图像的应用是乔治·爱略特小说作品特点之一，不仅丰富了小说文本的意义和内涵，而且弥补了文字再现现实的不足。本书梳理了爱略特不同创作时期小说中所使用的图像及其演变，探究其与爱略特不断变化的视觉艺术品味、现实主义艺术理念和手法之间的密切联系，同时还讨论了图像中暗含的社会话语和社会关照。通过分析爱略特小说中所使用的图像，将其创作生涯分为早期的摹仿现实主义、中期的象征现实主义、后期的知性现实主义三个阶段，同时研究爱略特如何在图像中融入社会话语，如何参与人本宗教、社会改革、妇女问题等社会问题的讨论、思考并进行小说再现。

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Research Questions
1.2 Research Background
1.3 Literature Review: A General Survey
1.3.1 From the 1880s to the 1940s: A Slow Process of Regaining Critical Attention
1.3.2 From the 1950s to the 1980s: A Fertile Testing Ground for Various Schools of Literary Criticism
1.3.3 From the 1990s to the Present: Contextual Studies
1.3.4 Previous George Eliot Studies in China
1.4 Research Methodology
1.4.1 The Historical Trajectory of Images
1.4.2 The Historical Relations between Images and Words
1.4.3 The Rise of Iconology
1.4.4 Previous Image Studies in Literature
1.4.5 Ekphrasis Revisited: A Prospective Theoretical Framework of Studying Images in Literature
1.5 Potential Research Significance
1.6 Chapter Outline
CHAPTER 2 GEORGE ELIOT, REALISM, AND IMAGES
2.1 Realism in Nineteenth-Century Britain
2.2 George Eliot's Evolving Realism and Pictorial Tastes
CHAPTER 3 SCENES AS IMAGES: GEORGE ELIOT'S MIMETIC REALISM
3.1 George Eliot's Religion of Humanity
3.2 Scenes of Clerical Life: The Secular Priest as the Suffering Christ
3.2.1 "Mr. Gilfil's Love-Story"
3.2.2 "The Sad Fortunes of the Reverent Amos Barton"
3.2.3 "Janet's Repentance"
3.3 Adam Bede: The Divine beneath the Humanin Ordinary Life
3.4 The Mill on the Floss: The Hazards of "Public Opinion"
CHAPTER 4 IDEAS AS IMAGES: GEORGE ELIOT'S SYMBOLIC REALISM
4.1 Silas Marner: Love as the Natural Bond of HumanRelations
4.2 Romola: Fear and Sympathy Incarnated
4.3 Felix Holt: Arnoldian Cultural Radicalism
CHAPTER 5 MOTIFS AS IMAGES: GEORGE ELIOT'S INTELLECTUAL REALISM
5.1 Later-born Theresas in Middlemarch: "All ThisVast Wreck of Ambitious Ideals"
5.2 Daniel Deronda: "Gambling Being a Vice I HaveNo Mind To"
CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSION
References
Appendix Figures