Daniel Deronda

George Eliot Other

(1876)
Let thy chief terror be of thine own soul:
There, 'mid the throng of hurrying desires
That trample on the dead to seize their spoil,
Lurks vengeance, footless, irresistible
As exhalations laden with slow death,
And o'er the fairest troop of captured joys
Breathes pallid pestilence.
~
For anyone who enjoys reading long books, Daniel Deronda is a wonderful read. It is amazing that this writer had to pose as a man in order for her books to be accepted. She comments on social conditions, particularly in the upper classes of 19th century England. Disgusted at the way Jews were treated she set herself to the task of finding out as much as she could about the Jewish religion before and while writing this book. She then does much to overturn commonly held views that Jews were inferior to other races. In her writing she espouses the cause of a Jewish homeland long before the advent of Zionism, the birth of Hertzl, and even before Lord Lionel Rothschild was able to swear a Jewish oath in Parliament, rather than a Christian oath. One will have many happy hours reading this book.--Submitted by Marilyn Delevante
~

Unfold