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