George Eliot 1. Intellect and Consciousness

In this lecture Dr Catherine Brown brings her discussion to focus primarily upon Eliot's atypical novella 'The Lifted Veil' and her novel 'Middlemarch'. It notes the power and range of Eliot's intellect and her changing attitudes to the proper function and remit of the intellect and consciousness. The podcast focuses upon the act of perception in Eliot's fiction, and the presentation of observation as a means of generalising the behavior of others. Catherine Brown suggests that Eliot's use of the vocabulary of consciousness, which was not made popular until after her death, demonstrates that Eliot accepted a modern understanding of brain function.