In this new study of George Eliot's fiction, textual attempts to imagine a coherent and unified national past are seen as producing a contradictory vision of Englishness. The consequence is a history that anticipates a more modern, radical philosophy of history.
Neil McCaw is Lecturer in English Studies, School of Cultural Studies, King Alfred's College.
Acknowledgements Introduction: 'Those Far-Reaching Visions of the Past' George Eliot and the (Meta)Narrativity of History Imagining the National Past A Natural History of English Life A Carlylean Counter-Paradigm Theodicy and History Imagining the National Present Unwritten Landscapes: Imagining the National Future Conclusion: Beyond Victorian Historiography Bibliography Index
