ARTS AND CULTURE 15
THE FOUNDER September 2021
Mary Ann Evans: Heard of Her? DANIEL PEPIN| CONTENT WRITER
An ironic belief considering the universal phrase synonymous with poorly written, low brow works ‘It was a dark and stormy night’ was coined by the male Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1830. Evans studied at Bedford College in 1850, taking classes in Ancient History, Mathematics, and Latin. Classes that left an indelible mark on her as reflected within her works – only one of Evans’ books can be correctly printed without the need of a Greek typeface. She and her work are intrinsically linked to the university and yet she has been betrayed by the very establishment that nurtured her intellect. It is absolutely paradoxical that Evans should be immortalised by a university that championed women’s right to education as George Eliot, the pseudonym she had to employ to escape the maltreatment and tyranny against female authors rather than her true, proper name. Progress already travels too leisurely; it was only last year that Evans had her work published under her own name for the first time as a part of the Reclaim Her Name publishing project which aimed to honour female writers of the past who never got their chance to be celebrated as they should have been. It has taken almost 150 years for Evans to get the recognition she wholly deserves in the literary world and it’s only just that she receives the same commemoration at her alma mater, 170 years after her enrolment. It is no longer that dark time for women’s rights and Evans’s name does not need to remain hidden behind the shadow of George Eliot, this only perpetuates the discrimination that has so fiercely been fought against. Royal Holloway ought to be at the forefront of this fight and renaming George Eliot accommodation would be a tremendous remedy to the grievance Mary Ann Evans has suffered at the hands of time and patriarchy. An improved accommodation with a name that can inspire hope, awe, and pride in many students to come.
Y
Source: Wikimedia
ou should have. Royal Holloway and Bedford New College is, at its very foundation, a college for women’s education and achievement. One of the first in the country, it has seen its share of awe-inspiring alumni such as Emily Wilding Davison or the physician couple Louisa Garrett Anderson and Flora Murray who deserve far more fame than they are credited with. This trailblazing feminist spirit should be reflected in the powerful naming of the university’s most modern accommodation, but it isn’t. George Eliot was not a pioneering master of English literature and author of Middlemarch – perhaps the greatest novel in English canon; Mary Ann Evans was. Many people upon hearing this name might question: ‘Sorry, who is that again?’ then arrogantly imply that of course they knew George Eliot was only a pen name… Yet, the fact holds that most people, irrespective of whether they know of George Eliot or not, are not aware of her true name. I will be honest and say that I did not know Evan’s actual name until last year. The reason behind writing under a pen name is, unfortunately, obvious: Evans wished to avoid being subjected to the prejudiced literary view of the 19th century that women were only capable of authoring cliché romance novels rather than the profound epics of their male counterparts.
Looking Back 20 years on From 9/11: Come From Away Review ISABEL WEST| ARTS EDITOR
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n the month of the 20th anniversary of one of the biggest tragedies in modern western culture, I sat in the Phoenix Theatre waiting for the lights to dim and the curtain to rise on Come From Away. From the first second of folksy music, Come From Away exceeded all my expectations.
Source: Come From Away Poster https://www.atgtickets.com/shows/ come-from-away/phoenix-theatre/
The musical, although shadowed by 9/11, may appear to be only a feelgood story about the kindness of strangers but it is also a show that deals with the complex and devastating effects of 9/11.
