Edith Simcox, Autobiography, 29 October 1879
Title
Edith Simcox, Autobiography, 29 October 1879
Title
Edith Simcox, Autobiography, 29 October 1879
Sender
Edith Simcox
Recipient
U
Date(s)
- 1879-10-29
Place
London
Letter Content
Edith Simcox, Autobiography, 29 October 1879
MS: Bodleian.
Wednesday 29 October 1879
I have been reading Daniel Deronda through. It is strange that with all the intensity of my love for her, I never cease to feel as if the physical part of our conscious nature was more than remote -- opposite. Somehow it is a more depressing book to me than her others, perhaps because it is a faithful transcript of the coexistence of unreconciled tendencies. I am more struck by the pathos of Gwendolen's rejection than by the healing power of Daniel's virtuous conduct and counsel. As in the passage of Theophrastus which hurt me one is reminded at once of the solitude of eminence, "the impossibility of reciprocating confidences with one who looks up to us" and the double solitude when the confidence we wish to make is suppressed, or one we wish to receive is withheld. She speaks of the scepticism which people call "Knowledge of the world and which is really disappointment in you and me." Is not the world made of yous and mes, and if it falls into these 2 classes with a minority in whom are answering needs -- to bestow and to receive -- is the "Knowledge of the world" a hopeful science? I know with me faith, hope and charity remain unhurt because I live outside the world, which is of a nature to make those virtues difficult.
MS: Bodleian.
Wednesday 29 October 1879
I have been reading Daniel Deronda through. It is strange that with all the intensity of my love for her, I never cease to feel as if the physical part of our conscious nature was more than remote -- opposite. Somehow it is a more depressing book to me than her others, perhaps because it is a faithful transcript of the coexistence of unreconciled tendencies. I am more struck by the pathos of Gwendolen's rejection than by the healing power of Daniel's virtuous conduct and counsel. As in the passage of Theophrastus which hurt me one is reminded at once of the solitude of eminence, "the impossibility of reciprocating confidences with one who looks up to us" and the double solitude when the confidence we wish to make is suppressed, or one we wish to receive is withheld. She speaks of the scepticism which people call "Knowledge of the world and which is really disappointment in you and me." Is not the world made of yous and mes, and if it falls into these 2 classes with a minority in whom are answering needs -- to bestow and to receive -- is the "Knowledge of the world" a hopeful science? I know with me faith, hope and charity remain unhurt because I live outside the world, which is of a nature to make those virtues difficult.
Citation
Edith Simcox, Edith Simcox, Autobiography, 29 October 1879, Complete George Eliot Letters(2026), George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org, Accessed September 7, 2026. https://www.georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/91804