The Ordeal of Richard Feverel: A History of a Father and Son
The Ordeal of Richard Feverel: A History of a Father and Son
Sir Austin Feverel believed he could engineer a perfect human being. The system he devised for his son Richard, born after his wife's infidelity shattered the family, rests on one principle: sexual restraint. For twenty years, Sir Austin tests his experiment at Raynham Abbey, certain that suppressing desire will produce a superior man. The tragedy Meredith uncovers is that systems built to control human nature inevitably fail. When Richard falls in love, the carefully constructed philosophy begins to crack, and the father's well-intentioned experiment becomes a trap that destroys the very thing he sought to protect. Published in 1859, this was George Meredith's most controversial novel, shocking Victorian readers with its explicit treatment of sexuality and repression. Its psychological depth and formal inventiveness have earned it a cult following that continues to grow. The prose performs the novel's themes: rigorous, controlled, yet haunted by what refuses to be contained.
