Time and again in George Eliot’s novels, from Adam Bede to Daniel Deronda, the narrator speaks directly to the reader. Ranging from quiet presumptions of assent (‘it is well known that...’) to downright admonitions (‘[i]f you think it is incredible… I will ask you to use your power of comparison a little more effectively’), these narratorial comments condition the reader’s response to the text in a variety of ways. This book invites its own reader into a multifaceted exploration of the intriguing processes by which readers’ interpretations are shaped by narratorial commentary in Eliot’s fiction. Introducing a new pair of narratological concepts, ‘story-time now’ and narration now’, it elucidates the interplay between narrator and reader, creating fresh awareness of the subtleties of Eliot’s craft.

Time and again in George Eliot’s novels, from Adam Bede to Daniel Deronda, the narrator speaks directly to the reader. Ranging from quiet presumptions of assent (‘it is well known that...’) to downright admonitions (‘[i]f you think it is incredible… I will ask you to use your power of comparison a little more effectively’), these narratorial comments condition the reader’s response to the text in a variety of ways. This book invites its own reader into a multifaceted exploration of the intriguing processes by which readers’ interpretations are shaped by narratorial commentary in Eliot’s fiction. Introducing a new pair of narratological concepts, ‘story-time now’ and narration now’, it elucidates the interplay between narrator and reader, creating fresh awareness of the subtleties of Eliot’s craft.