George Eliot as Historian: A reading group of Middlemarch

The historicist tone of Eliot's Middlemarch (1871-2) has been commented on by readers from Virginia Woolf to Zadie Smith. This reading group seeks to explore the historical richness found in Eliot's study of provincial life.

Readings

For questions, please contact the conveners, Mrinalini Sisodia Wadhwa (All Souls), Cameron Bowman (Keble), and Duanran Feng (The Queen’s).

Tea and biscuits provided!

Events in this series

George Eliot as Historian Reading Group, Week 1 - Introduction: Literature and Intellectual History

27th April 2026 5:00pm-6:00pm

Location: Hovenden Room, All Souls CollegeTT1 Introduction: Literature and Intellectual History• Middlemarch, Prologue & Book 1• (Optional) C. Kidd, The World of Mr Casaubon, prologue...

George Eliot as Historian Reading Group, Week 2 - Religion I: Comparative Mythography

4th May 2026 5:00pm-6:00pm

Location: Hovenden Room, All Souls CollegeReligion I: Comparative Mythography• Middlemarch, Book 2• (Optional) Eliot, ‘A Word for the Germans'

George Eliot as Historian Reading Group, Week 3 - Politics I: Inheritance and Society

11th May 2026 5:00pm-6:00pm

Location: Hovenden Room, All Souls CollegePolitics I: Inheritance and Society• Middlemarch, Book 3• (Optional) Poon, ‘Inheritance and Succession in George Eliot’s Late Fiction’  ...

George Eliot as Historian Reading Group, Week 4 - Science and Progress

18th May 2026 5:00pm-6:00pm

Location: Hovenden Room, All Souls CollegeScience and Progress• Middlemarch, Book 4• (Optional) Knoepflmacher, Religious Humanism and the Victorian Novel, pp. 27-44 

George Eliot as Historian Reading Group, Week 5 - Gender and the Family

25th May 2026 5:00pm-6:00pm

Location: Hovenden Room, All Souls CollegeGender and the Family• Middlemarch, Book 5• (Optional) Eliot, ‘Margaret Fuller and Mary Wollstonecraft’ 

George Eliot as Historian Reading Group, Week 6 - Politics II: Reform Bill

1st June 2026 5:00pm-6:00pm

Location: Hovenden Room, All Souls CollegePolitics II: Reform Bill• Middlemarch, Book 6• (Optional) Eliot, Felix Holt, the Radical 

George Eliot as Historian Reading Group, Week 7 - Religion II: Faith and the Victorians

8th June 2026 5:00pm-6:00pm

Location: Hovenden Room, All Souls CollegeReligion II: Faith and the Victorians• Middlemarch, Book 7• (Optional) Bennett, God and Progress, ch. 1 

George Eliot as Historian Reading Group, Week 8 - Eliot as Historian

15th June 2026 5:00pm-6:00pm

Location: Hovenden Room, All Souls CollegeEliot as Historian• Middlemarch, Book 8 & Epilogue• (Optional) Woolf, ‘George Eliot’ 