From "The Gospel Of Work" To "The Gospel Of Art":An Aspect Of George Eliot's Novels

George Eliot(1819-1880)has been well acknowledged as a prestigious Victorian novelist,but her importance as a cultural critic has not received adequate attention yet.In recent years,K.M.Newton has discussed Eliot's contributions to cultural criticism in two books,but he has overlooked her participation in the debate over “the gospel of work”.Therefore,this thesis proposes to look into George Eliot's discussion of “the gospel of work”,to trace its trajectory of conceptual development and to find out how it,as a core concept in Victorian culture,relates to the tradition of cultural criticism in English literature.This study is an attempt to explore Eliot's contribution to the conceptual transition from “the gospel of work” to “the gospel of art”.By means of a close-up look at her early and late novels,the author argues that Eliot unfolds an era in which work and art,through her reflections on “the gospel of work”,are more closely connected to each other than ever before.Through literary creation,she in her unique way contributes to “the gospel of work” and heralds the advent of “the gospel of art”.More specifically,she has improved on Thomas Carlyle's theory concerned by tremendously enhancing the element of “feeling” in “the gospel of work”,thus paving the way for the development of “the gospel of art”.As for her,“feeling is a sort of knowledge” which is beneficial to the performance of work and the building of community.