Silly Novels by Lady Novelists [by George Eliot] -- Article summary and themes

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Summary

Eliot begins the essay by saying that women produce a lot of silly stupid novels which she terms “mind and millinery” novels. These feature a particular type of heroin that is either rich, witty, accomplished, religious, and moral, or all of these except rich. In all these, men play the minor role of worshiping the heroine. The plots too are predictable and the heroine always ultimately comes out on top.

Crappy writing is excusable if the authors are underprivileged but they are not – they are upper-class women. They are not good at representing any class of life, including their own. They misrepresent the speech of children and endow their heroines with unrealistic linguistic skills. She gives examples of novels with such failings. Also, novelists tend to have their characters exemplify unrealistic conversational skills. Other times they use complex language to express simple ideas. Often they create frivolous plots and character behavior with high morality.

The other kind of writing that sucks is “oracular novels”. These are philosophical fictions that have very high aspirations and very poor outcomes. Their female writers let themselves be inflated to boastfulness by their knowledge than humbled by it. Men who encounter such women would certainly think that educating women is a mistake because they are unendurably full of themselves.

Another type of novel with which Eliot finds fault is the “White neck-cloth” novel which is written by Evangelical women to an Evangelical audience. These are toned-down sensationalist novels for the Christian sensibility. They are also silly and the heroine in them falls for the local priest. They have the same elements of classism and snobbery and farfetched plots but are tailored to religion.

The “modern-antique” novel is an attempt at historical realism. Authoresses of this type of novel fail as well because it is particularly difficult to produce good work and they aren’t geniuses.


Themes

  • A critique of stereotypical characterization and plot
  • A critique of (lack of) realism
  • A critique of lack of skill
  • A critique of the unconvincing and silly combination of frivolity and high manners
  • Unconvincing characterization
  • Bad plots
  • Highfalutin language that is unrealistic
  • Unrealistic appreciation of literature
  • No humility
  • Vast theological and philosophical aspirations with too little skill
  • Literature’s purpose: to describe actual life and her fellow-men
  • Poor use of literary devices
  • Empty, meaningless characterization
  • A tendency to unnecessary, unrealistic, and unconvincing melodrama (exaggeration)
  • Basically, against sensationalism


George Eliot

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