MEREDITH, GEORGE

born Feb. 12, 1828, Portsmouth, Hampshire, Eng. died May 18, 1909, Box Hill, Surrey English Victorian poet and novelist, whose novels are noted for their wit, brilliant dialogue, and aphoristic quality of language. Meredith's novels are also distinguished by psychological studies of character and a highly subjective view of life that, far ahead of his time, regarded women as truly the equals of men. His best known works are The Ordeal of Richard Feverel (1859) and The Egoist (1879). Additional reading M. Buxton Forman, A Bibliography of the Writings in Prose and Verse of George Meredith (1922, suppl. 1924) and C.L. Cline, George Meredith, in Lionel Stevenson (ed.), Victorian Fiction: A Guide to Research (1964), provide a fairly complete listing of works by and about Meredith. The Altschul Collection at Yale University and the Morgan Library in New York hold most of his manuscripts and papers. The University of Texas at Austin holds several hundred Meredith letters. The Memorial Edition of the Works of George Meredith, 27 vol. (190911), is the standard edition. The Letters of George Meredith, 2 vol., ed. by his son, W.M. Meredith, was published in 1912. C.L. Cline, The Letters of George Meredith, 3 vol. (1970), is now the standard edition. Lionel Stevenson, The Ordeal of George Meredith (1953), is the standard biography; see also J.B. Priestley, George Meredith (1926), a biographical and critical study. Major Works: Poetry. Poems (1851), including the first version of Love in the Valley; Modern Love, and Poems of the English Roadside, with Poems and Ballads (1862); Poems and Lyrics of the Joy of Earth (1883); Ballads and Poems of Tragic Life (1887); A Reading of Earth (1888); Poems. The Empty Purse. With Odes to the Comic Spirit, to Youth in Memory, and Verses (1892); Odes in Contribution to the Song of French History (1898); A Reading of Life, with Other Poems (1901); Last Poems (1909). Novels. The Shaving of Shagpat: An Arabian Entertainment (1885, dated 1856); Farina: A Legend of Cologne (1857); The Ordeal of Richard Feverel: A History of Father and Son (1859); Evan Harrington; or, He Would Be a Gentleman (1860); Emilia in England (1864; renamed Sandra Belloni, 1889); Rhoda Fleming (1865); Vittoria (1867); The Adventures of Harry Richmond (1871); Beauchamp's Career (1875, dated 1876); The Egoist: A Comedy in Narrative (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; unfinished). Other works. The House on the Beach (1877); The Case of General Ople and Lady Camper (1890); and The Tale of Chloe (1890), three short stories; An Essay on Comedy (1897).