Back for another installment of the Middlemarch readalong!  This week, we read through Volumes III and IV of George Eliot’s masterpiece.

Volume III – Waiting for Death

Volume III focuses on the health woes of two old dudes: Mr. Casaubon and another member of the country gentry, Mr. Peter Featherstone.  When Volume III opens, Mr. Casaubon suffers an attack of some sort; it’s unclear which, but it’s either a heart attack or a stroke.  Dorothea is beside herself, and Mr. Lydgate is called in to consult on the case.  Lydgate immediately recommends that Casaubon dial back the hours he spends in the library, and of course, that suggestion doesn’t go over well with Casaubon.  He withdraws further from Dorothea, who continues frustrated in her earnest wish to be helpful.  (Dorothea does get some good news in this volume: Sir James Chettam is going to be her brother-in-law after all!  Yay for a James-and-Celia marriage!)  Dorothea and Casaubon’s marriage is going from bad to worse when Will Ladislaw reappears as a guest of Dorothea’s Uncle Brooke.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the locality, old grump Peter Featherstone is dying.  Featherstone is uncle to Fred and Rosamond Vincy and the popular supposition around Middlemarch is that Fred Vincy will inherit Featherstone’s estate and title, along with a good wad of money.  Fred himself believes this, and Featherstone has never disabused him of this notion, despite Fred’s (possible – he denies it and it’s never proven) use of his expectations as Featherstone’s heir to obtain loans for his gambling. Fred has had to borrow money from Caleb Garth, a local business man who hasn’t been entirely successful, and after a disaster with a horse, finds himself unable to pay Caleb back.  This is doubly uncomfortable because not only are the Garths old friends of the Vincy family, but Fred would very much like to marry Caleb’s daughter Mary.

Meanwhile, Rosamond continues to scheme for the purpose of winning Lydgate’s affections.  The town matrons start to put two and two together, and Rosamond’s Aunt Bulstrode rather forcibly reprimands her for throwing herself at Lydgate, and also gives her some tough love on the unsuitability of such a match (even if the intended groom actually wanted it).  Aunt Bulstrode’s efforts have the opposite effect of what she hoped, because Lydgate, who at first was induced to avoid the Vincys’ house, stops by one day (not realizing that Rosamond is alone in the house) and she’s so prettily distressed that, quite without intending to, he leaves the house an engaged man.

Featherstone dies at the last, in the presence of his employee Mary Garth.  With his dying breaths, he tells Mary that he has two wills, and he wants her to destroy one of them.  Mary, concerned about imputations being drawn against her if she agrees, refuses to do so.  The consequence is that when the wills are read, quite a few parties – including Fred Vincy – are left in a state of limbo and disappointment.  Meanwhile, the biggest bombshell from the will reading: Featherstone had an illegitimate son, and it is he who will inherit the land and title, although not the lion’s share of Featherstone’s riches.  Drama!

Volume IV – Three Love Problems

While Middlemarch is in upheaval over Mr. Featherstone’s will, several of the country gentry gather to discuss another problem: one of their own and his political ambitions.  Mr. Brooke is known to have reforming ideas and has recently purchased a newspaper and installed Will Ladislaw as editor.  Now, it seems, Mr. Brooke intends to run for office.  Sir James, the Cadwalladers, and Mr. Farebrother scheme to dissuade Mr. Brooke from standing for election.  Among the objections: Mr. Brooke’s seeming hypocrisy, preaching reform while his tenants live miserably.  Sir James decides to enlist Dorothea to help talk her uncle off the ledge – but even Dorothea isn’t successful.

Will is becoming more and more entranced by Dorothea, who for her part is starting to like the guy better and better.  He reports that Uncle Brooke has offered him a job; Dorothea passes the information along to Casaubon, who sends Will a pompous letter telling him that if he accepts the job he will no longer be welcome in the Casaubons’ home.  Will thumbs his nose and the old windbag (yeah!) and takes the job anyway.  Will isn’t the only one with a new job: Caleb Garth gets the good news that he is wanted as the manager of Sir James and Mr. Brooke’s estates (he had once managed Mr. Brooke’s estate, years before, but had been fired) and he can now afford the financial hit he took in lending Fred Vincy money.  Mary Garth, for her part, no longer has to look for another job… so it looks like she’ll be around for Fred to continue to pine after.

Money is causing problems elsewhere, too.  Mr. Vincy is beginning to regret his hasty blessing of the union of Rosamond and Lydgate, but Rosamond is making plans to take on and furnish a big house.  The wedding expenses are getting out of control, and Mr. Vincy – the mayor of Middlemarch, as it happens – is not as flush as he once was.  There are some good jokes at Rosamond’s expense – particularly Mary Garth’s remark that Rosamond would not be able to get married unless she had a round dozen handkerchiefs, “because then there would only be eleven.”  Lydgate has totally come around to the idea of marriage and wants to give his intended bride everything she wants, but methinks he doesn’t quite realize what an expensive proposition that will be.  Meanwhile, the new owner of Stone Court, Joshua Rigg Featherstone, is considering selling the property to Mr. Bulstrode when he receives a visit from his abusive stepfather who, unbeknownst to Joshua, takes away one of Mr. Bulstrode’s letters with him.

Book IV closes with Casaubon summoning Lydgate for a consultation.  He wants to know the truth about the attack he suffered back in Book III, and Lydgate reluctantly confirms that Casaubon has heart disease.  He might live another fifteen years or longer, or he might drop dead at any second.  Casaubon is distressed for two reasons: one, he fears he will never be able to finish his life’s work, The Key to All Mythologies, and two, he is convinced that once he’s gone, Will will lose no time in marrying Dorothea (now Casaubon’s heiress as well).  Such a marriage, according to Casaubon, would be “fatal” to Dorothea, although he never quite explains why.  (Team Will!)  Dorothea has already proven herself susceptible to Will’s words; after learning of his grandmother’s unjust disinheritance, she begs Casaubon to make Will his heir instead of herself.  Casaubon is jealous and pulls away further from his young wife, causing her to resent him even more.  Still, she’s not ready to give up on the marriage, and the book ends with her waiting up for her husband and sweetly holding his hand.

Thoughts Thus Far

In the first two volumes of Middlemarch, I was enjoying the story but was still getting into it.  There are a lot of characters to keep straight and it was a bit of a challenge to map out everyone’s relations to one another.  By Volume III, though, I had a handle on the main players and the overarching plot, and now I’m completely captivated.  George Eliot has created a whole world here.  There is texture and drama and one person’s life is connected to another in a myriad of ways, not all of which are apparent on the surface – just like reality.  I can sink into this story and not see or hear a thing for hours while I read, and that’s just what I love – a book that captures my imagination completely and immerses me in its universe.  I can’t believe my luck, that I’m only halfway through this reading experience!

One thing, though, that I think would have helped me enjoy this experience even more, would have been if I was better acquainted with the social and political issues of the era.  1830s England is not a place I know well.  I read the Introduction before beginning the book, but all it really taught me was that I was going to miss out on a lot of references that would have been clear as day to George Eliot’s contemporaries.  Reform, the economy, the “Catholic Question” – all these historical issues are at play in the characters’ lives throughout Middlemarch, and if I understood the history better, I know I’d get more out of the book.  I’m already anticipating a re-read, after I’ve had the chance to better acquaint myself with the overarching issues that drive Eliot’s story and inform this world.

Stay tuned, because Vols. V and VI are on deck for next Monday!

Are you reading along with Middlemarch?  Enjoying it as much as I am?  Have any information that might enlighten me about the socioeconomic and political references that are going clear over my head?

It’s the mooooooooooost wonderful tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime of the yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeear!

No, not Christmas.  Well, yes, Christmas, but also… READALONG TIME!  I can’t believe that before 2013, I’d never participated in a readalong, and now this one will be my third.  (Last spring, I read Villette along with Beth and Amal, and this fall I joined in Kerry’s readalong of Jane Eyre.)  Beth is ending 2013 on a high note, hosting a readalong of Middlemarch, and when she proposed the idea, I immediately knew I wanted in.  After all, Middlemarch has been on my to-read list for years, and how could I find a better reading buddy than Beth?

Here’s the plan for the readalong: Middlemarch is a gigantic tome, so we’re reading it all month long.  Today we’ll be talking about Vol. I (“Miss Brooke”) and Vol. II (“Old and Young”).  Next Monday I’ll recap Vols. III and IV, the week after that, Vols. V and VI, and finally, on December 30th, Vols. VII and VIII as well as the “Finale.”  If you want to join in and geek out over George Eliot in real time, there are several of us on Twitter discussing the book using the hashtag #middlemarch13.  (I’m @backyardyogini.)  So, them’s the rules, and now let’s get to the book chatter.

Volume I: Miss Brooke

Volume I of Middlemarch introduces the primary characters we’ll be following: intense, spiritual Dorothea Brooke; old grouch Edward Casaubon; young artist Will Ladislaw; idealistic doctor Tertius Lydgate; and blazing beauty Rosamond Vincy.  And, of course, there’s another character: the town of Middlemarch, itself.  Lydgate and Rosamond don’t appear much in this volume; as one might expect from the title, we’re more concerned with Dorothea.

When the novel opens, Dorothea is a young heiress living with her uncle Brooke and her younger sister Celia.  Dorothea is, as I noted above, incredibly intense and spiritual.  She’s highly intelligent and longs to live a life of intellectual rigor.  Dorothea, being well-born, beautiful, and an heiress, is considered quite the catch among the gentlemen of Middlemarch.  The baronet Sir James Chettam, in particular, is determined to make her Lady Chettam – but Dorothea has no interest in this sporting, affable chap.  (Poor Sir James.  As I tweeted, he seems like such a nice fella.  I’m rooting for him to end up with Celia, who I like rather a lot.)  Dorothea proves to be quite dense, believing Sir James to be interested only in her sister – and when Sir James proposes to take up Dorothea’s plan to build improved cottages for his tenants, she privately congratulates herself on having found such a sterling future brother-in-law.  Of course, Sir James doesn’t want to be Dorothea’s brother-in-law, and when Celia breaks the news that Sir James is actually courting Dorothea, our heroine is shocked and appalled.  Oh, Dorothea.

Of course, Dorothea does have her eye on someone: one Edward Casaubon.  Casaubon, an associate of Uncle Brooke’s, is a pompous clergyman who is working on a “Key to All Mythologies,” and Dorothea considers him to be the key to her future intellectual life.  She is convinced that Casaubon alone can usher her into the higher realms of thought.  He’s pushing fifty (and Dorothea herself is not quite twenty), but he’s rich, so Uncle Brooke doesn’t feel he has a leg to stand on when it comes to forbidding the match.  Nonetheless, most of Middlemarch is kind of grossed out when they learn of the upcoming wedding between the flower of local society and the crusty old clergyman.  Dorothea, however, can’t be dissuaded, and by the end of Vol. I she is Mrs. Pompous Casaubon.  Yuck.

Volume II: Old and Young

At the end of Volume I, the Casaubons leave for their honeymoon in Rome, and we turn our attention to the other main character: Tertius Lydgate.  Lydgate, who was introduced only briefly in Volume I, is a newcomer to the area.  A doctor bent on reform, he quickly falls in with the local banker, Mr. Bulstrode, who he considers to be a key ally in building an improved local fever hospital.  Bulstrode is as pompous, in his own way, as Casaubon is – as evidenced by his dealings with the Vincy family (relations through Bulstrode’s wife).  Lydgate, for his part, likes the Vincys – especially the daughter of the house, the stunningly gorgeous Rosamond.  Still, there’s a difference between admiring a decorative girl and wanting to get married, and Lydgate has too much to accomplish before he gets married.  He isn’t planning to walk down the aisle for at least five years.  Little does Lydgate know, Rosamond has plans for him.  Oh, does Rosamond ever have plans for him.

There’s an interesting interlude in Volume II, in which Lydgate gets to know the Rev. Mr. Farebrother, a friend of the Vincy family.  Farebrother has been the chaplain of the local hospital, but Bulstrode wants to replace him with a different clergyman, a Mr. Tyke, whose spiritual doctrine more closely matches Bulstrode’s own.  The general consensus among the hospital movers and shakers seems to be that Farebrother is a nice guy and everyone likes him better, and it seems unfair to pluck the position away from him right when it will begin carrying a salary, but Bulstrode has his way in the end – in part, because Lydgate votes with him.  Although Lydgate likes Farebrother very much, and although he personally scorns local politics, he feels he has no choice but to go along with Bulstrode if he wants his fever hospital – and Lydgate does want his fever hospital.  I can see Lydgate’s dealings with Bulstrode becoming a more important plot piece in the future, but in the meantime, it was interesting just to have a glimpse into the inner workings of the Middlemarch elders.  It was also rather ironic to see how quickly Lydgate, for all his wanting to stay above the fray, was dragged into the machinery of local politics and forced to get his hands dirty like everybody else.

Volume II ended with a quick glimpse of the new Mrs. Casaubon on her honeymoon… which she is very much not enjoying.  Casaubon is using his honeymoon as a research trip, leaving his young bride to fend for herself most of the day.  When they do spend time together, Casaubon and Dorothea argue as he misinterprets her well-intentioned questions to be harsh criticism of his work.  In Rome, Dorothea becomes better acquainted with Casaubon’s much-younger second cousin, Will Ladislaw, who she met briefly before her wedding.  Will, who had originally believed that anyone crazy enough to marry his cousin must be intensely unpleasant, soon revises his opinion of Dorothea and finds himself appalled that his cousin would, after having the good fortune to marry this “adorable creature,” leave her alone for long stretches, and on their honeymoon no less!  Will and Dorothea quickly become friendly, and Casaubon isn’t over-thrilled with this development – but he’s too full of himself to be really threatened by Will.

Two volumes in, I am really enjoying Middlemarch.  George Eliot is at her best in the dialogue, and it’s fun to be a fly on the wall as these characters all get to know one another.  Each of Eliot’s characters has a distinctive voice, distinctive, you know.  (See what I did there?  I’m Mr. Brooke!)  Even in the non-dialogue segments, there are so many nuggets of sentences that the whole book feels like digging in an exceptionally rich gold mine.  At first – like Will – I didn’t much care for Dorothea but already, only about a quarter of the way through the book, I find myself pitying her horrible marriage and wishing happiness for her.  (I still think she would have been better off marrying Sir James, but I’m hoping for a James-and-Celia union soon.  Please, George Eliot?)

Stay tuned for my next recap, of Volumes III and IV, coming next Monday!