Middlemarch. - Review - book review

Contemporary Review, Oct, 2000

George Eliot. W.W. Norton. [pound]9.95 p.b. 678 pages. ISBN 0-393-97452-9. This 'Norton Critical Edition' was first published in 1977 and this is a second edition. It has the text of the novel based on the 1874 edition, itself a revision of the text first published in part-issue during 1871-2. As always with these editions, there is a wealth of additional material.

Under 'background' there is information about the author and the publication; under 'criticism' a selection of contemporary reviews as well as selected extracts from recent criticism. Finally there is a chronology and bibliography. Perhaps most valuable are the notes to the text that allow the reader fully to understand references that might otherwise be missed.