Impressions of Theophrastus Such
by George Eliot (1819–1880)
- Free to read
- 4 hours to read
- 18 chapters
- Reading level: College-level
"Impressions of Theophrastus Such" by George Eliot is a work of fiction published in 1879. This experimental final work takes the form of literary essays by an imaginary scholar who reveals his eccentric character through eighteen satirical studies of social types. The narrator observes various personalities—ambitious scientists, failed writers, angry temperaments, and moral swindlers—while his own voice occasionally merges with Eliot's perspective. Through these portraits, the work explores ambition, authenticity, and the breakdown of civilization in Victorian society.
- Authors
- England
- Character sketches
Read the opening
Chapter I
LOOKING INWARD.
It is my habit to give an account to myself of the characters I meet with: can I give any true account of my own? I am a bachelor, without domestic distractions of any sort, and have all my life been an attentive companion to myself, flattering my nature agreeably on plausible occasions, reviling it rather bitterly when it mortified me, and in general remembering its doings and sufferings with a tenacity which is too apt to raise surprise if not disgust at the careless inaccuracy of my acquaintances, who impute to me opinions I never held, express their desire to convert me to my favourite ideas, forget whether I have ever been to the East, and are capable of being three several times astonished at my never having told them before of my accident in the Alps, causing me the nervous shock which has ever since notably diminished my digestive powers. Surely I ought to know myself better than these indifferent outsiders can know me; nay, better even than my intimate friends, to whom I have never breathed those items of my inward experience which have chiefly shaped my life.
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About this edition
This free edition of Impressions of Theophrastus Such by George Eliot comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #10762, released 2004-01-01. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Essays, Letters & Speeches, British Literature.
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