a spoiled little girl making mischief. I feel already for Adam & Seth's plight with their somewhat shrew of a mother and can't help but contrast her demeanor with that of Dinah who comes across as so long-suffering.

I will continue on and read as fast as my eyes will let me.

I have no where near finished it either... so many things on. I am really enjoying it too. Hope to post about it in a few days.

Tsk!! Sneeking a peek ahead! I'm only kidding, of course. Frankly, I was looking at the book illustrations--came across one that had a caption that caused my mouth to gape open, so I'm afraid I found out more than I really wanted to!

I am checking in, too, to see how everyone is coming along. I am not finished, yet, but I should be in a few days.

Happy Reading!

You'll have to count me out of the reading, I'll catch up at a later date, but I'll join in the discussions if the subject matter permits.

I understand that some are still working through the book, but there are so many themes which could be discussed without going into specifics and giving away spoilers...class differences and social status, gender roles - advanges and disadvantages, comparisons of hero and heroine characters in other novels, rural life at the turn of the century, village 'morality mentality' and double standards, then there's shame, self sacrifice and self denial.

That'll keep us going for a few days!!

Yes yes I was a bad girl to sneak ahead I purchased my copy of the book used so there are no illustrations. I wish I could peek over your shoulder LindaC to view a few of the pictures.

I'm still sailing right along and have two questions about some things I ran into.

1)When Arthur and Mr. Irwine are discussing Arthur's birthday event just prior to it, and the speeches they will make, Mr. Irwine states the following: "Ah, my boy, it is not only woman's love that is __________ as old Aeschylus calls it." My version has what appears to be Aramaic or some sort of unique writing. There is no footnote to indicate what it means or language. Did anyone else encounter this or can shed some light onto what that means?

2) Further along when Adam discovers the betrayal, he fights with Arthur. I thought--and please someone correct me if I am wrong--that to bodily harm the gentry could be cause for serious punishment. Is this the case?

I am now onto reading chapter XXIX "The next morning". I hope to be finished within the next few days.