George Eliot

George Eliot''s first biographer Mathilde Blind (1841–1896) was herself a poet and writer. Born in Germany Blind moved with her family to London when she was still a child and it was there that she established her literary reputation writing poetry essays biographies and a novel. In 1883 three years after Eliot''s death Blind''s George Eliot was published. It is the first full-length biography of Eliot; while biographical articles about her had appeared in 1881 Blind''s work corrected mistakes and enlarged the knowledge of Eliot''s early life. Indeed what sets her biography apart is the extent of private sources that Blind sought out returning to Eliot''s home and engaging with family and friends to accrue extensive information hitherto unknown to the public. Organized first around her personal life and latterly around her works this biography will interest Eliot scholars students of nineteenth-century criticism and scholars of feminism.