This book articulates the yearnings of european Jews as a stateless people and it is remarkable that it was written by a non Jewish British woman. She counterbalances the Zionism of Ezra and Klessmer the musician represents the urbane non religious Jew whose status is defined more by art than race. She is an astonishingly vivid character who must have shocked Victorian readers. I was especially struck by the reunion of Deronda, in Genoa, with the mother who abandoned him as a child. I don't think reading the book would have given the emotional rewards of listening to this extraordinary narration.
The prose and poetry of the writing is perfectly cadenced and arresting sentences keep occurring, sometimes needing to be heard twice. George Eliot explores areas of esoteric Hebrew scholarship which are exotic and strange to the modern reader but the subtlety and depth of her characters and her penetrating insights into human behaviour make it an extraordinary book. The haughty provincial dowagers and snobs are skewered hilariously. Nothing goes unnoticed by Eliot's sharp satirical eye. The romantic entanglements and class consciousness are wittily observed. It is impossible to praise the reading highly enough. The book was immediately translated into German and Dutch and has been cited by Henrietta Szold, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, and Emma Lazarus as having been influential in their decision to become Zionists.This classic novel takes a long time to unfold and requires great reading stamina but Juliet Stevenson creates an immersive experience with her perfectly nuanced reading and nearly 40 hours of imaginative delight have been delivered. The controversial final statement of one of the most renowned of Victorian novelists, Daniel Deronda played a positively influential role in on the emergence of Jewish Zionism upon publication in 1876. Bookplates from the library of Richard Bayard Dominick to each chemise. Housed in two custom half morocco and chemise cases. Octavos, four volumes in eight parts in the original wrappers with 4 half-titles and 8 section titles as issued, advertisements to each part with the exception of the final part, slips to the rear of each volume with the exceptions of part 1 (no slip issued with part 8), errata slips to volumes 3 and 6, publisher’s catalogue to rear of part 7 (Parrish, 37-38 Sadlier, 813). $3,500.00 Item Number: 96596Įdinburgh & London: William Blackwood, 1876.įirst edition in the original parts of Eliot’s final and most controversial work, which essentially predicts the foundation of Israel.
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