In the arc of modern and particularly post-Enlightenment history, the historical-hermeneutic model of care for the female universe has imposed itself and, for example, in a field of great activity for women such as translation, has entrenched female translators in secondary and invisible roles. As we approach the 19th century, female figures multiply who want, in cultural activity, not only an educational completion of the ‘honnête femme’ but an autonomous and public commitment to knowledge and intend to overcome the usual anonymity and a representation of female figures that is often suspended between exceptionality and marginality.

How does the figure of George Eliot fit into this context? What were the reasons for her choice of a male pseudonym? How much did her experience as a translator shape her activity as a writer? What meanings, what linguistic and thematic turns did her education, intellectual encounters, life choices, and grand tour experiences impose on her fiction?

Marian Evans (1819-1880) chose to use the male pseudonym of George Eliot when she embarked on her intellectual endeavors, first as a translator and later as a storyteller. Having become famous and revealed his identity, however, Eliot chose to continue to sign his works under a pseudonym. A desired long journey to major Italian cities marked a watershed in his fiction. In 1860 George Eliot and George Henry Lewes arrived in Italy and for three months visited the major cities of the north and center-south by train or coach, including Pompeii, Naples, and Amalfi. George Eliot indulged in one passion, wrote Virginia Woolf, the romance of the past.

The conference intends to analyze Eliot’s figure as translator and narrator, focusing indicatively on certain aspects such as biography and expressive choices, invisible translations, George Eliot and religions, the trip to Italy, and fiction.