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A Curious Invitation: The Naming, Shaming and Faming of George Eliot with Dr Helen O'Neill at Carlyle's House

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Time 18:30
Date 26/03/20
Price £15

Join researcher Dr Helen O'Neill on a discussion on life's trials and tribulations of novelist, poet, journalist and translator Mary Ann Evans, best known by her pen name George Eliot.

2019 marked the bicentenary of the birth of George Eliot. In comparison to the bicentenary celebrations of her contemporary, Charles Dickens in 2012, she received far less media coverage or public fanfare. In this illustrated talk, drawn from research at the George Eliot collections in Nuneaton, Dr Helen O’Neill considers how Victorian attempts to deflect attention away from Eliot’s radical self-determination and ‘scandalous’ life choices left one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed writers of her age with an enduring image problem after her death.

Dr Helen O'Neill
Dr Helen Anne O’Neill is a postdoctoral researcher at Royal Holloway, University of London working with Professor Ruth Livesey and the George Eliot collections in Nuneaton on an AHRC funded project on provincialism and nineteenth century literature.

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COMPETITION: Win 1x pair of tickets to attend A Curious Invitation: The Naming, Shaming and Faming of George Eliot with Dr Helen O'Neill at Carlyle's House at 18:30 on Thursday 26 March. To enter the competition, send an email to vienna@run-riot.com with the correct answer in the ‘subject’ line. The winner will be randomly selected.

Q: It would appear, Eliot was not a fan of most female writer of her day. By no means was she misogynist, but she certainly had some rather harsh words to say about her fellow women writers. In an anonymous essay titled "Silly Novels by Lady Novelists", she asserted that these books, "full of clichés and improbable romantic endings, made educated women look foolish", alongside criticising their writing styles saying they mistook "vagueness for depth, bombast for eloquence, and affectation for originality." However, not every female writer fell into this statement, praising writers like Harriet Martineau, Elizabeth Gaskell and which other author?
A: .1) Margaret Oliphant .2) Currer Bell (Charlotte Brontë) .3) Mathilde Blind .4) Frances Power Cobbe

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