Mar 12, 2014 the book began as an essay for the new yorker, where mead is a staff writer, and that style inflects the finished version. I have gone back to middlemarch every five years or so, my emotional response to it evolving at each revisiting. Rebecca mead is a staff writer for the new yorker and the author of one perfect day. While one perfect day takes a sobering look at contemporary nuptials, my life in middlemarch is a genredefying blend of memoir, literary criticism, and biography, that sees rebecca mead revisiting the seminal book of her. A new yorker writer revisits the seminal book of her youthmiddlemarchand fashions a singular, involving story of how a passionate attachment to a great work.
I decided i wanted to write about something i loved. Jan 01, 2014 rebecca mead was a young woman in an english coastal town when she first read george eliots middlemarch, regarded by many as the greatest english novel. Chilly, damp, and gray, its the perfect day to curl up with a deliciously absorbing book. Mixing biography, reporting, and memoir, mead explores middlemarch s important place in her own life, as well as the many lives the novel has led since it was written. My life in middlemarch is no middlemarch, but it does what new yorker writer rebecca mead set out to do. Rebecca mead was a young woman in an english coastal town when she first read george eliots middlemarch, regarded by many as the greatest english novel. Mead fascinatingly and insightfully explains what woolf mean by using the term grownup instead of adults. Thanks to one prominent fan, an 800page, 140yearold british novel may soon experience a sales spike. Journalist rebecca mead s new book, my life in middlemarch, is a smart, delightful blend of biography, memoir, reportage, and a celebration of. Mead first read the book when she was a teenager in england looking out the window, she writes.
The road to middlemarch is a sensitive work of deep reading and biography, for every reader of literature who cares about why we read books and how they read us. Jan 26, 2014 journalist rebecca mead s new book, my life in middlemarch, is a smart, delightful blend of biography, memoir, reportage, and a celebration of george eliots most famous novel. Author interview rebecca mead, author of my life in middlemarch. Rebecca mead gets lost in middlemarch the american. After gaining admission to oxford, and moving to the united states to become a journalist, through several love affairs and then marriage and family, rebecca mead reread middlemarch. The new yorker staff writer first encountered middlemarch as a 17yearold schoolgirl, living in a small coastal town in the south of. In her second book, my life in middlemarch, new yorker staff writer rebecca mead offers a thoughtful examination of the book that has turned out to be a touchstone of her life.
Jan 26, 2014 by contrast, rebecca meads my life in middlemarch is a beguilingly straightforward, resolutely orthodox and unshowy account of the writers lifelong admiration for george eliot and for. New yorker writer rebecca mead first read middlemarch. In dorothea, and in eliot, rebecca mead found kindred spirits. The latest of these is by rebecca mead, a writer at the new yorker, who has turned an essay she once wrote about her love for george eliots novel middlemarch into a fullblown hymn of adoration. May 12, 2018 in dorothea, and in eliot, rebecca mead found kindred spirits. Rebecca mead was a young woman in an english coastal town when she first read george eliots middlemarch, regarded by many as the.
While one perfect day takes a sobering look at contemporary nuptials, my life in middlemarch is a genredefying blend of memoir, literary criticism, and biography, that sees rebecca mead revisiting the seminal book of her youthgeorge eliots. My life in middlemarch book chicago public library. A new yorker writer revisits the seminal book of her youthmiddlemarchand fashions a singular, involving story of how. Mead published my life in middlemarch the road to middlemarch in the uk in 2014. Rebecca mead is clearly that certain kind of woman. Mead has discovered an original and highly personal way to make herself an inhabitant both of the book and of george eliots imaginary city. Now in paperback, rebecca meads my life in middlemarch. Rebecca mead on middlemarch the new yorker festival.
Rebecca mead was born in england, and educated at oxford and new york university. My life in middlemarch by rebecca mead 2014 blogger. Oct 25, 2014 rebecca mead, middlemarch and life at the new yorker in 1997, rebecca mead moved from new york magazine to the new yorker. Feb 05, 2014 for rebecca mead, that book was george eliots middlemarch, which she first read as a young woman in an english coastal town, and reread regularly throughout her life. In her book about george eliots masterpiece, middlemarch, rebecca mead combines criticism and biography with the intimate tone of. Mead explores how middlemarch teaches us to be grownups, and to value our ordinary lives. Rebecca mead joined the new yorker as a staff writer in 1997. My life in middlemarch by rebecca mead is a wonderful companion to this magnificent work.
On the book bench, mead shares nuggets of eliots wisdom. She has profiled many subjects, among them linmanuel miranda, margaret atwood, nico muhly, slavoj zizek, and mary beard. Rebecca mead was a young woman in an english coastal town when she. In my life in middlemarch, rebecca mead, a new yorker writer revisits the seminal book of her youthmiddlemarchand fashions a. Rebecca mead gets lost in middlemarch the american prospect. Rebecca mead was a young woman in an english coastal town when she first read george eliots middlemarch, regarded by many as. A new yorker writer revisits the seminal book of her youth middlemarch and fashions a singular, involving story of how a passionate attachment to a great work of literature can shape our lives and help us to read our own histories. Growing up in coastal england, mead, a longtime new yorker staff writer, encountered middlemarch in her teens and was smitten. Press releases now in paperback, rebecca mead s my life in middlemarch a new yorker writer revisits the seminal book of her youth middlemarch and fashions a singular, involving story of how a passionate attachment to a great work of literature can shape our lives and help us to read our own histories. Press releases now in paperback, rebecca meads my life in middlemarch a new yorker writer revisits the seminal book of her youthmiddlemarchand fashions a singular, involving story of how a passionate attachment to a great work of literature can shape our lives and help us to read our own histories. Rebecca mead was a young woman in an english coastal town when she first read george eliotsmiddlemarch, regarded by many as.
Jan 27, 2015 rebecca mead s my life in middlemarch is a wise, humane, and delightful study of what some regard as the best novel in english. Rebecca mead is a staff writer for the new yorker and the author of my life in middlemarch and one perfect day. Jan 28, 2014 buy my life in middlemarch by mead, rebecca isbn. My life in middlemarch by rebecca mead overdrive rakuten. Now in paperback, rebecca meads my life in middlemarch the. Mead was a young woman in an english coastal town when she first read george eliots middlemarch, regarded by many as the greatest english novel. Staff writer for the new yorker and the author of my life in middlemarch and one perfect day. Ive been thinking about middlemarch and about george eliot for most of my adult life, in one way or another.
Jan 28, 2014 rebecca mead, new yorker staff writer and author of my life in middlemarch, shares what eliots middlemarch taught her about love, marriage, and journalism. Rebecca mead joins us to talk about what makes the classic novel so great, and to discuss her book, my life in middlemarch. Author interview rebecca mead, author of my life in. Rebecca mead was born in london, and grew up in the southwest of england. In this deeply satisfying hybrid work of literary criticism, biography, and memoir, new yorker staff writer mead brings to vivid life the profound engagement that she and all devoted readers experience with a favorite novel over a lifetime. In 2014, new yorker writer rebecca mead devoted a whole book, my life in middlemarch, to her love affair with the novel, which in turn sparked an explosion of heartfelt endorsements by. Thus stated is one of the many intentions of rebecca mead at the start of her new book, my life in middlemarch, but it is the one that most rings true by its conclusion. My life in middlemarch by rebecca mead booksamillion.
Another great books poll boringly confirms the dominance. Watch the new yorker festival rebecca meadmiddlemarch and. Mead joined the new yorker as a staff writer in 1997. The last book i wrote, one perfect day was a journalistic expose of the wedding industry. She is a staff writer at the new yorker, and lives in brooklyn. When rebecca mead read middlemarch at 17 it spoke to her yearning for escape. The novel, which virginia woolf famously described as one of the few.
While studying at oxford, building a successful journalistic career and starting a family, middlemarch offered. She begins by examining the george eliotattributed quote it. Staff writer rebecca mead reflects on what middlemarch has meant to her throughout her life. Wayne koestenbaum is a poet, a cultural critic, and the author of more than a dozen books, whose subjects have included opera, jackie onassis, andy. In my life in middlemarch, the new yorker writer revisits her own past and eliots work in a new way, by leading us into the life that the book made for her, as well as the many. It offers both reasons to open the victorian novel, for firsttimers, and grist for. You know, the best magazine in all the world, with the most stacks of unread copies in all the world to prove it. Mead s own my life in middlemarch, which springs from an essay she wrote for the new yorker. Rebecca mead was a young woman in an english coastal town when she first read george eliots middlemarch, regarded by many as the greatest english. Mar 16, 2014 the latest of these is by rebecca mead, a writer at the new yorker, who has turned an essay she once wrote about her love for george eliots novel middlemarch into a fullblown hymn of adoration. I loved middlemarch, and i loved being the kind of person who loved it, she writes in her new work of literary memoir, my life in middlemarch.
Mead s new book my life in middlemarch, which first began as an essay about her complete infatuation with the book in the new yorker, covers a lot of territory and might best be called a. My life in middlemarch rebecca mead s book is not only a love letter to george eliot but also a rumination on how literature can shape our lives. Passionate readers, even those new to middlemarch, will relish this book. Meads new book my life in middlemarch, which first began as an essay about her complete infatuation with the book in the new yorker, covers a lot of territory and might best be called a life. Rebecca mead was a young woman in a coastal town of england when she first read george eliots middlemarch. My life in middlemarch a new yorker writer revisits the seminal book of her youth middlemarch and fashions a singular, involving story of how a passionate attachment to a great work of literature can shape our lives and help us to read our own histories. Rebecca mead on middlemarch the new yorker festival the new yorker duration. Since 1997 she has been a staff writer at the new yorker, and is the author of one perfect day. After gaining admission to oxford, and moving to the united states to become a journalist, through several love affairs, then marriage and family, mead read and reread middlemarch. For rebecca mead, that book was george eliots middlemarch, which she first read as a young woman in an english coastal town, and reread regularly throughout her life. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.
Rebecca mead on writing my life in middlemarch i first read middlemarch, which many critics consider the greatest novel in the english language, when i was seventeen. Why marriage is the start of an epic, according to george eliot. My life in middlemarch by rebecca mead fiction advocate. Rebecca mead, middlemarch and life at the new yorker mickleblog. Rebecca mead was a young woman in an english coastal town when she first read george eliots middlemarch. I have gone back to middlemarch every five years or so, my emotional response to it evolving at each. Jan 24, 2014 rebecca mead is clearly that certain kind of woman. Feb 10, 2014 in particular, the new yorker writer is a lover of english writer george eliots middlemarch. Rebecca meads my life in middlemarch the new york times. Virginia woolf famously said that middlemarch was one of the few novels written for grownup people. By contrast, rebecca mead s my life in middlemarch is a beguilingly straightforward, resolutely orthodox and unshowy account of the writers lifelong admiration for george eliot and for. As march comes to an end, so does the one year anniversary of my first time with george eliots masterpiece.