Transcript and Bulletin.
In
the middle of the 19th century, Englishwoman Mary Ann Evans was
afraid she wouldn’t be taken seriously as a writer unless she published under a
man’s name. Women writers in the 1860s were stereotyped as writing light and
frivolous romances. The mid-century was several decades before women like authors
Jane Austen and Agatha Christie exploded on the literary scene along with
Americans Louisa May Alcott and Harriet Beecher Stow
Mary
Ann Evans was thought to be unattractive and not easily married off – so her
father saw that his daughter was given an education as a young girl, something
not afforded many young women in the 1800s. Her father Robert Evans managed a
large estate with its own library. Mary Ann was given free access to the
library where she honed her classical education aided by correspondence with
her previous tutors from her younger years.
After
her father’s death in 1949, Mary Ann (also known as Marian) was 30 years old.
She soon traveled and lived in Switzerland, further cultivating her
worldliness. She had already translated several works into English under her
own name and, returning to England, she became a literary editor and reviewer.
In 1856 she wrote an essay for a review journal titled "Silly Novels by Lady Novelists". It’s no wonder
that after that she used the pen name George Elliot instead of her own and the
fact that “he is a she” has confused many of us ever since.
George Elliot wrote serious novels. Any English
literature class or book group that has tackled The Mill on the Floss or
Middlemarch learns that Elliot’s psychological insight isn’t for every reader
or for uncomplicated discussion. Her first novel, Adam Bede, is not as well
known by most readers but it has been in print ever since it was published in
1859. Adam Bede deals with some very real and unromantic themes at the turn of
the 18th century in an English village – a love triangle, an unexpected
pregnancy, and the murder by a mother of her child. It was published in three
volumes and earned Elliot a respectful comparison to Charles Dickens.
A year later, she finished Mill on the Floss,
also published in three volumes and set again in the English countryside in the
late 1820s. Middlemarch, published in 1871-1872 was her next to last book and
is regarded as her best work. It was published in eight installments over 16
months and one edition is 863 pages. Middlemarch
deals with love, marriage, second changes and, like other important writers in
the 19th century, social and political reform. Her last book, Daniel
Deronda is the only one set in contemporary society – in 1870s England and
Germany.
Evans had several scandalous affairs during her
lifetime and she even considered herself married to philosopher George Lewe’s
and changed her last name to his. However, he was already married to another
woman at the time. In 1880, at the age of 61, she legally married John Cross, a
man 20 years her junior. This marriage ended shortly after when she fell ill
from a throat infection and died later that year.
All of Elliot’s works have been adapted to film
– and most of them several times as silent movies (Adam Bede 1918), Silas
Marner (1913, 1916 and 1922.), or full-length features like Mill on the Floss
(1936). The BBC developed all of Elliot’s books for television films or mini-series
beginning in the 1970s.
It’s Steve Martin’s genius that took Silas
Marner, published by Elliot in 1861, and turned it into one of my favorite
movies. A Simple Twist of Fate was
released in 1994 and I could watch this film over and over. Martin wrote the
screenplay and stars in the film. The film also features some other great
actors – Gabriel Byrne, Laura Linney, blue-eyed Steven Baldwin and comical Catherine
O’Hara.
Although Martin as a comedian has serious roles
in other films, many of them rely heavily on wisecracks and slapstick. A Simple
Twist of Fate relies on Martin’s portrayal of self-loathing, his awkward denial
of a world outside of his own shriveled existence, and ultimately, his sweet
and honest humanity. Although the film is described as a loose adaptation of
Silas Marner, the key elements of Elliot’s work are all there. Martin’s
character is school teacher Michael McCann’s whose life is shattered by his
pregnant wife’s admission that their soon-to-born baby is not his. He, like
Marner, is heartbroken and humiliated and he leaves his home to disappear into another
countryside. McCann, like Marner, exists alone and isolated as a hermit who refuses to become a part of the
community surrounding him. They both become obsessed with their craft – Marner
with his weaving and McCann with his finish carpentry. They both hoard the gold
they earn. McCann turns his hard-earned cash into antique gold coins that he
hides in a secret drawer.
When their gold is stolen by a local creep,
both characters despair and the plot thickens. However, when a young child
shows up one snowy night, she teaches both Marner and McCann that the gold they
lost can be replaced by a child’s love. Their humanity is recovered by this
simple twist of fate.
Martin’s A Simple Twist of Fate made $3.5M at
the box office. It holds only a 43% rating on Rotten Tomatoes dot com but I
never pay much attention to reviews anyway. One of the most positive reviewers,
Kevin Thomas of the LA Times, described the movie “as a "charming update
of Silas Marner" that is well written, well played and has substance and a
musical score that successfully bring [George Elliot’s] 19th century literature
into a moving and powerful modern-day film.” I whole-heartily agree.
