The Lifted Veil by George Eliot (1859) – a brief synopsis
By Taylor Jasmine | On January 6, 2018 | Updated December 19, 2024 | Comments (2)
“I long for life, and there is no help. I thirsted for the unknown; the thirst is gone. O God, let me stay with the known, and be weary of it: I am content.” The Lifted Veil by George Eliot is an 1859 novella that departs sharply from the usual realism of the esteemed British author’s fiction. She interrupted her work on The Mill on the Floss to work on this novella.
The Lifted Veil first appeared in Blackwood Magazine in 1859, the same year that her highly regarded novel Adam Bede was published.
It wasn’t published in book format until 1878 as part of a single volume with Silas Marner and Brother Jacob. The Lifted Veil wasn’t published as a stand-alone volume until 1924, more than forty years after the author’s death.
Visions of Bertha and an unreliable narrator
Latimer, the book’s unreliable narrator, is a sensitive intellectual who believes that he can see into the future and read the thoughts of others. These clairvoyant powers, in his mind, are a curse. He was struck with them after a critical childhood illness he suffered while at school in Geneva, Switzerland. Much of what he reads into the motivations of others disgusts him.
Latimer has a vision of a woman, “pale, fatal-eyed,” whom he later meets as his brother’s fiancée, Bertha Grant. He becomes smitten with her, though she’s cold and coquettish. Bewildered, he falls under her spell, ignoring his own the warning visions, and finds that her mind is unusually closed to him.
After his brother dies, Latimer marries Bertha. But the relationship is doomed as he begins to recognize how manipulative she is. In an odd plot twist, Charles Meunier, a scientist friend of Latimer’s, performs a blood transfusion from himself to Bertha’s maid, who has recently died. The maid briefly comes back to life to accuse Bertha of attempting to poison Latimer.
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The Lifted Veil (full text)
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Themes of The Lifted Veil
Latimer mirrors some of Eliot’s beliefs, including her repulsion at the selfishness and self-involvement of human nature. On the other hand, Latimer is somewhat naïve, and considered one of Eliot’s most unlikable characters. Beautiful, narcissistic Bertha has been compared to Rosamund Vincy of Middlemarch.
Though George Eliot’s other works of fiction were characterized by realism, she was interested in the pseudosciences of her time, including clairvoyance (AKA extrasensory perception), mesmerism, and phrenology. She seems to have poured all of those interests into this slim volume.
While a modern reading of this story might render a reanimation by blood transfusion rather simplistic, this plot detail is handled with great skill. Descriptions of Latimer’s visions are also handled with great stylistic detail.
It’s the only one of Eliot’s fictional works to be told in the form of first person. What it does have in common with her other works of fiction is its use of moralizing and psychological insight.
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See also: Romola by George Eliot (1862)
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Embarrassed its original publisher
According to the 1985 Penguin Books edition: “Reminiscent of the work of Mary Shelley, The Lifted Veil embarrassed its original publishers by its exploration of pseudosciences and its publication was delayed … A chilling tale of moral alienation and despair, this lesser-known novella testifies to Eliot’s lifelong interest in the supernatural.”
It was the first and only of George Eliot’s works to delve into the genre of science fiction; this novella might also be considered horror and makes much use of suspense.
Along with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) , it could be placed within the Victorian horror story canon, which includes The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (1886) and Dracula by Bram Stoker (1897).
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See also:
Silly Novels by Lady Novelists by George Eliot
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More about The Lifted Veil by George Eliot
- The Lifted Veil Critical Essay on eNotes
- Review of The Lifted Veil
- Listen to The Lifted Veil on Librivox
This is one of the most brilliant books (novella) I have ever read. It is powerfully written, like the Brontes’ works and like all fiction that I admire. It ranks as one of my favourite books of all time. I feel for Latimer, because his gift of foresight is a curse. I would hate to be burdened with such an ability; imagine being able to foresee and predict your own death – what a nightmare. I think George Eliot was one of the most brilliant and fascinating women who ever lived. At the end of her life, in the last year, she married John Walter Cross, before she died. (after G H Lewes’ death, her common law husband).
Thank you so much for this insightful comment! I’m about to start reading Silas Marner, which seems to be of an entirely different genre, though also under the general umbrella of George Eliot’s brilliance …