Silas ?Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe, by Victorian novelist George Eliot, was
first published in 1861. The idea for the short novel, which she described as ?a
story of old-fashioned village life,? came upon Eliot suddenly and interrupted
her plans for the writing of another novel, Romola. After the publisher John
Blackwood read some of the manuscript and told her he found it somber, Eliot
replied that it was not a sad story because ?it sets in a strong light the
remedial influences of pure, natural human relations.? Silas Marner is a story
of loss, alienation, and redemption that combines elements of fairy tale and
myth with realism and humor. Set in the fictional village of Raveloe, it centers
on Silas Marner, a weaver who is forced to leave his hometown in the north after
being falsely accused of theft by members of his chapel. His religious faith
gone, for fifteen years Marner isolates himself from the life of the village and
becomes a miser. But when the gold that he cherishes is stolen, and he adopts a
child whose mother has just died, his life changes dramatically for the better.
Silas Marner has always been admired as one of Eliot?s best and most appealing
works. Not only is it a touching story that ends, like the fairy tale, happily
ever after, it also presents a realistic portrait of nineteenth-century life in
a traditional English village in which the spirit of kindness and cooperation
overrule petty differences.