George Meredith

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George Meredith, detail of an oil painting by G.F. Watts, 1893; in the National Portrait Gallery, … (credit: Courtesy of The National Portrait Gallery, London)

(born Feb. 12, 1828, Portsmouth, Hampshire, Eng. — died May 18, 1909, Box Hill, Surrey) English novelist and poet. Though ostensibly launched on a law career at age 18, he concentrated instead on writing poems and articles and making translations. Because they brought in little money, he turned to writing prose. The novel The Ordeal of Richard Feverel (1859) is typical of his best work, rich in allusion, metaphor, lyrical prose, witty dialogue, and psychological insight. It failed to make him wealthy, and he was forced to begin reading manuscripts for a publisher. Writing in his spare time, he produced a comedy, Evan Harrington (1860), and a volume of poems, Modern Love (1862). He finally won critical and popular acclaim with the novels The Egoist (1879) and Diana of the Crossways (1885). His works are noted for their use of interior monologue and their treatment of women as equals of men.

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The English novelist and poet George Meredith (1828-1909) concentrated on detailed character development and witty intellectual discussion. His narrative style is often highly metaphorical, allusive, and aphoristic.

George Meredith was born on Feb. 12, 1828, in Portsmouth, the grandson of a prosperous naval tailor. George's father, brought up as a gentleman, was unable to manage a declining business successfully, but with the help of his wife's small fortune he was able to maintain genteel pretensions and indulged his son sufficiently to set him apart from other tradesmen's children. But in 1833 his father went bankrupt and moved to London, where half a year later he married his housekeeper. This episode no doubt contributed to Meredith's remarkable lifelong secretiveness about his social origins. After a few years at a school in Germany, he was, in 1845, articled to a London solicitor in whose circle he discovered a new world of racy intellectual and literary talk, which soon determined his aspirations. Here he also met Thomas Love Peacock's widowed daughter, a well-educated and independent woman 8 years his senior with whom he rapidly fell in love; overcoming her well-founded reluctance, he married her in 1849. A volume of poetry published at his own expense earned him a letter of recognition from Alfred, Lord Tennyson, but nothing else, and so he turned to the more lucrative medium of prose.

First Works

The Shaving of Shagpat (1855) is a quasi-allegorical Oriental tale with a fantastically complex plot and much grotesque and supernatural incident. It establishes several of the persistent themes of Meredith's fiction: the ridiculousness of many social conventions and values and the blind vanity of those who are elevated by them; the young man who must undergo a series of maturing trials precipitated by his own egoism; and the woman who, for better or worse, inspires and guides his actions. Shagpat did not sell, however, and the continuing financial crises compounded the strain developing in his marriage. In 1858 his wife eloped to France with a young painter. She soon returned, alone and ill, but Meredith refused to see her again until her death and tried to prevent all contact between her and their son, to whom he became jealously devoted. These events lend a particularly personal significance to his next novel.

The Ordeal of Richard Feverel (1859) is the story of the only son of a rather too strong-minded baronet whose wife had eloped with a minor sentimental poet. His father raises him with jealous strictness according to a "system" which is thwarted when Richard, following his natural instincts, falls in love with and secretly marries a farmer's niece. But more in love with himself than either his system or his son, the baronet puts Richard through a trial of estrangement for his disobedience, and in his romantic impatience with his situation the boy demonstrates an egoism of his own that finally leads to his wife's death. The relationship of reason, natural instinct, romantic illusion, and the demands of society examined here is the theme of many of Meredith's later novels.

Evan Harrington (1860) is about a prosperous tailor's son who, having been raised as a gentleman, is forced to reenter the shop upon his father's death in order to pay his debts. The action consists of a number of ordeals through which Evan, in love with a daughter of gentry, learns to resist the temptation to pretend to the empty name of gentleman. The characters are clearly derived from Meredith's family and friends.

Middle Period

After Sandra Belloni (1864), Rhoda Fleming (1865), and Vittoria (1865), Meredith returned to the pattern of Evan Harrington in The Adventures of Harry Richmond (1871). Brought up under the opposing influences of his romantic, self-deluded father, who believes he has a claim to royal blood, and a conservative country squire grandfather, Harry learns to free himself of illusion and make a rational adjustment to the realities and duties of life. Beauchamp's Career (1875) explores these themes further through a study of contemporary English politics. The hero stands for Parliament as a Radical, but under the rational surface his actions are motivated by passion and romantic impulse, which finally lead to his death.

Later Works

An Essay on Comedy and the Uses of the Comic Spirit (1877) analyzes the philosophy and technique of Meredith's matured art. Human civilization is maintained against barbarism by the rational "common sense" of a cultured elite, aided by the comic spirit, which uses irony to expose the basic human motive force of egoism when it degenerates into self-delusion and the empty habit of domination. Literary comedy deals with the conflict between decadent egoism and reality and concentrates upon a small number of characters in a clearly defined situation.

The Egoist (1879) perfectly embodies the principles of the Essay and is Meredith's most brilliant and finished work. The novel is the story of the self-defeat in love of a rich and fatuous country gentleman; its defense of the heroine's emotional and intellectual independence shows a development in Meredith's conception of women. Diana of the Crossways (1885), the novel which finally brought him popularity, continues the study of woman's condition. Taking a more radical situation than in The Egoist, Meredith has Diana run away from an incompatible husband; but this only marks the beginning of a series of trials through which she at last gains true inner independence.

Modern Love (1861), a cycle of augmented sonnets depicting the breakdown of a marriage with relentless candor, marked the final act of Meredith's early literary exorcism of his own past. Ranging in tone from cool irony to bitter pathos, it carried poetry into hitherto unexplored territory. The bulk of Meredith's verse, however, is devoted to nature.

Further Reading

A standard biography of Meredith is Lionel Stevenson, The Ordeal of George Meredith (1953). G. M. Trevelyan, The Poetry and Philosophy of George Meredith (1906), was endorsed by Meredith himself. Good studies of Meredith's work are Walter F. Wright, Art and Substance in George Meredith (1953), and Norman Kelvin, A Troubled Eden: Nature and Society in the Works of George Meredith (1961).

Additional Sources

Jerrold, Walter, George Meredith: an essay towards appreciation, Philadelphia: R. West, 1978; Norwood, Pa.: Norwood Editions, 1977.

Williams, David, George Meredith: his life and lost love, London: H. Hamilton, 1977.

Quotes:

"Not till the fire is dying in the grate, Look we for any kinship with the stars. Oh, wisdom never comes when it is gold, And the great price we paid for it full worth: We have it only when we are half earth. Little avails that coinage to the old!"

"Possession without obligation to the object possessed approaches felicity."

"She poured a little social sewage into his ears."

"The most dire disaster in love is the death of imagination."

"Jealousy is love bed of burning snarl."

"A kiss is but a kiss now! and no wave of a great flood that whirls me to the sea. But, as you will! we'll sit contentedly, and eat our pot of honey on the grave."

See more famous quotes by George Meredith

This article is about the British novelist "George Meredith". For the founder of Swansea, Tasmania, see George Meredith (Tasmanian settler).

George Meredith
George Meredith in 1893 by George Frederic Watts.
Born	February 12, 1828(1828-02-12) Portsmouth, England
Died	May 18, 1909 (aged 81) Box Hill, Surrey, England
Nationality	England

George Meredith, OM (February 12, 1828 – May 18, 1909) was an English novelist and poet during the Victorian era.

Contents 1 Life 2 Works 2.1 Essays 2.2 Novels 2.3 Poetry 3 References 4 External links

Life

Meredith was born in Portsmouth, England, a son and grandson of naval outfitters.^[1] His mother died when he was five. At the age of 14 he was sent to a Moravian School in Neuwied, Germany, where he remained for two years. He read law and was articled as a solicitor, but abandoned that profession for journalism and poetry shortly after marrying Mary Ellen Nicolls, a widowed daughter of Thomas Love Peacock, in 1849: he was twenty-one years old and she was thirty.^[1]

He collected his early writings, first published in periodicals, into Poems, published to some acclaim in 1851. His wife ran off with the English Pre-Raphaelite painter Henry Wallis [1830-1916] in 1858; she died three years later. The collection of "sonnets" entitled Modern Love (1862) came of this experience as did The Ordeal of Richard Feverel, his first "major novel".^[1]

He married Marie Vulliamy in 1864 and settled in Surrey. He continued writing novels and poetry, often inspired by nature. His writing was characterized by a fascination with imagery and indirect references. He had a keen understanding of comedy and his Essay on Comedy (1877) is still quoted in most discussions of the history of comic theory. In The Egoist, published in 1879, he applies some of his theories of comedy in one of his most enduring novels. Some of his writings, including The Egoist, also highlight the subjection of women during the Victorian period. During most of his career, he had difficulty achieving popular success. His first truly successful novel was Diana of the Crossways published in 1885.^[2]

Meredith supplemented his often uncertain writer's income with a job as a publisher's reader. His advice to Chapman and Hall made him influential in the world of letters. His friends in the literary world included, at different times, William and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Algernon Swinburne, Leslie Stephen, Robert Louis Stevenson, George Gissing and J. M. Barrie. His contemporary Sir Arthur Conan Doyle paid him homage in the short-story The Boscombe Valley Mystery, when Sherlock Holmes says to Dr. Watson during the discussion of the case, "And now let us talk about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all minor matters until to-morrow." Oscar Wilde, in his dialogue The Decay of Lying, implies that Meredith, along with Balzac, is his favourite novelist, saying "Ah, Meredith! Who can define him? His style is chaos illumined by flashes of lightning".

In 1868 he was introduced to Thomas Hardy by Frederick Chapman of Chapman & Hall the publishers. Hardy had submitted his first novel, The Poor Man and the Lady. Meredith advised Hardy not to publish his book as it would be attacked by reviewers and destroy his hopes of becoming a novelist. Meredith felt the book was too bitter a satire on the rich and counselled Hardy to put it aside and write another 'with a purely artistic purpose' and more of a plot. Meredith spoke from experience; his first big novel, The Ordeal of Richard Feverel, was judged so shocking that Mudie's circulating library had cancelled an order of 300 copies. Hardy continued to try and publish the novel: however it remained unpublished, though he clearly took Meredith's advice seriously. (ref: Claire Tomalin, 'Thomas Hardy The Time Torn Man' published by Penguin 2007 pp92)

Before his death, Meredith was honoured from many quarters: he succeeded Lord Tennyson as president of the Society of Authors; in 1905 he was appointed to the Order of Merit by King Edward VII.^[1]

In 1909 he died at his home in Box Hill, Surrey.^[1]

Works

Essays

• Essay on Comedy (1877)

Novels

• The Shaving of Shagpat (1856)
• Farina (1857)
• The Ordeal of Richard Feverel (1859) at Google Books
• Evan Harrington (1861)
• Emilia in England (1864), republished as Sandra Belloni in 1887
• Rhoda Fleming (1865)
• Vittoria (1867)
• The Adventures of Harry Richmond (1871)
• Beauchamp's Career (1875)
• The House on the Beach (1877)
• The Case of General Ople and Lady Camper (1877)
• The Tale of Chloe (1879)
• The Egoist (1879)
• The Tragic Comedians (1880)
• Diana of the Crossways (1885)
• One of our Conquerors (1891)
• Lord Ormont and his Aminta (1894)
• The Amazing Marriage (1895)
• Celt and Saxon (1910)

Poetry

• Poems (1851)
• Modern Love (1862)
• Poems and Lyrics of the Joy of Earth (1883)
• The Woods of Westermain (1883)
• A Faith on Trial (1885)
• Ballads and Poems of Tragic Life (1887)
• A Reading of Earth (1888)
• The Empty Purse (1892)
• Odes in Contribution to the Song of French History(1898)
• A Reading of Life (1901)
• Last Poems (1909)

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} Meredith, George (1963). The Egoist. The New American Library of World Literature (Signet Classics). Introduction (first page). 
2. ^ MEREDITH, GEORGE Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, Vol. II, FAED - MUYBRIDGE. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1912. pp. 604-616. 

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: George Meredith

Wikisource has original works written by or about: George Meredith

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: George Meredith

• Portal for articles on George Meredith
• Biography of George Meredith by Elvira Casal
• W.E. Henley on George Meredith
• George Meredith: A Study, by Leonie Gilman, National Magazine, December 1905
• Work of George Meredith at HolyeBooks.org
• Work of George Meredith at Project Gutenberg
• Meredith index entry at Poets' Corner
• Poems by George Meredith
• Modern Love

Persondata
NAME	Meredith, George
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Writer and poet
DATE OF BIRTH	February 12, 1828
PLACE OF BIRTH	Portsmouth, England
DATE OF DEATH	May 18, 1909
PLACE OF DEATH	Box Hill, Surrey, England

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