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Title: The Egoist: An Annotated Text, Backgrounds Criticism (A Norton Critical Edition) by George Meredith, Robert M. Adams ISBN: 0-393-09171-6 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: January, 1979 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.05 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: One of the finest novels of the Victorian century
Comment: Meredith's masterpiece is woefully underread, and it is a sad truth that the Norton scholarly edition is the only edition of THE EGOIST now in print. This is not an easy read, however: Meredith's caustic dialogue foreshadows henry James's in its mastery of ambiguities, and his witty paradoxes surpass even Oscar Wilde (who admitted his debt to Meredith). The plot is a simple one: the wealthy handsome and titled Sir Willoughby Patterne, having been jilted by one fiancée, proposes to another young woman, the intelligent and intensely likeable Clara Middleton, who accepts him; before very long, Clara has realized what a monstrous egoist Sir Willoughby is, but not after it seems too late for her to go back on her word. This is one of the most brilliant studies of mortification ever accomplished, and what makes it all the more amazing is that Meredith clearly modelled Sir Willoughby in part on himself and the extraordinarily sympathetic Clara on his wife, Mary Ellen Peacock, who deserted Meredith for another man. This book is funny, thought-provoking, and exceptionally poignant: there are moments when you read it that your heart will go into your stomach as you sympathize with Clara's appalling plight.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Great Comedy of Manners
Comment: This is one of the funniest novels I've ever read. The basic story is simple: Sir Willoughby Patterne's betrothal to the young Clara Middleton is threatened when she realizes his enormous love of himself. The novel consists of Clara's efforts to get out of the engagement without doing something so scandalous as eloping with someone else.
The characters are drawn vividly and with depth. The incidents are both amusing and realistic. Clara Middleton is one of the great witty heroines of English literature, perhaps the wittiest Victorian heroine.
The beginning can be slow going. Meredith likes to use twenty words when other people might use ten. He also likes to play verbal games. As you proceed in the novel and get used to the style, you can have a lot of fun picking out the puns, allusions, etc.
This is Meredith's best novel. The plot is tightly controlled and the ending is pure comedy in the tradition of Fielding, Austen and Thackeray. I highly recommend this novel to anyone who feels comfortable reading Victorian English and likes a good love-comedy.
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Title: Diana of the Crossways: A Novel by George Meredith, Nikki L. Manos ISBN: 0814328946 Publisher: Wayne State Univ Pr Pub. Date: March, 2001 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: The Ordeal of Richard Feverel: A History of Father and Son (Penguin Classics) by George Meredith, Edward Mendelson ISBN: 0140434836 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: June, 1999 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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Title: Villette by A.S. Byatt, Ignes Sodre, Charlotte Bronte ISBN: 037575850X Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 09 October, 2001 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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Title: The Mill on the Floss (Oxford World's Classics) by George Eliot, Gordon S. Haight, Dinah Birch ISBN: 0192833642 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: June, 1998 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
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Title: God's Secretaries : The Making of the King James Bible by Adam Nicolson ISBN: 0060185163 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: 29 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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