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Article: Daniel Deronda and the limits of sermonic voice.(novelist George Eliot)(Critical essay)
- Article from:
- Studies in the Novel
- Article date:
- December 22, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 University of North Texas. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Of all the Victorian novelists guaranteed a place on syllabi today, George Eliot was surely the one who most consistently presented Christian preaching in a positive light. Despite her religious skepticism, she avoided clerical caricatures such as the Bethel Bible-thumper in Dickens's The Old Curiosity Shop who yells, "Stay, Satan, stay!" at his departing auditor (319) or the smarmy Reverend Slope in Trollope's Barchester Towers, whose tactless sermon factionalizes a community. Less likely to invite readers to laugh at clerics than to admire their pulpit talents and sincerity, her work features a parade of well-intentioned, well-spoken preachers: saintly Mr. Tryan in ...