George Meredith

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George Meredith (June 1828-1859) was an English novelist and poet of the Victorian period.

He has been nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature seven times.

Life

Meredith was born on 73 High Street, Portsmouth, Hampshire, the only child of Augustus Urmston Meredith and his wife Jane Eliza (née Macnamara). Meredith is Welsh, and he will talk about himself as "half Irish and half Welsh" (on his mother and father's sides, respectively). He was proud of his Welsh roots, and his novels were full of pride. Melchizedek, Meredith's paternal grandfather, would sometimes "boast eloquently of his ethical ancestors," but "the family's lineage of the family remains unclear" according to his biographer Lionel Stevenson.

Augustus Meredith was born as Melchizedek Meredith had been before him, a naval outfitter, and one of his workers was James Watson Gieve. Jane died when her son was five years old and the outfitting business failed, with Augustus declaring bankruptcy in November 1838. He moved to London and married Matilda Buckett, the family's second wife.

George Meredith was educated in Southsea from 1840, when a link from his mother's sister, Anna, made it possible for him to attend a boarding school in Lowestoft, Suffolk. He was admitted to Moravian School in Neuwied, near Coblenz, in August 1842, where he remained until the spring of 1844; Lionel Stevenson claims that the experience inspired his "impatience toward sham and serviility, contempt for fear, admiration for courage, and dedication to candid and rational forthrightness."

By 1845, it was predicted that he would be articled to Richard Charnock of Paternoster Row, and he was duly admitted in February 1846, just before his eighteenth birthday. However, he left the legal profession for journalism and poetry, residing in Pimlico.

Meredith, a literary writer, collaborated with Edward Gryffydh Peacock, son of Thomas Love Peacock, in the publication of the Monthly Observer, a privately circulated literary journal. Mary Ellen Nicolls, Edward Peacock's sister, was one of the contributors. Mary was the widow of a naval officer, Lieutenant Edward Nicolls, who drowned while trying to rescue a man under his command in 1844. The artist William Holman Hunt described him as "a dashing sort of horsewoman who attracted a lot of attention."

Meredith married Mary at St George's, Hanover Square, in August 1849. Meredith was twenty-one years old at the time of his marriage; she was twenty-eight and had a five-year-old daughter by Lieutenant Nicolls (born after his death). Augustus Meredith was unable to attend the wedding because he had immigrated to South Africa in April of this year.

Meredith acquired his early writings, first appearing in periodicals, Poems, 1851. "With deep admiration and affectionate regard for his son-in-law," it attracted Tennyson, who wrote Meredith an adoring letter, although the first meeting was awkward and left Meredith convinced of the elder poet's "conceit." "A seeing or sensuous poet" with "warmth of emotion," was a reference by William Michael Rossetti to Meredith.

The Merediths' circumstances were precarious, and Mary had more than one miscarriage before giving birth to Arthur Gryffydh in 1853. At the time, the couple were living in Lower Halliford (today part of Shepperton). Peacock rented a house for them following the birth, across the village green from his house.

Meredith's fatherhood boosted Meredith's belief that he should go forward with his writing career, resulting in what would be his first substantial piece of prose fiction, The Shaving of Shagpat. It was written in imitation of "the style and manner of the Oriental storytellers," but "no Eastern source" was given. When it was published in 1856, it attracted little attention, but George Eliot praised it for its "poetical genius." Farina, subtitled "A Legend of Cologne," a work in the commotion-grotesque vein that was described by The Athenaeum's reviewer as "a complete specimen of Genius' nonsense" and a "lively, audacious piece of extravaganza." In The Westminster Review, George Eliot called it "an original and amusing book," but it did not suffer from her criticism of Madame Bovary and Barchester Towers.

The Death of Chatterton, a significant painting by English Pre-Raphaelite painter Henry Wallis (1830-1916), for which Meredith was the model, was on display in 1856. Mary and Wallis grew close and became partners. In 1857, she became pregnant to him, and a son, Harold, was born in April 1858, who was later identified as Felix Wallis. The Wallis family did not survive, however; she returned to England with Harold after spending some of 1858 with him in Capri, and then moved frequently from there. A few months after transferring to Grotto Cottage, Oatlands Park, Weybridge, she died of renal disease. Meredith was living in Chelsea at the time, where he rented rooms in Hobury Street and often had Arthur in his care. He did not attend Mary's funeral, nor did Henry Wallis or her father.

Richard Feverel's first major book, The Ordeal of a Boy, emerged from his experience of his marriage's demise and shocked many readers with its sexual honesty. Modern Love (1862) by Stephen Mermin traces the death of a marriage and has been described as "a point of intersection between Victorian poetry and the Victorian novel"; "in a very real sense novelistic" and "a point of intersection between Victorian poetry and the Victorian novel," it is characterized by Dorothy Mermin as "a fascination of Victorian literature" and "a point of intersection between Victorian poetry and the Victorian novel"; "in a very real sense novelistic" and "in a very real sense novelistic

Evan Harrington, a novel that explores race, manners, and mimicry, was published in 1861. "I am ashamed beyond words" as it is directed at myself," his father, who lived in Cape Town, complained. According to Richard Cronin, the book "recklessly betrays family values" and became a "treacherous burlesque of his own family's history, but also a [love letter to his family].

Meredith met Marie Vulliamy, a young woman of Anglo-French stock whose father, Justin, was the successful, recently retired owner of a wool business in Normandy in 1863. Meredith's attraction was immediate, and by 1864, Meredith was writing to his friend Frederick Maxse, "She has done me the honor to love me for a long time." But Mr Vulliamy's view, the 36-year-old Meredith, a widower with an 11-year-old son, was not the right suitor for his 24-year-old daughter, and Meredith had to give character references, including Edward Peacock, Sir Alexander Duff-Gordon, and John Chapman.

Mr Vulliamy was particularly keen to know the particulars of Meredith's previous marriage in order to establish both his character and standing. His probes "revealed nothing seriously discreditable," and although the financial outlook was not encouraging, it was not really dark considering that he would settle upon Marie at £200 per annum. The fact that his daughter was in love with Meredith stood out of all objections. The only valid answer was yes, and he gave it." The couple were married in September 1864 and settled in Surrey, first in Norbiton and then, at the end of 1867, at Flint Cottage near Box Hill.

Meredith continued to write poetry, often inspired by nature, but his most popular publications following his second marriage were novels. Emilia in England (1864) was a farce to British social climbers. Rhoda Fleming (1865), which bore a similarity to George Eliot's books, depicted a country girl seduced by a callous gentleman. Vittoria (1867) was a sequel to Emilia in England, but not comedic. None of these ventures met with success, but he gained more recognition for his work with The Adventures of Harry Richmond (1871) and Beauchamp's Career (1876), which were both politically charged. The House on the Beach (1877), The Case of GM and Lady Camper (also 1877), and The Tale of Chloe (1879).

He also tried to finish a play called The Sentimentalists, which he had started in 1862. He would never finish it, but J. M. Barrie decided to weave together the various drafts to create a one-act comedy after his death. During a season of Barrie's Theatre in 1910, this was performed alongside two short pieces of Barrie's – a project led by Harley Granville-Barker.

In his Essay on Comedy (1877), Meredith's keen interest in comedy was explored. It was originally delivered as a lecture at the London Institute, and it has influenced comedians such as Joseph Wood Krutch. The essay was in effect preparations for The Economist, which published in 1879, and it incorporated some of his ideas, in particular his notion of comedy as "the ultimate civiliser." He began this story with The Tragic Comedians (1880), which was published quickly and with no optimism.

Meredith did not have a straight path to fame. Inasmuch as it brought him widespread critical attention, the Egoist was a turning point. It was considered by W. E. Henley, who wrote it in at least four journals and possibly more than seven, that it was "a companion for Balzac and Richardson, a closete to Fielding and Cervantes." "We pay Mr Meredith a high compliment when we say he helps the reader to understand what is meant by Comedy in the best and full sense of the word," the New Quarterly Journal's critic said.

Diana of the Crossways, the author's first commercially rewarding book, was released in 1885, drew mainly due to its connection to real-life events involving Caroline Norton and Lord Melbourne. "Diagnosis is included in Margaret Harris' book "In addition to displaying the outer, as well as the inner," Diana writes about "the goals and techniques of fiction, which was made more potent by Diana's being a novelist committed to "reading the inside." "By hook or crook, get hold of Diana of the Crossways," George Gissing wrote to his brother. The book is simply divine. Shakespeare in modern English, with William Cosmo Monkhouse stating "amongst all his literary and literary accomplishments, Mr Meredith has perhaps never achieved one more impressive." Diana was his first book to make a splash in America.

Meredith's income was supplemented by a job as a publisher's reviewer. His Chapman & Hall advice made him a top-notch in the field of letters, and he could read up to ten manuscripts a week, but Chapman & Hall's book East Lynne was rejected by Chapman & Hall because it was not always accurate; when released by Richard Bentley, Ellen Wood's book East Lynne became a best seller.

William and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Algernon Charles Swinburne, Cotter Morison, Leslie Stephen, Robert Louis Stevenson, George Gissing, and J. M. Barrie appeared in literary circles at different times.

In a letter to his brother Algernon, Gissing wrote that Meredith's books were "of the extremely tough species." Sir Arthur Conan Doyle referred to him in the short story "The Boscombe Valley Mystery," in which Sherlock Holmes says to Dr. Watson, "And now, let us talk about George Meredith, if you please," and we will leave all minor matters until to-morrow." "Ah, Meredith! Write on!" Oscar Wilde wrote in "The Art of Novel-Writing" reflected, "Ah, Meredith!"

Who can define him?

... He has mastered everything but words... Too strange to be popular, too individual to have imitators... [he] stands entirely alone."

Frederic Chapman of Chapman & Hall introduced Meredith to Thomas Hardy in 1868. The Poor Man and the Lady, Hardy's first book, had been published. Meredith advised Hardy not to publish his book because it would be attacked by reviewers and destroy his chances of becoming a novelist. Meredith felt the book was too bitter for a satire on the wealthy, and she advised Hardy to put it aside and write another "purely artistic function" and more plot. Meredith spoke from experience; his first big book, The Ordeal of Richard Feverel, was so shocking that Mudie's circulatory library had cancelled an order of 300 copies. The author's attempts to publish the book met with little success, though Meredith's advice was certainly taken seriously.

His books were translated into Japanese and inspired writers like Natsume Sseki.

Meredith's politics were those of a Radical Liberal, and he knew Frederick Maxse, who died in print, and John Morley, the Literary Gazette's enraptured reviewer of Evan Harrington. W. T. Stead, a political friend who succeeded Morley as editor of the Pall Mall Gazette and was known for his campaigning journalism, in particular a movement against child exploitation. Stead shared with Meredith an aversion to war, a hating of Jingoism" and "jingo-Imperialism" that is increasingly apparent in the British press, a backlash against the Russophobia that has resurfaced in Britain, as well as a call for more democracy.

Meredith's obsession with writing poetry sparked again in the 1880s, and he was confident that his poems would be more durable than his prose. "Melampus," "The Daughter of Hades," "Earth and Man," and "The Woods of Westermain" were two major new works by the artist in 1883, as well as some pieces that had previously appeared in periodicals, such as "The Lark Ascending" and an expanded version of his earlier "Love in the Valley." Alice Meynell, W. P. Ker, and Mark Pattison were among the volume's admirers. Ballads and Poems of Tragic Life (1887) brought together several of his previously uncollected poems. Its poor reception, especially by W. E. Henley, sparked Meredith's assertion that Meredith had committed a deceptive conspiracy against him.

Nine of his novels were republished in 1885–6, each costing them six shillings, making them more available to a wider audience, and in 1889, they were available in an edition priced 3s. Meredith was compelled to inform James Payn, editor of the Cornhill Magazine, that his "submerged head [was] strangely surfacing above the English waters."

Lord Ormont and his Aminta (1894), an experimental portrait of a struggling marriage, and a woman regaining her self-worth in a new relationship, continued to publish new books, including One of Our Conquerors (1891), an experimental portrait of a struggling marriage, and Lord Ormond's Aminta (1894), which depicts a woman emerging from a humiliating marriage and re-establishing her own self-worth by a new marriage. The former includes a drawing of a school that looks like the one he attended in Neuwied. The Amazing Marriage (1895), melodramatic yet deeply concerned about current trends in psychology and gender, was the last of his books to be published in his lifetime; Celt and Saxon, an unfinished early work that sparked a keen interest in the relationship between race and ideology, appeared posthumously in 1910.

Marie died of throat cancer in 1885, and Meredith praised her as "the most unpretending, brave, and steadfast friend ever given to a mate." He was plagued by illnesses that restricted his mobility in later life. There have been locomotor ataxia and osteoarthritis among the causes of this study.

Meredith was honoured from many quarters: he succeeded Tennyson as president of the Society of Authors in 1892; that year there was an honorary doctorate from the University of St Andrews; and in 1895, Thomas Hardy and George Gissing paid their respect to his contributions and their influence on them. Max Beerbohm's caricature for Vanity Fair, which was released in 1896 and captioned "Our First Novelist," was an indication of Meredith's position at the time; Beerbohm said he was Shakespeare apart, the most English literary figure.

He was appointed to the Order of Merit in 1905, which had recently been granted by King Edward VII. At a small ceremony attended by the King's representative, Sir Arthur Ellis, he was honoured with the Order at Flint Cottage in December of that year.

He died at home in Box Hill in 1909. In the cemetery at Dorking, Surrey, his ashes were buried alongside Marie's.

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