LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Middlemarch
built 642 days ago
By the time the final Cheap Edition of 1874 was published, it was obvious that Middlemarch was a complete commercial success for Eliot. Before Blackwood published Book 1, Lewes wrote that he expected to sell 10,000 copies of the novel at what he took to be "a cheap rate" for the eight half-volumes (Haight 436). The first serialized edition actually sold about 5,000 copies at 5s per part, still profitable, though less so than Lewes had anticipated. The Libraries were upset at the new form of publication which forced them to buy more than the usual volumes, but public demand showed them the loss they would incur by a boycott. The next publication of Middlemarch after serialization was a four-volume bound edition, published in 1873, which sold for 21s. The public bought almost 3,000 more copies of this collection.
Source:
The first full TV miniseries adaptation of George Eliot's novel Middlemarch was presented by Britain's BBC2 in 1968. The principal characters were progressive Middlemarch doctor Tersis Lydgate, traditionalist cleric Edward Casaubon, and their mutual sweetheart Dorothea. Choosing security over excitement, Dorothea married Edward, only to almost immediately regret her decision. Presented in seven 50-minute installments, Middlemarch was remade for television in a slightly shorter version in 1994. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Source:
Middlemarch is located one hour's drive north west from Dunedin City, through Mosgiel and Outram. Middlemarch is a small town in the Strath Taieri Valley with some interesting attractions including a salt lake, schist rock outcrops and the Taieri Gorge. It is located in Otago's open and wild Strath Valley, with its extreme winters and hot dry summers. The Otago Central Railway began up the Taieri Gorge from Dunedin in the 1880s and finally reached Middlemarch in 1891. Base yourself in Middlemarch to explore the rugged and spectacular beauty of New Zealand’s Southland region.
Source:
In Middlemarch Dorothea Brooke, the community's do-gooder, a virtual St. Theresa, longs to perfect amelioration for the entire town by architecturally improving housing. Her initial chance for this improvement comes in the person of Edward Casaubon though she could have been courted by Royalty in Sir James Chettam. In her attempts to fulfill her marriage career, Dorothea was more captivated by the vast library learning of Casaubon, and she exclaimed "what a lake compared with my little pool" (Carroll 24). Her sense of fulfillment in this boring but learned man was vested in her hope to become educated, to have her curiosity nurtured, and to be of constant usefulness to a man of sixty who really needed her nineteen year old eyes for reading. It is doubtful that modern readers would consider the above adequate reasons for marriage, but Dorothea "retained very childlike ideas about marriage" (Carroll 10). Part of Dorothea's naive formula for marriage stems from her bachelor uncle's Protestant upbringing.
Source:
Middlemarch was published in installments in 1871 and '72, but the action of the book, which the mini-series dutifully reflects, takes place in the troubled 1830s. Railways have begun to girdle (and befoul) England's green and pleasant land, and the Industrial Revolution has brought new wealth to towns like Eliot's fictional Middlemarch. The passage of the Reform Bill of 1832, which enlarged the franchise, has created fear of revolution among reactionaries while holding out the promise of democratizing a corrupt and elitist Parliament.
Source:
Middlemarch is a novel of insight into personality, motivations, social behaviours, and history. In the end, even the happiest characters have failed at most if not all of their youthful aspirations and have become variations on the Middlemarch theme—husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, day-to-day toilers rather than dreamers and achievers. Middlemarch is Everytown, where you will find an example or two of Everyone—and their dreams or lack thereof.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Middlemarch