George Henry Lewes

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George Henry Lewes

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | 2008 | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

George Henry Lewes , 1817-78, English critic and author. As editor of the Leader (1850-54) and of the Fortnightly Review (1865-66), Lewes distinguished himself as a critic. Influenced by Comte's positivism , he wrote Biographical History of Philosophy (4 vol., 1845-46), Comte's Philosophy of the Sciences (1853), The Physiology of Common Life (2 vol., 1859-60), and Problems of Life and Mind (5 vol., 1874-79). Lewes's plays and novels are forgotten but his most noted work, the Life of Goethe (1855), had a tremendous success. Few men in English literature have produced as much excellent material in such diverse areas. Having been separated from his wife some years earlier, in 1854 he began living with George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), whose work he encouraged and influenced profoundly.

Bibliography: See A. T. Kitchel, George Lewes and George Eliot (1933); H. G. Tjoa, George Henry Lewes: A Victorian Mind (1977).

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Lewes, George Henry

World Encyclopedia | 2005 | © World Encyclopedia 2005, originally published by Oxford University Press 2005. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Lewes, George Henry (1817–78) English journalist and critic. He wrote dramatic criticism as well as philosophical works, including A Biographical History of Philosophy (1845) and the hugely successful The Life and Works of Goethe (1855). Separated from his wife, he lived with George Eliot, whose work he encouraged and influenced.

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Lewes, George Henry

The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre | 1996 | | © The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre 1996, originally published by Oxford University Press 1996. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Lewes, George Henry (1817–78), philosopher, dramatist, and dramatic critic. He was the grandson of the actor (Charles) Lee Lewes (1740–1803), who created the role of Young Marlow in Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer (1773), and was himself an amateur actor, appearing with a group formed by Charles Dickens in such parts as Sir Hugh Evans in The Merry Wives of Windsor and Old Kno'well in Jonson's Every Man in His Humour. In 1849 he appeared in Manchester as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice with some success, anticipating Irving's conception of the part as ‘a noble nature driven to outlawry by man’. He also played the chief part in his own play The Noble Heart when it was produced in Manchester in 1849 before its appearance in London, where he does not appear to have acted professionally. Under the pseudonyms of Slingsby Lawrence and Frank Churchill he wrote several other plays, of which The Game of Speculation (1851) was based on Balzac's Mercadet. A Chain of Events (1852) and A Strange History in Nine Chapters (1853) were written for and in collaboration with the younger Charles Mathews and produced at the Lyceum, as were all Lewes's other plays except Buckstone's Adventure with a Polish Princess (1855), seen at the Haymarket, and Stay at Home (1856), produced at the Olympic. Lewes, who in 1854 began a lifelong liaison with the novelist George Eliot, was the founder and editor of the Leader, for which as ‘Vivian’ he wrote dramatic criticism from its foundation in 1850 to 1854, sometimes reviewing his own plays. He particularly disliked Charles Kean, whom he harried whenever possible, but was one of the first to recognize the genius of Henry Irving.

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PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Lewes, George Henry." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 27 Nov. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Lewes, George Henry." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (November 27, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-LewesGeorgeHenry.html

PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Lewes, George Henry." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Retrieved November 27, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-LewesGeorgeHenry.html

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William Baker, ed., The Letters of George Henry Lewes.(Book review)
Magazine article from: Nineteenth-Century Prose; 9/22/1998; ; 700+ words ; ...Baker, ed., The Letters of George Henry Lewes, 2 vols (U of Victoria Literary...Ashton (Clarendon P, 1991), George Henry Lewes now becomes the central figure...are all of these Letters of George Henry Lewes printed here for the first time...
George Eliot's letters to Henry Lewes go online
News Wire article from: The Hindustan Times; 5/1/2007; 471 words ; ...Hindustan Times London, May 1 -- George Eliot has still got a lot to give...English novelist to her sweetheart George Henry Lewes are now available online. The...religious dissenters, next to George Henry Lewes. Published by HT Media Ltd...
THE LIBERATED LOST.(Culture, religion, and George Henry Lewes)
Magazine article from: First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life; 10/1/2000; ; 700+ words ; ...upon having occasion to go back to George Henry Lewes' The Life of Goethe, a book first...has gone through many editions. Lewes, who was the common-law husband of novelist George Eliot for many years, is justly...
Introducing Mrs Lewes
Magazine article from: New Statesman; 6/22/2009; ; 700+ words ; Introducing Mrs Lewes George Eliot: Novelist, Lover, Wife Brenda...full of moth-eaten principles. George Eliot, however, really did embody...23-year liaison with the author George Henry Lewes, she had attracted the attentions...
Henry Hallett Dale--chemical transmission of nerve impulses
Magazine article from: Mayo Clinic Proceedings; 1/1/2003; ; 700+ words ; Henry Hallett Dale-- Chemical Transmission...Kyle, MD, and Marc A. Shampo, PhD Henry Hallett Dale was born on June 9,1875...without much science. Dale was awarded a George Henry Lewes Studentship and became a Sharpey Scholar...
Ups and Downs in Sussex From ancient castles to the Bloomsbury set, Lewes and its villages are full of art and history, says Sarah Shuckburgh
Newspaper article from: The Sunday Telegraph London; 6/11/2006; ; 700+ words ; ...1066. I win, so it's Lewes castle first, one of...notes, I realise that Lewes' history began much earlier...of Gorings, all called George, then seven generations...rambling timbered house that Henry VIII gave to Anne of Cleves...poster bed. Leaving Lewes, we drive through winding...
Kress, Jill M. The Figure of Consciousness: William James, Henry James, and Edith Wharton.(Book Review)
Magazine article from: Studies in the Novel; 3/22/2005; ; 700+ words ; ...Consciousness: William James, Henry James, and Edith Wharton. New...Consciousness: William James, Henry James, and Edith Wharton aims to...chapter covers Alfred Russel Wallace, George Henry Lewes, and Herbert Spencer, and Kress...
Curious about George
Newspaper article from: The Irish Times; 6/20/2009; ; 700+ words ; ...IMAGINE ME PLAYING tennis by the hour," George Eliot writes to a friend in June 1877...new house in Surrey where she lived with George Henry Lewes. "The Heights" had cost a fortune. George Eliot had a fortune, though: Middlemarch...
George Eliot: Scenes of Personal Life
Newspaper article from: The Washington Post; 1/14/1990; ; 700+ words ; ...written under her male pseudonym of George Eliot, hurled Victorian England...certainly had one with journalist George Henry Lewes, the married father of six with...misalliance made in heaven, for without George Lewes, there never would have...
George Eliot: A Life.
Magazine article from: The Economist (US); 11/23/1996; 700+ words ; ...television serialisation on the BBC. George Eliot's was the kind of life...after the death of her great love, George Henry Lewes. Cross's account of her life...will be restored to the records of George Eliot's entirely unconventional...

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