The rapturous consciousness of life beyond self
I decided to reread the novel Middlemarch by George Eliot because it is considered one of the great depictions of community life, and when I read it last, probably as a teenager, I wasn't thinking about community at all. What I'd forgotten is that it is also about female aspiration and the longing for a life of significance. From the prelude: Theresa's passionate, ideal nature demanded an epic life: what were many-volumed romances of chivalry and the social conquests of a brilliant girl to her? Her flame quickly burned up [...]