A Kristevan Reading of George Eliot's Early Novels

Yasemin Baysal

The Victorian era is a period in which there are incompatibilities between the individual and society due to the oppressive structures and attitudes of society, so Victorian writers are concerned with the problems of gender, identity and otherness, particularly George Eliot. Thus, this book examines Eliot's early novels, The Mill on the Floss and Silas Marner, in the light of Kristevan theories and terms to indicate the construction of gender and identity. The Mill on the Floss is discussed with regard to the semiotic, the symbolic, abjection theory, women's time, melancholia and revolt since it reveals Maggie's familial relations, gender dilemmas, ambivalence of identity, and social pressure. On the other hand, Silas Marner is scrutinized within the frame of strangeness, the semiotic, the symbolic, abjection theory and women's time concerning Kristeva's works as it reflects Silas's religion dilemma, ambivalence of identity and social pressure regarding the circumstances and conventions of Victorian patriarchal society.

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