GEORGE MEREDITH (1828-1909)

Grumble or chuckle at his literary creations, George Meredith stands as an author Athenaeum members read, and an author who has earned his place in literary history. Poet, novelist, and lecturer, Meredith has been lauded for his philosophy, imagination and spirit. Tennyson, George Eliot, Rossetti and Swinburne all admired him. Prime Minister Asquith wanted him buried in Westminster Abbey. Nevertheless, Meredith did not become famous until his later years. His style was always difficult, no matter how rich in characterization and magic his writing might be. Of The Egoist, 1879, the Encyclopedia Britannica states that the novel  “shows an increase in Meredith’s twistedness of literary style and is admittedly hard to read for those who merely want a story, but which for concentrated analysis and the real drama of the human spirit [it] is an astounding production.”

If you are game to “take the challenge” of Meredith’s aphorisms and convoluted sentences, or if you want to consign Meredith to the dust bin, either way you are invited to explore some of his writings with the Reappraisal Reading Circle on Monday, November 13 at 7PM.