Which novel has been voted the best of all time?

A survey by The Guardian of 172 international writers, scholars, and critics has placed George Eliot's 'Middlemarch' at number one on its list of the 100 best novels written in English.

The Vietnamese translation of the novel Middlemarch. According to The Guardian, George Eliot's placement of an intelligent, idealistic woman at the center of modern English-language novels has helped shape contemporary novels. - Photo: Tiki

The newspaper The Guardian published a list of the 100 best novels ever written in English, with George Eliot's *Middlemarch* topping the list.

Participants were asked to select the 10 greatest English-language novels of all time and rank them in order of preference. The editorial team then scored the books based on the number of votes and their ranking to create a final list of 100 books.

Middlemarch has been voted the greatest novel of all time.

The Guardian called the work "the greatest novel written in English," and reiterated many of the famous accolades bestowed upon the book over the past century.

The writer Virginia Woolf once described it as "one of the few English novels written for adults." Meanwhile, Henry James argued that many passages in the book are among the most intelligent in English literature. The writer Martin Amis even called it "a novel without weaknesses."

The work, approximately 900 pages long, was published in installments between 1871 and 1872 and is set in 19th-century English countryside.

At the heart of the story is Dorothea Brooke, a young woman with a great zest for life and a desire for profound understanding of the world , but trapped in an unhappy marriage to the scholar Casaubon.

The Guardian argues that author George Eliot reversed the familiar "happy marriage" motif in English novels of that era, particularly the type of story popularized by the works of Jane Austen.

Not only Dorothea Brooke, but many other characters in Middlemarch also face the gap between ideals and reality. The young doctor Tertius Lydgate, who harbors ambitions for social reform, also finds himself in an unhappy marriage with Rosamond Vincy.

Juliet Aubrey as Dorothea Brooke in the 1994 BBC adaptation of George Eliot's novel Middlemarch - Photo: Moviestore Collection Ltd/Alamy

The story is set approximately 40 years before its publication, just before the Reformation Act of 1832 and the period when railroads were introduced in Britain – a time of significant societal transformation.

Middlemarch is not just about political reform, but also reflects changes in personal life and social morality. The characters enter the story hoping to change the world, but ultimately they are the ones changed by the world.

The writer George Eliot, whose real name was Mary Ann Evans, used a male pseudonym to publish novels in the 19th century - Photo: Rex Features

At the same time, it emphasizes that Middlemarch 's enduring value lies in its spirit of empathy and tolerance. In the context of a modern society filled with division and instability, the lessons of empathy in the work remain highly relevant.

"In writing Middlemarch , George Eliot showed what the novel could achieve," The Guardian concluded.

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MAI NGUYET

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/tieu-thuyet-nao-duoc-binh-chon-la-hay-nhat-moi-thoi-dai-2026051816152944.htm