Pseudonym Poetess!

Life of a damsel has never been easy. Whether it is this century or this millennium. Whether she is a home maker or a working professional. Whether she is talented or just a docile housewife.

Mary Ann Evans, a leading novelists of the 19^th century, despite of writing beautifully about the dilemmas of the heart, tribulations of being the inferior sex and the perils of this uncertain life, has adopted a pseudonym “George Elliot” , a male pen name to make her work be taken seriously in this patriarchal society.

In 1850, Evans began contributing to the “Westminster Review”, a leading journal for the philosophical radicals and later became its editor. She was now at the center of a literary circle through which she met George Henry Lewes. Lewes was married and their relationship caused a scandal. Eliot was immediately shunned by family and friends.

Lewes encouraged Evans to write. In 1856, she began ‘Sciences of Clerical Life’, stories about her native Warwickshire. Her first novel, ‘Adam Bede’, followed in 1859 and was a huge success. She used a pen name to ensure her works were taken seriously in an era when female authors were usually associated with romantic novels.

Her other novels include ‘The Mill on the floss’ in 1860, ‘Silas Marner’ in 1861, ‘Ramola’ in 1863, ‘Middlemarch’ in 1872 and ‘Daniel Deronda’ in 1876. The popularity of Evan’s (now Eliot) novels brought social acceptance, and Lewes and Evan’s home became a meeting place for writers and a breeding ground for the flow of literary creativity for the intellectuals.

Through all the adversities in life, absurdness of society, being shunned by your near ones, losing your entire identity, Mary Ann Evans has given all the women, a ray of hope of making your dreams come true no matter how bizarre this life seems to be!