Under the pseudonym George Eliot, Mary Ann Evans wrote the novel Daniel Deronda, which was first released in eight parts (books) from February to September 1876. It was the only book she ever finished that was set in her era's Victorian society. One of the most known Victorian novelists' contentious final work is a controversial combination of social satire, moral reflection, and sympathetic representation of Jewish proto-Zionist views. The novel has been adapted three times for the screen: twice for motion pictures and once for television. Additionally, it has been adapted for the stage, most famously by the 69 Theatre Company in Manchester in the 1960s, which starred Vanessa Redgrave as the lead character Gwendolen Harleth. Although the "tale of Gwendolen'' has been called "one of the classics of English fiction," the portion of the narrative involving Daniel Deronda has been called "flat and unconvincing." Nevertheless, Zionism has been greatly influenced by Daniel's tale. In 1948, F. R. Leavis argued that the Jewish sections of The Great Tradition were its weakest and that a truncated version called Gwendolen Harleth should be printed on its own. Some Zionist commentators have advocated the opposite truncation, keeping the Jewish section, but with Gwendole's story omitted.
One of the leading English novelist of the Victorian era, George Eliot was the pen name of Mary Ann Evans. She was born on 22 November 1819, in rural Warwickshire. Her father Robert Evans was a estate manager and mother's name was Christiana Evans. She was influenced by her family's Methodist religious faith. She got an opportunity to read books in estate library and acquired good knowledge. For early education she studied at a local school and after that in a boarding. After her mother's death she left the school to help her father. While living in Coventry Eliot came in contact with Charles and Caroline Bray, their influence revolutionized her thinking and she became a rationalist. Her love partner George Henry Lewes encouraged her for fiction writing. Under the pen name of George Eliot her first novel Adam Bede was published in 1859. Her most notable literary works are- Adam Bede, The Mill on the Floss, Middlemarch, Silas Marne, Daniel Deronda etc. She was died in 1880. She has been appreciated for realistic view of life, psychological insight, ethical exploration and accomplished story theme.
