For the Fall 2021 term, we're offering a mix of virtual and in-person classes. Although we are still primarily virtual, you will find a smaller selection of in-person seminars in the schedule. For more information about the Newberry’s virtual seminars, including a Zoom tutorial, please see our Virtual Seminars FAQ page. Registration opens on September 1st at 9am (Central time). Registration will take place through our online platform, Learning Stream.

Seminar Description

George Eliot’s final novel is ambitious, challenging, and astonishingly multidimensional. With Daniel Deronda, Eliot blends a provocative examination of marriage and personal aspiration with a meditation on Jewish identity in Victorian Britain. This seminar invites participants to immerse themselves in the world of the novel by reading and discussing it in consecutive parts, as originally published. Sessions will focus on elements of art, music, religion, philosophy, and history as they arise in the novel.

Nine sessions. Registration – $300

Steven J. Venturino holds a PhD in English and is the author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism. He has led seminars at the Newberry and taught at Loyola University Chicago

Materials List

Required:

• George Eliot, Daniel Deronda. Penguin Classics edition, 1996. ISBN: 9780140 434279

First Reading:

• For the first session, please read only Chapter One (pages 7-14). Because of spoilers, do not read the book’s introduction.