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Today in History

What went down and why you should care.

aug 02 Learn More George Eliot Begins Writing Middlemarch


George Eliot began writing Middlemarch on this day in 1869. And when we say "George Eliot," we, of course, mean Mary Ann Evan. Evans reportedly used a male pen name so she could get some Aretha Franklin style R-E-S-P-E-C-T. She also allegedly used a pen name because she was in the midst of a lengthy affair with a married man. So, there's that. No matter her motives, Middlemarch is regarded as one of the greatest novels in the English language.

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