Middlemarch the greatest English language novel?

[Grace Elliot]

I've tried (and failed) to read Middlemarch a couple of times - it just didn't hold my attention. I'm often suspicious of books labelled 'best of all time' because it can be a rouse to make you feel inadequate if you don't agree!

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by xendula

Interesting. It's one of the few well known English classics that I have never read - probably because the title is - to me - uninteresting.

It's interesting that you find it uninteresting; I'm not sure why it is more or less interesting than most 19th C titles, which tend to the anodyne anyway. "The Warden" "Northanger Abbey" "Our Mutual Friend" "Jane Eyre" "The Mill on the Floss", etc.

[calvin-c]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

If you had to prove that a book was good, you could never recommend anything.

Agreed but saying that a book is good is different, IMO, from saying that it's the best in the English language. That, I think, needs to be proved. (Saying it's the best you've read is OK, that would clearly be a personal judgement.) And it's likely the writer of the article could prove his actual statement which is that it is *widely considered* the best. My actual dispute is with those the writer consulted who apparently said that it was the best. Neither it nor Ulysses is best-and IMO Ulysses doesn't even come close to good. Innovative, yes, but not good. I note that Wikipedia (FWIW) claims Ulysses is one of the most important works. No argument there-but important isn't the same as good.

I'm always saddened when literary 'experts' make simple mistakes like confusing words. I'm sure Middlemarch is an important work. It might even be the most important work. (I'd find that arguable due to a lack of consensus of what's most important.) But that doesn't make it the best.

[xendula]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

It's interesting that you find it uninteresting; I'm not sure why it is more or less interesting than most 19th C titles, which tend to the anodyne anyway. "The Warden" "Northanger Abbey" "Our Mutual Friend" "Jane Eyre" "The Mill on the Floss", etc.

I can't tell for the life of me, to tell you the truth.