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.
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“I expect that Woman will be the last thing civilized by Man.””
— George Meredith
“Perfect simplicity is unconsciously audacious.””
— George Meredith
“Why mayn't they do what men do?' the Hero cried impetuously. 'I hate that contemptible narrow-mindedness. It's that that makes the ruin and horrors I see. Why mayn't they do what men do? I like the women who are brave enough not to be hypocrites. By Heaven! if these women are bad, I like them better than a set of hypocritical creatures who are all show, and deceive you in the end.””
— George Meredith
“I remember that you said Richard had done wrong. Yes; well, that may be. But his father eclipsed his wrong in a greater wrong”
— George Meredith
“On which should the accusation fall”
— George Meredith
“I suppose my father's right. We make our own fates, and nature has nothing to do with it.””
— George Meredith
“Of course, I will go if you wish, but I would so much rather stay;" and she lengthened her plea in her attitude and look to melt the discontent she saw gathering.””
— George Meredith
“The best of it was, that Adrian made no pretences. He did not solicit the favourable judgement of the world. Nature and he attempted no other concealment than the ordinary mask men wear. And yet the world would proclaim him moral, as well as wise, and the pleasing converse every way of his disgraced cousin Austin.””
— George Meredith
“our young bridal pair were at breakfast, regaling worthily, both of them. Had the Scientific Humanist observed them, he could not have contested the fact, that as a couple who had set up to be father and mother of Britons, they were doing their duty. Files of egg-cups with disintegrated shells bore witness to it, and they were still at work, hardly talking from rapidity of exercise. Both were dressed for an expedition. She had her bonnet on, and he his yachting-hat. His sleeves were turned over at the wrists, and her gown showed its lining on her lap. At times a chance word might spring a laugh, but eating was the business of the hour, as I would have you to know it always will be where Cupid is in earnest.””
— George Meredith
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Meredith, George. The Ordeal of Richard Feverel: A History of a Father and Son. Lex, lex-books.com/book/the-ordeal-of-richard-feverel-a-history-of-a-father-and-son-f97cc33b-225b-467c-bb55-84823bb93728.Meredith, G. (n.d.). The Ordeal of Richard Feverel: A History of a Father and Son. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/the-ordeal-of-richard-feverel-a-history-of-a-father-and-son-f97cc33b-225b-467c-bb55-84823bb93728Meredith, George. The Ordeal of Richard Feverel: A History of a Father and Son. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/the-ordeal-of-richard-feverel-a-history-of-a-father-and-son-f97cc33b-225b-467c-bb55-84823bb93728.
