George Eliot and Racism: How Should One Read `The Modern Hep! Hep! Hep!'?

Author: Newton, K. M.¹

Source: The Modern Language Review, Volume 103, Number 3, 1 July 2008 , pp. 654-665(12)

Publisher: Modern Humanities Research Association

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Abstract:

A number of recent critics have accused George Eliot of racism and even anti-Semitism. Her essay `The Modern Hep! Hep! Hep!' has been widely cited to support these claims. Critics have tended to take passages from it as straightforward statements of Eliot's views which they identify with racism, ignoring the text's literary aspects, such as the complexity of the narration; the implicitly racist audience the narrator is addressing; the rhetorical strategies adopted that undermine the readership's prejudices. An awareness of the text's complex literary structure suggests that accusations of racism and anti-Semitism are simplistic or unpersuasive.

Keywords: George Eliot; racism; anti-Semitism; complexity; narration; audience; narrator; rhetorical strategies

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: University of Dundee

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