George Eliot's Silas Marner - Mellifont 1948

Reader's note

Our vintage books make beautiful literary gifts. George Eliot's Silas Marner is a delightful dose of nostalgia and a lovely gift for you or your favourite bookworm. The third book written by Mary Ann Evans under the pen-name George Eliot. She wrote under the pseudonym due to the Victorian views of women only being able to write about romance. Eliot wanted to write about more serious subjects such as religion, industrialisation and community so chose to write under a male name. Silas Marner tells the tale of a poor weaver who is a promising young member of a Puritan religious community. However when his best friend frames him for stealing some coins, Silas's life takes a dark turn. “He seemed to weave, like the spider, from pure impulse, without reflection. Every man's work, pursued steadily, tends in this way to become an end in itself, and so to bridge over the loveless chasms of life. Silas's hand satisfied itself with throwing the shuttle, and his eye with seeing the little squares in the cloth complete themselves under his effort. Then there were the calls of hunger; and Silas, in his solitude, had to provide his own breakfast, dinner, and supper, to fetch his own water from the well, and put his own kettle on the fire; and all these immediate promptings helped, along with the weaving, to reduce his life to the unquestioning activity of a spinning insect. He hated the thought of the past; there was nothing that called out his love and fellowship toward the strangers he had come amongst; and the future was all dark, for there was no Unseen Love that cared for him. Thought was arrested by utter bewilderment, not its old narrow pathway was closed, and affection seemed to have died under the bruise that had fallen on its keenest nerves.” With themes of love and family and a subtle message on gender roles this interesting novel is the perfect gift for a George Eliot lover. Just one of the many classic, collectible, vintage books available on our online used bookstore.