{"id":66551,"date":"2014-02-12T10:28:53","date_gmt":"2014-02-12T15:28:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=66551"},"modified":"2014-02-12T10:59:33","modified_gmt":"2014-02-12T15:59:33","slug":"wwdd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/02\/12\/wwdd\/","title":{"rendered":"WWDD?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Dorothea_and_Will_Ladislaw\"<\/a>

Dorothea Brooke and Will Ladislaw. Illustration: the Jenson Society, New York, 1910.<\/p><\/div>\n

This afternoon at one, join our contributing editor (and, of course, daily Daily<\/em> correspondent) Sadie Stein for a live Web chat with Rebecca Mead<\/a>, hosted by Jezebel. The topic: What Would Dorothea Do? In honor of Mead\u2019s engaging new book, My Life in Middlemarch<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>they\u2019ll be discussing, as Sadie says, \u201cGeorge Eliot, Dorothea Brooke, what the novel can teach us today, plus life, love, and, yes, sex in Middlemarch<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

It promises to be a lively and enlightening discussion about a lively and enlightening novel. For my money, whenever I make eyes at someone, which, as you can imagine, is almost constantly, I still think of a line from Middlemarch<\/em>: \u201cThey were looking at each other like two fond children talking confidentially of birds.\u201d<\/p>\n

And whenever I confront the dubiety of my future: \u201cEven Caesar\u2019s fortune at one time was, but a grand presentiment. We know what a masquerade all development is, and what effective shapes may be disguised in helpless embryos.\u2014In fact, the world is full of hopeful analogies and handsome dubious eggs called possibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

And whenever I encounter a physically unattractive person: \u201cIt is so painful in you, Celia, that you will look at human beings as if they were merely animals with a toilette, and never see the great soul in a man\u2019s face.\u201d<\/p>\n

And whenever I\u2019m too hungover to pull up the window shade: \u201cWe must keep the germinating grain away from the light.\u201d (I think of myself, you see, as germinating grain.)<\/p>\n

If you haven\u2019t read Middlemarch<\/em>, you still have a few hours to catch up before the chat. In all honesty, though, you should read Middlemarch<\/em>. Believe the hype. It is the best.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This afternoon at one, join our contributing editor (and, of course, daily Daily correspondent) Sadie Stein for a live Web chat with Rebecca Mead, hosted by Jezebel. The topic: What Would Dorothea Do? In honor of Mead\u2019s engaging new book, My Life in Middlemarch, they\u2019ll be discussing, as Sadie says, \u201cGeorge Eliot, Dorothea Brooke, what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2559],"tags":[11481,6432,5636,12846,11578,2151,12847],"class_list":["post-66551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bulletin","tag-dorothea-brooke","tag-george-eliot","tag-middlemarch","tag-my-life-in-middlemarch","tag-rebecca-mead","tag-sadie-stein","tag-webchat"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nJoin Sadie Stein and Rebecca Mead for a Discussion About Middlemarch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"February 12, 2014 \u2013 This afternoon at one, join our contributing editor (and, of course, daily Daily correspondent) Sadie Stein for a live Web chat with Rebecca Mead, hosted\" 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