"The Gentleman of Fifty and The Damsel of Nineteen (An early uncompleted…)" by George Meredith is an unfinished story that looks at tricky relationships and what society expects from people in a fancy setting in the late 1800s. It shows how different people act around each other, like a fifty-year-old man and a young woman, touching on age, dating, and how to mix smarts and feelings in love. The story starts with a funny scene where a church leader and his wife have an accident, which helps set a tone of looking at human silliness and lasting relationships. Mr. Pollingray, who's never been married and is fifty, has feelings for Alice Amble, who is young. Her energy and innocence attract and worry him. This brings up feelings about the past and wanting something new as Pollingray thinks about old relationships and maybe starting one with Alice, really showing the tension in a romance with a big age gap. Through exciting talks and describing the characters well, Meredith makes an insightful point about love, how we see ourselves, and how time always moves forward.
The Gentleman of Fifty and The Damsel of Nineteen (An early uncompleted fragment)
By George Meredith
In a world of manners and expectations, a May-December attraction sparks both humor and heartache as an older gentleman contemplates the affections of a vibrant young woman.
Summary
About the AuthorGeorge Meredith was an English novelist and poet of the Victorian era. At first, his focus was poetry, influenced by John Keats among others, but Meredith gradually established a reputation as a novelist. The Ordeal of Richard Feverel (1859) briefly scandalised Victorian literary circles. Of his later novels, the most enduring is The Egoist (1879), though in his lifetime his greatest success was Diana of the Crossways (1885). His novels were innovative in their attention to characters' psychology, and also portrayed social change. His style, in both poetry and prose, was noted for its syntactic complexity; Oscar Wilde likened it to "chaos illumined by brilliant flashes of lightning". Meredith was an encourager of other novelists, as well as an influence on them; among those to benefit were Robert Louis Stevenson and George Gissing. Meredith was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature seven times.
George Meredith was an English novelist and poet of the Victorian era. At first, his focus was poetry, influenced by John Keats among others, but Meredith gradually established a reputation as a novelist. The Ordeal of Richard Feverel (1859) briefly scandalised Victorian literary circles. Of his later novels, the most enduring is The Egoist (1879), though in his lifetime his greatest success was Diana of the Crossways (1885). His novels were innovative in their attention to characters' psychology, and also portrayed social change. His style, in both poetry and prose, was noted for its syntactic complexity; Oscar Wilde likened it to "chaos illumined by brilliant flashes of lightning". Meredith was an encourager of other novelists, as well as an influence on them; among those to benefit were Robert Louis Stevenson and George Gissing. Meredith was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature seven times.
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