How Fiction Differs from Philosophy

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In the seventh part of an eight part lecture series on “Daniel Deronda,” Professor Ruth Wisse examines George Eliot’s decision to present social and political ideas in fictional form. An expert on Yiddish and Jewish literature and winner of the National Humanities Medal, Wisse focuses on the Princess Leonora Halm-Eberstein, whose lively character contrasts her rejection of Judaism and of her son Daniel. She and Gwendolen Harleth desire freedom from family constraints; Eliot uses their actions as a warning of the women’s liberation movement's potentially detrimental impacts on society—ironically, Eliot was a modern woman herself. An antithesis of Jewish motherhood, Leonora complicates the novel’s otherwise strong support of Jewish nationalism.