a little more on Eliot...

I loved Eliots sarcasm and boldness. she risked being shunned from the women writers community by saying negative things about some women novels and other works. I agree that women should be criticized or reviewed just like men: harsh and to the point. i don't agree with her reason for criticizing other lady novelists. Respectable criticism is great but putting down other works just because they don't fit your preference is not helpful. it only damages the potential for other women writers. Those stories may have come from the ideals of men about women, but that doesn't mean women can't have things to add or stories to create with these ideals.

I don't completely disagree with her. she has a valid point about child characters in the novels. They way the speak is how an adult with an excellent education would talk. If a four year started saying,"I have seen such a delightful person: he is like everything beautiful,–like the smell of sweet flowers, and the view from Ben Lomond;–or no, better than that–he is like what I think of and see when I am very, very happy; and he is really like mamma, too, when she sings; and his forehead is like that distant sea,' I would be very afraid. They sentimentalize child characters and put language in their mouths that belong to an adult.