- Hardcover: 561 pages
- Publisher: WW Norton & Co (April 1 1979)
- ISBN-10: 0393044319
- ISBN-13: 978-0393044317
- Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 13.2 x 2.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 522 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Product Description
A consummate portrait of vanity and egoism
Virginia Woolf said of "The Egoist": 'Meredith pays us a supreme compliment to which as novel-readers we are little accustomed ... He imagines us capable of disinterested curiosity in the behaviour of our kind.' In this, the most dazzlingly intellectual of all his novels, Meredith tries to illuminate the pretensions of the most powerful class within the very citadel of security which its members have built. He develops to their logical extremity his ideas on egoism, on sentimentality and on the power of comedy. Meredith saw egoism as the great enemy of truth, feeling and progress, and comedy as the great dissolver of artifice. "The Egoist" is the extreme expression of his recurrent theme: the defeat of egoism by the power of comedy. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the finest novels of the Victorian century,
By Jay Dickson (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Egoist (Paperback)
Meredith's masterpiece is woefully underread, and it is a sad truth that the Norton scholarly edition is the only edition of THE EGOIST now in print. This is not an easy read, however: Meredith's caustic dialogue foreshadows henry James's in its mastery of ambiguities, and his witty paradoxes surpass even Oscar Wilde (who admitted his debt to Meredith). The plot is a simple one: the wealthy handsome and titled Sir Willoughby Patterne, having been jilted by one fiancée, proposes to another young woman, the intelligent and intensely likeable Clara Middleton, who accepts him; before very long, Clara has realized what a monstrous egoist Sir Willoughby is, but not after it seems too late for her to go back on her word. This is one of the most brilliant studies of mortification ever accomplished, and what makes it all the more amazing is that Meredith clearly modelled Sir Willoughby in part on himself and the extraordinarily sympathetic Clara on his wife, Mary Ellen Peacock, who deserted Meredith for another man. This book is funny, thought-provoking, and exceptionally poignant: there are moments when you read it that your heart will go into your stomach as you sympathize with Clara's appalling plight.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Comedy of Manners,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Egoist (Paperback)
This is one of the funniest novels I've ever read. The basic story is simple: Sir Willoughby Patterne's betrothal to the young Clara Middleton is threatened when she realizes his enormous love of himself. The novel consists of Clara's efforts to get out of the engagement without doing something so scandalous as eloping with someone else. The characters are drawn vividly and with depth. The incidents are both amusing and realistic. Clara Middleton is one of the great witty heroines of English literature, perhaps the wittiest Victorian heroine. The beginning can be slow going. Meredith likes to use twenty words when other people might use ten. He also likes to play verbal games. As you proceed in the novel and get used to the style, you can have a lot of fun picking out the puns, allusions, etc. This is Meredith's best novel. The plot is tightly controlled and the ending is pure comedy in the tradition of Fielding, Austen and Thackeray. I highly recommend this novel to anyone who feels comfortable reading Victorian English and likes a good love-comedy.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
5.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews) 43 of 43 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Comedy of Manners,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Egoist (Paperback)
This is one of the funniest novels I've ever read. The basic story is simple: Sir Willoughby Patterne's betrothal to the young Clara Middleton is threatened when she realizes his enormous love of himself. The novel consists of Clara's efforts to get out of the engagement without doing something so scandalous as eloping with someone else. The characters are drawn vividly and with depth. The incidents are both amusing and realistic. Clara Middleton is one of the great witty heroines of English literature, perhaps the wittiest Victorian heroine. The beginning can be slow going. Meredith likes to use twenty words when other people might use ten. He also likes to play verbal games. As you proceed in the novel and get used to the style, you can have a lot of fun picking out the puns, allusions, etc. This is Meredith's best novel. The plot is tightly controlled and the ending is pure comedy in the tradition of Fielding, Austen and Thackeray. I highly recommend this novel to anyone who feels comfortable reading Victorian English and likes a good love-comedy. 39 of 40 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the finest novels of the Victorian century,
By Jay Dickson - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Egoist (Paperback)
Meredith's masterpiece is woefully underread, and it is a sad truth that the Norton scholarly edition is the only edition of THE EGOIST now in print. This is not an easy read, however: Meredith's caustic dialogue foreshadows henry James's in its mastery of ambiguities, and his witty paradoxes surpass even Oscar Wilde (who admitted his debt to Meredith). The plot is a simple one: the wealthy handsome and titled Sir Willoughby Patterne, having been jilted by one fiancée, proposes to another young woman, the intelligent and intensely likeable Clara Middleton, who accepts him; before very long, Clara has realized what a monstrous egoist Sir Willoughby is, but not after it seems too late for her to go back on her word. This is one of the most brilliant studies of mortification ever accomplished, and what makes it all the more amazing is that Meredith clearly modelled Sir Willoughby in part on himself and the extraordinarily sympathetic Clara on his wife, Mary Ellen Peacock, who deserted Meredith for another man. This book is funny, thought-provoking, and exceptionally poignant: there are moments when you read it that your heart will go into your stomach as you sympathize with Clara's appalling plight.
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