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| Plot Summary of The Ordeal of Richard Feverel |
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"Doris Lessing says that Meredith is terribly underrated, and that, more than Eliot, Trollope, or Hardy, he came closer to doing what Tolstoy and Stendhal did for Russia and France: capture the economic and social realities of his nation and age. In this first novel, he tells the story of a baronet who tries to raise his son according to a System, based on Science and Reason, and how that System fails in the face of the complexities of life and human desire. (The novel serves partly as a critique of Rousseau's _Emile_.) _Richard Feverel_ deals candidly with sex for its time (in _Ulysses_, Stephen Dedalus mentions it as a way of expressing sophistication in morality and art), and has several strong female characters. Its narration is often indirect and very erudite (there are lots of classical and Shakespearean references), yet it is a very moving, and very sad book. Meredith reworked it several times, so the 2000 Penguin edition, edited with notes by Edward Mendelson, is perhaps the best to tackle."
David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of The Ordeal of Richard Feverel |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/era of story
- 19th century
Romance/Romance Problems
Yes
Kind of romance:
- love triangle/polygon
- seduction (yum!)
Kids growing up/acting up?
Yes
Family, struggle with
Yes
Struggle with:
- Father (or standin)
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Parents/lack of parents problem?
- rebelling against parent's expectations
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- wealthy
Age:
- 20's-30's
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 40's-50's
Profession/status:
- wealthy
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a moderate amount
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 3 (some)
Europe
Yes
European country:
- England/UK
- France
- Germany
Forest?
Yes
City?
Yes
City:
- London
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
Sex in book?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- vague references
Weird Victorian/Shakespearean English?
Yes
Amount of dialog
- significantly more descript than dialog
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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