The Ordeal of Richard Feverel — Complete
1859
George Meredith's first novel scandalized Victorian England, and reading it now, you can see why. Sir Austin Feverel has devised an elaborate system to raise his son Richard according to principles of sexual restraint and rational control, a methodology born from Sir Austin's own disastrous marriage. The system is a mirror of his obsession, and Richard, approaching manhood, must either submit to his father's experiment or destroy himself trying to break free. What follows is a tragedy of good intentions curdling into cruelty, of love and desire ruining what they meant to protect. Meredith weaves psychological depth with mythic resonance, the Garden of Eden, utopian ideals, into a narrative that's as intellectually daring as it is emotionally devastating. The prose crackles with satirical precision while never losing sight of the human cost at its center. This is a novel about what happens when a parent tries to engineer a soul.
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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 — Complete. Lex, lex-books.com/book/the-ordeal-of-richard-feverel-complete-5937dc7a-fed3-4825-b682-a6a0f220c921.Meredith, G. (1859). The Ordeal of Richard Feverel — Complete. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/the-ordeal-of-richard-feverel-complete-5937dc7a-fed3-4825-b682-a6a0f220c921Meredith, George. The Ordeal of Richard Feverel — Complete. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/the-ordeal-of-richard-feverel-complete-5937dc7a-fed3-4825-b682-a6a0f220c921.
