19 h 12 minAudiobook15 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 19 h 12 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
In these drawing rooms, good manners leave plenty of room for vanity, pride and self-deception.
Complete Short Works of George Meredith brings his watchful mind into the space of shorter fiction. In country houses and drawing rooms, well-bred people deceive themselves. Meredith looks past their polished manners to the thoughts behind a choice, finding comedy in the gap between what people feel and what they admit.
These pieces explore comedy, private choices and the pressure of society. Class, money, rank and marriage arrangements shape private feeling, while wit exposes pride without turning to anger. Meredith's prose asks for attention: metaphors, compressed phrases and sudden turns make the reading demanding. The reward lies less in fast action than in watching a mind reveal itself.
What you’ll discover
- Comedy that sees clearly Discover wit that does more than raise a laugh, bringing vanity and false feeling into view.
- Minds at a turning point Watch what happens inside a person at the moment a choice takes shape.
- Manners under scrutiny Enter drawing rooms where rank, reputation and marriage arrangements press upon private lives.
- Language worth lingering over Meet dense prose whose metaphors and sudden turns invite a slower, more attentive reading.
- Meredith on a smaller scale Try his dry, psychological fiction in pieces you can finish in one sitting.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy witty Victorian prose, comic romance, and sharp portraits of vanity will find plenty here. It suits anyone curious about legends of the Rhine or the reasoning behind a famous essay on comedy.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Cologne's young men fight for the White Rose
- A wager for a kiss sends Margarita running
- A silver arrow is given and lost
- Letters, a prison, and a holy man's secret
- A monk fights the Devil and the crowd takes sides
- Werner's castle, the water spirit and the rescue
- General Ople and the formidable lady next door
- Sketches that sting and a cure for vanity
- A beau, a duchess and a lady called Chloe
- The House on the Beach, a fragment and a play
- Comedy, war letters and the idea of laughter
Who’s who
- MargaritaThe White Rose of Germany, a merchant's daughter who loves ballads and Siegfried, and wants a hero she can trust.
- FarinaA poor young Cologne dreamer, rumored to study black arts, who loves Margarita and wants to prove himself worthy of her.
- Guy the GoshawkA cheerful foreign soldier with a long staff who befriends Farina and guards the Groschen house.
- General OpleA retired soldier who calls his small house a gentlemanly residence and fears clever women.
- Lady CamperA rouged, imperious neighbor who corrects the General's speech and wants a settlement for her nephew's bride.
- Beau BeamishThe self-appointed ruler of the Wells, who guards a young duchess and trusts his own philosophy of women.
- ChloeA witty, generous lady of the Wells who gave up her fortune for a man and waits for his return.
- Martin TinmanThe bailiff of Crikswich, a retired shopkeeper who practices speeches in his court suit and wants a royal audience.
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Œuvres brèves complètes de George Meredith
A bet over one kiss sends Margarita racing across Cologne's cathedral square with a robber baron's men behind her.
Challenging10–20 hours to readfrançais
Excellent
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In short
Picture a city where young men prove their love by collecting scars. In Cologne, the members of the White Rose Club wear scrolls in their caps listing every cut and bruise they have won for one girl.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Cologne's young men fight for the White Rose
The first tale, Farina, opens in Cologne in the days of the Kaisers. Gottlieb Groschen, a rich merchant and moneylender, has a daughter named Margarita, called the White Rose of Germany. The narrator tells all this with a comic grin.
The young men of the city have founded the White Rose Club in her honor. They prove their devotion by fighting travelers and drinking beer. Each man carries in his cap a signed and witnessed scroll recording the cuts and bruises he has earned.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 15 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- Language
- français
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Meredith, George. Complete Short Works of George Meredith. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/complete-short-works-of-george-meredith.
Meredith, G. (2026). Complete short works of George Meredith. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/complete-short-works-of-george-meredith
Meredith, George. Complete Short Works of George Meredith. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/complete-short-works-of-george-meredith.
@book{meredith2026complete,
author = {Meredith, George},
title = {Complete Short Works of George Meredith},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/complete-short-works-of-george-meredith}
}
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What is Complete Short Works of George Meredith about?
It gathers Meredith's shorter fiction and prose: the Rhine legend Farina, comic tales of General Ople, Chloe and a seaside bailiff, a fragment, a short play, a preface, war letters from Italy, and a lecture on comedy.
What is the Essay on Comedy in this collection?
It is a lecture given in London in 1877. Meredith argues that the comic spirit needs a society where men and women meet as equals, and he compares Molière, Aristophanes, Congreve and others.
Who are Farina and Margarita?
Farina is a poor young Cologne dreamer who studies essences in a cluttered room. Margarita is the merchant's daughter called the White Rose of Germany. Their courtship is the thread of the first tale.
The author
George Meredith
1828–1909 · English novelist and poet
George Meredith was a British novelist and poet born in Portsmouth, England, in 1828. He published his first poetry collection in 1851 and the novel The Amazing Marriage in 1895. He lived at Box Hill in Surrey from 1867 until his death in 1909.
More by George Meredith
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