Editing Middlemarch (section)

{{Short description|1871–1872 novel by George Eliot}}
{{Other uses|Middlemarch (disambiguation)}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Infobox book
|name = Middlemarch, A Study of Provincial Life
|image = Middlemarch 1.jpg
|caption = Title page of the first edition, 1871–1872
|author = [[George Eliot]] (Mary Ann Evans)
|title_working = Miss Brooke
|country = United Kingdom
|language = English
|dewey = 823.8
|genre = Novel
|publisher = [[Blackwood (publishing house)|William Blackwood and Sons]]
|published = 1871–1872
|media_type = Print
|orig_lang_code = en
|wikisource = Middlemarch
|set_in = [[English Midlands]] and briefly [[Rome]], September 1829 – May 1832
|preceded_by = [[Felix Holt, the Radical]]
|followed_by = [[Daniel Deronda]]
}}
'''''Middlemarch, A Study of Provincial Life''''' is a novel by English author [[George Eliot]], the pen name of Mary Ann Evans. It appeared in eight installments (volumes) in 1871 and 1872. Set in Middlemarch, a fictional English Midlands town, in 1829 to 1832, it follows distinct, intersecting stories with many characters.<ref>''The Bloomsbury Guide to English Literature'', ed. Marion Wynne–Davies. New York: Prentice Hall, 1990, p. 719.</ref>{{sfnp |Steedman |2001}} Issues include the status of women, the nature of marriage, idealism, self-interest, religion, hypocrisy, political reform, and education. Leavened with comic elements, ''Middlemarch'' approaches significant historical events in a [[Literary realism|realist]] mode: the [[Reform Act 1832]], early railways, and the accession of [[King William IV]]. It looks at medicine of the time and reactionary views in a settled community facing unwelcome change. Eliot began writing the two pieces that formed the novel in 1869–1870 and completed it in 1871. Initial reviews were mixed, but it is now seen widely as her best work and one of the great English novels.{{sfnp |Leavis |1950}}