Talk:Romola

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Novels: 19th century Mid‑importance

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Women writers Mid‑importance

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Novels by George Eliot[edit]

See Category:Novels by George Eliot, all of which should be included in the Wikiproject. DFH 18:35, 24 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Project Gutenberg[edit]

Unlike some of George Eliot's other novels, Project Gutenberg does not yet have an e-text for Romola. DFH 20:26, 25 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Romola was added to Project Gutenburg on 12/14/2007 http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/24020 --Lavishluau (talk) 03:55, 27 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Literary Significance of Romola[edit]

Romola has been read in two very different ways, in terms of its literary significance.

First, Romola is Eliot's only novel that can be compared to other "historical novels." This term, which can be taken to cover a great deal of territory, does not usually refer to the time of an author's recent past (as Adam Bede, et. al., do to Eliot's time). As a historical novel, Romola is both wildly successful and a complete failure. It succeeds in that Eliot spent months making sure that her details were accurate (in terms of time, place, description, etc.). It fails in that, for a great many people (including the famous poet Robert Browning, who thought Savonarola was supposed to be the main character), the historical is not really what the novel is about.

Second, Romola has been considered a forerunner to feminist literature. Romola, as a heroine, is not quite satisfactory, since the novel ends with her in a position that looks quite traditional. Even so, Romola is the true heroine of this novel, and, in some ways, this novel can be seen as a forerunner of twentieth century feminist writings.

Dr. Davidson (talk) 03:53, 2 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]