New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-01-21
The Modernism of George Meredith

any one with an appetite for books. Think
of having offered you in one season "The
| Virginians," adam Bede," "A Tale OF
Two Cities" "Idylls of the King" and 1.-THE
Ordeal of Richard Feverel"! In this group
of great Victorians George Meredith was,
of course, the youngster. He was begin
ming as the others ended or at least neared
/ full achievement. Yet the surprise is IN
finding Meredith represented in such a
lmid-Victorian list at all. His modernism,
as full of zest for the reader of to-day as
of any earlier year, stands out as sheer
miracle when thus placed in contrast with
the minds Of his time.
He was almost generation younger
than Tennyson, the most obvious figure to
set against him. But the nineteen years in
his favor does not begin to express the gap
between their outlooks. The suffragists of
London quoted the authority of Mere
dith letter only the other day, and the
whole modern feminist movement owes
more probably to Meredith than to any
other mind of literature. Neither suf-
fragists nor feminists are given to quoting
from Lord Tennyson. The treatment OF
Guinevere by his king Arthur" still has
power to irritate perfectly calm and moral
wives to the exploding point Naturally,
Meredith read and disapproved. As he
wrote to his friend, Captain MaXse;
To think!-it's in these days that fore
I 81 Of
creatures that have not breath OF vital
humanity in them, and doles us out his
regular five-feet with the old trick of the
vowel BINDINGS The Euphuists tongue, the
/ Exousite's leg the Curate's moral sent-
ments, the British matron and her daugh-
ter's purity of tone-so he talks, so he
walks, so he snufles, so he appears divine.
! turn 10 Rabelais and Montague
with relief. See what gentleman Boo
caccio is in his narration! And always
manly, always fresh.
Here was the starting point, the most
conspicuous and significant item of Mere
dith's modernism. His was consistent
belief, to be easily traced throughout ms
PHILOSOPHY. His attitude toward women,
contrasting so sharply with the mid-Nic-
striking expression. 1t was not new or
chance decision that found him writing
again and again in favor of woman suf
/ frage i'm his later years. From his earliest
| beginnings he had taken stand with the
radicals, who saw in a new friendship and
partnership between men and women one
Of the largest hopes of the future. He
wrote as philosopher, not propagandist
and there is no sugary sentmentalism in
his praise of women. He saw their faults
equally with their possibilities. AS early
as 1862, when he was thirty-four, he wrote
in his Modern Love-:
Their sense is with their senses all mixed in,
Destroyed by subtleties these women are!
More brain, o Lord, more brainl or we shall
mar
Utterly this fair garden we might win.
Not loosely complimentary, it will be
agreed. He hoped for the best only in
realizing the worst. He saw clearly the
handcaps under which the women Of his
time labored. His Ballad Of Fair Ladies
in Revolt" hard reading that it is. ex-
presses with amazing vividness and detail
almost the whole creed of feminism. And
in 1885 his immortal Diana was saying,
quite like any Ellen Key of to-day:
81 suppose VIC women are taken to be
the second thoughts Of the Creator; hu-
man natures fringes, mere finishing
touches, not a part Of the texture, the
pretty ornamentGtion. However, | fancy
Ia.
minds Of the dominant sex. Our old law
yer Nh. Braddock, who appears to have no
distaste for conversations with me. assures
me he expects the day to come when women
will be encouraged to work at crafts and
professions for their independence. That
is the secret OF the opinion OF us at present
our dependency. Give US the nreans OF
independence, and we will gain il, and have
a turn at judging you, my lords!"
There is the doctrine of economic indie
pendence with vengeance, and spoken by
woman who possessed and used success
fully all the older arts. Yet George Mere
dith had no illusions as to the ease with
,. which women could be indicted into their
new status. Writing to Mrs. Leslie
Stephen in 1889, ne remarked:
The case with women resembles that OF
the Irish. We have played fast and loose
with them. until now-they are encouraged
20 demand WHIST they know not how to use.
but have just right 10 claim. II the ave
nues Of our professions had been thrown
open TO them, they might have learnt the
business OF the world, 20 be competent to
hclp in governing. But these we're closed
/ women were commanded 10 continue their
reliance upon their poor attractions Con-
scquently. IS with the Irish. they push 20
grasp the Dsguette which giye4 authority.
And they will get it; and IL win be =
horrible time Ru' hotter chat than pres
/ at sights.
That was frank speaking and he did not