Explore The Mill on the Floss with exclusive videos and activities
Published in 1860, The Mill on the Floss was George Eliot’s third novel and also her most autobiographical. Its focus was a young woman’s struggle for intellectual fulfilment, her forbidden love and the ruptured relationship between a sister and brother. Much of the plot had parallels to the author’s own life.
Eliot’s journey began at Arbury Hall in Warwickshire. It was near here that Mary Ann Evans (Eliot’s real name) was born and developed her literary appetite. Her best friend growing up was her brother Isaac, yet as adults they became estranged. He was unwilling to accept her unconventional relationship with the critic and philosopher George Henry Lewes. Being shunned by her brother was the tragedy that motivated so much of The Mill on the Floss and its focus on the fractured relationship between Tom and Maggie Tulliver - one of English fictions most powerful female protagonists.
The life of Eliot herself shaped the book but another powerful influence on Eliot’s work was of the German writer Goethe. Eliot’s only surviving hand-written manuscript resides in the British Library. It reveals a strikingly neat set of volumes with little corrections except from subtle indications in the author’s handwriting which divulge the true extent of the emotional toll of the book’s denouement on its writer.
Video: The real places that inspired Eliot
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The real places that inspired Eliot
See George Eliot’s manuscript and the fictional names she gave to real places.
Watch nowThe real places that inspired EliotLevel: 1 Introductory
Video: Titles that sell
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Titles that sell
See the changes George Eliot made as she wrote The Mill on the Floss.
Watch nowTitles that sellLevel: 1 Introductory
Adventures: Recycled stories and visit where George Eliot grew up
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Recycled stories
Go on an adventure with The Mill on the Floss as you visit where George Eliot grew up and discover recycled stories.
Watch nowRecycled storiesLevel: 1 Introductory
The Secret Life of Books - Find out more about the other books in the series.
Feeling loving, adventurous or scared? Poetry Prescription will find you the perfect poem to reflect your mood.
Level: 1 Introductory Download the app from the BBC Four series, The Secret Life of Books.
Explore the wonders of the literary world with these five quirky animations.
Level: 1 Introductory In the last century which women writers have truly challenged the existing forms of literature? How did they make their voices heard using brand new techniques and styles? For centuries there have been women writers who have changed the face of literature, but we tend to talk of their lives and work in very certain terms. This series of video-slideshows reveals how writing and reputation are often forged in transition, uncertainty and change. In these 4 films we re-examine the lives, work and influence of: Virginia Woolf, Jean Rhys, Katherine Mansfield and Jeanette Winterson.
This material forms part of the Open University course A300 20th century literature: texts and debates. Level: 1 Introductory Why do people visit museums of writers' homes? Discover the secret life of authors in this short video.
Level: 1 IntroductoryExpand your mind
Poetry Prescription
The Secret Life of Books: Download the app
Outside the book
Women Writers: Voices in Transition
The author at home
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Level: 1 Introductory Do you want to get more out of your reading? This free course, Approaching prose fiction, is designed to develop the analytical skills you need for a more in-depth study of literary texts. You will learn about narrative events and perspectives, the setting of novels, types of characterisation and genre.
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Start writing fiction: characters and stories
What is poetry?
Approaching prose fiction
Approaching poetry
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Become a student: study English Literature
Take your interest in literature further by studying with the Open University.
Read nowBecome a student: study English LiteratureLevel: 1 Introductory
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If you are interested in reading between the lines, and being challenged by new ideas and ways of seeing, then this course is for you. English literature is a broad, accessible and important subject. On this course you'll study an exciting range of texts from many different periods and settings, including novels, drama and poetry, and discover an exciting variety of approaches for reading and interpreting them. You will develop your skills of analysis and communication, which will enable you to take a fresh look at familiar texts, and to encounter new texts and ideas with confidence.
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