GE to John Chapman, Berlin, 9 January [1855]
Title
GE to John Chapman, Berlin, 9 January [1855]
Title
GE to John Chapman, Berlin, 9 January [1855]
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
John Chapman
Date(s)
- 1855-01-09
Place
Berlin
Letter Content
GE to John Chapman, Berlin, 9 January [1855]
Text: Maggs Bros. Catalogue 317 (November-December 1913), item 3375. It is misdated 1854, probably by GE.
I still think the [Ideals of Womankind] a good subject and one I should like to treat, but I have been thinking lately of an article on another subject, which I believe I could make interesting, and which I could prepare for your next number, if you agree with me that it is promising. . . . The subject I now propose is [Woman in Germany] 563 -- not simply the modern German woman, who is not a very fertile subject (metaphorically speaking) but woman as she presents herself to us in all the phases of development through which the German race has run from the earliest historic twilight, when it was still blended with the Scandinavian race and its women were prophetesses, through the periods of the Volkswanderung and the romantic and b'fcrgerlich life of the Middle Ages up to our own day. There is a great deal of picturesque materials on this subject, and I am just in the midst of it here, so that it would suit me, perhaps, better than any just now. . . .
Mr. Lewes's health has been variable, but I think he is on the whole better. He desires me to send his kind remembrances to you, as, indeed, he always does, and I always forget to give them. We like our Berlin life immensely -- an ugly place it must be to any one who comes to it nipped or solitary, or, what is worse, with a disagreeable companion. But, to make a very novel quotation, [the mind is its own place,] 564 and can make a pretty town even of Berlin. The day seems too short for our happiness, and we both of us feel that we have begun life afresh -- with new ambitions and new powers. I say so much to you, because I know you have a friendly interest in me.
Marian Evans.
Text: Maggs Bros. Catalogue 317 (November-December 1913), item 3375. It is misdated 1854, probably by GE.
I still think the [Ideals of Womankind] a good subject and one I should like to treat, but I have been thinking lately of an article on another subject, which I believe I could make interesting, and which I could prepare for your next number, if you agree with me that it is promising. . . . The subject I now propose is [Woman in Germany] 563 -- not simply the modern German woman, who is not a very fertile subject (metaphorically speaking) but woman as she presents herself to us in all the phases of development through which the German race has run from the earliest historic twilight, when it was still blended with the Scandinavian race and its women were prophetesses, through the periods of the Volkswanderung and the romantic and b'fcrgerlich life of the Middle Ages up to our own day. There is a great deal of picturesque materials on this subject, and I am just in the midst of it here, so that it would suit me, perhaps, better than any just now. . . .
Mr. Lewes's health has been variable, but I think he is on the whole better. He desires me to send his kind remembrances to you, as, indeed, he always does, and I always forget to give them. We like our Berlin life immensely -- an ugly place it must be to any one who comes to it nipped or solitary, or, what is worse, with a disagreeable companion. But, to make a very novel quotation, [the mind is its own place,] 564 and can make a pretty town even of Berlin. The day seems too short for our happiness, and we both of us feel that we have begun life afresh -- with new ambitions and new powers. I say so much to you, because I know you have a friendly interest in me.
Marian Evans.
Signature
Marian Evans.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to John Chapman, Berlin, 9 January [1855], 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/92772