RomolaGeorge Eliot’s Romola, writes Robert Kiely in his Introduction, embodies the author’s “wrestling with her own best theories of history and human nature as a creative experiment of the highest order.” Set in Florence in 1492, a time of great political and religious turmoil, Eliot’s novel blends vivid fictional characters with historical figures such as Savonarola, Machiavelli, and the Medicis. When Romola, the virtuous daughter of a blind scholar, marries Tito Melema, a charismatic young Greek, she is bound to a man whose escalating betrayals threaten to destroy all that she holds dear. Profoundly inspired by Savonarola’s teachings, then crushed by the religious leader’s ultimate failure, Romola finds her salvation in noble self-sacrifice. This Modern Library Paperback Classic is set from the 1878 Cabinet Edition. |
Contents
3 | |
11 | |
13 | |
A BREAKFAST FOR LOVE | 27 |
THE BARBERS SHOP | 32 |
FIRST IMPRESSIONS | 43 |
THE BLIND SCHOLAR AND HIS DAUGHTER | 47 |
DAWNING HOPES | 61 |
THE BLACK MARKS BECOME MAGICAL | 331 |
A SUPPER IN THE RUCELLAI GARDENS | 338 |
AN ARRESTING VOICE | 354 |
COMING BACK | 362 |
BOOK III | 367 |
ROMOLA IN HER PLACE | 369 |
THE UNSEEN MADONNA | 377 |
THE VISIBLE MADONNA | 384 |
A LEARNED SQUABBLE | 77 |
A FACE IN THE CROWD | 83 |
A MANS RANSOM | 96 |
UNDER THE PLANETREE | 104 |
TITOS DILEMMA | 116 |
THE PRIZE IS NEARLY GRASPED | 120 |
THE SHADOW OF NEMESIS | 132 |
THE PEASANTS FAIR | 139 |
THE DYING MESSAGE | 153 |
A FLORENTINE JOKE | 162 |
UNDER THE LOGGIA | 175 |
THE PORTRAIT | 182 |
THE OLD MANS HOPE | 189 |
THE DAY OF THE BETROTHAL | 194 |
BOOK II | 205 |
FLORENCE EXPECTS A GUEST | 207 |
THE PRISONERS | 215 |
AFTERTHOUGHTS | 223 |
INSIDE THE DUOMO | 227 |
OUTSIDE THE DUOMO | 234 |
THE GARMENT OF FEAR | 239 |
THE YOUNG WIFE | 245 |
THE PAINTED RECORD | 255 |
A MOMENT OF TRIUMPH | 260 |
THE AVENGERS SECRET | 267 |
FRUIT IS SEED | 276 |
A REVELATION | 282 |
BALDASSARRE MAKES AN ACQUAINTANCE | 292 |
NO PLACE FOR REPENTANCE | 300 |
WHAT FLORENCE WAS THINKING OF | 312 |
ARIADNE DISCROWNS HERSELF | 316 |
THE TABERNACLE UNLOCKED | 326 |
AT THE BARBERS SHOP | 390 |
BY A STREET LAMP | 399 |
CHECK | 407 |
COUNTERCHECK | 411 |
THE PYRAMID OF VANITIES | 417 |
TESSA ABROAD AND AT HOME | 423 |
MONNA BRIGIDAS CONVERSION | 433 |
A PROPHETESS | 438 |
ON SAN MINIATO | 445 |
THE EVENING AND THE MORNING | 451 |
WAITING | 455 |
THE OTHER WIFE | 459 |
WHY TITO WAS SAFE | 470 |
A FINAL UNDERSTANDING | 476 |
PLEADING | 482 |
THE SCAFFOLD | 491 |
DRIFTING AWAY | 498 |
THE BENEDICTION | 503 |
RIPENING SCHEMES | 508 |
THE PROPHET IN HIS CELL | 519 |
THE TRIAL BY FIRE | 527 |
A MASQUE OF THE FURIES | 535 |
WAITING BY THE RIVER | 540 |
ROMOLAS WAKING | 547 |
HOMEWARD | 556 |
MEETING AGAIN | 560 |
THE CONFESSION | 565 |
THE LAST SILENCE | 572 |
EPILOGUE | 576 |
581 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Baldassarre Bardi Bardo believe Bernardo del Nero Bratti carried Cennini CHAPTER church conscious dark daughter Divine Domenico door Duomo ears Eliot eyes face father feeling felt Florence Florentine Francesco Frate George Eliot Girolamo glance Gonfaloniere Greek hair hand head heart Holy husband Italy knew Latin light Lillo lips live loggia looked Lorenzo Luigi Pulci Madonna mantle Maso Medicean Medici Melema Messer mind monk Monna Brigida Monna Lisa morning never Niccolò Niccolò Macchiavelli Niccolò Ridolfi once Palazzo Vecchio passed paused perhaps Piagnone Piazza Piero Piero di Cosimo Pisa Pope quattrino ring Romola round Rucellai Saint San Giovanni San Marco Savonarola scholar seemed Signoria silence smiling speak Spini stood stranger street strong tell Tessa things thou thought Tito Tito's tone turned vision voice walk wish woman words young