19 h 12 minAudiobook4 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 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.
Is it for you?
This book suits readers who enjoy Victorian fiction with a sharp, ironic edge, and anyone who wants to try Meredith before facing his long novels. If you want fast action and plain, easy sentences, you may find his style slow going.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Comedy is a tool for seeing clearly
- Minds matter more than events
- Society shapes private feeling
- A difficult style with real rewards
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Complete Short Works of George Meredith
Polite society conceals pride, vanity, and mistaken feelings.
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Language: English
“Apart from any other claim he may have upon his generation, Mr. Meredith’s greatest and most original will ever remain his marvellous knowledge of woman.”
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 4
Comedy is a tool for seeing clearly
Meredith held a particular view of comedy. In a well-known lecture, his Essay on Comedy, he argued that comedy is not just a way to raise a laugh. He thought of it as a kind of civilising light that shows people how foolish they look when they are pompous or false. He called the force behind this the Comic Spirit, a watchful, fair-minded presence that smiles at excess.
This idea explains the tone of his shorter fiction. His narrators stand a little above the scene and point to small absurdities. A man who thinks himself generous may be shown to be merely proud. A woman who believes she acts from duty may be shown to act from fear of gossip. The laughter is not cruel, because the aim is to teach rather than to wound.
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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.
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What is Complete Short Works of George Meredith about?
It gathers Meredith's shorter writing, which looks at vanity, pride and social pressure among comfortable Victorian people. The focus is on how characters think and deceive themselves, treated with wit rather than anger.
Who was George Meredith?
He was a Victorian English novelist and poet who died in 1909. He is best known for The Egoist, The Ordeal of Richard Feverel and the poem sequence Modern Love.
Is George Meredith hard to read?
Often yes. His style is dense, with heavy metaphor and compressed phrasing. His shorter works are easier to try first, and reading aloud helps a good deal.
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