Celibates

by George Moore, Temple Scott (Introduction)

George Augustus Moore (1852-1933) was an Irish novelist, short story writer, poet, art critic, memoirist and dramatist. His first book, a collection of poems called The Flowers of Passion, had appeared in 1878 and a second collection, Pagan Poems, followed in 1881. His first novel, A Modern Lover (1883), was banned in England because of its, for the times, explicit portrayal of the amorous pursuits of its hero. His next book, A Mummer's Wife (1885) is widely recognized as the first major novel in the realist style in the English language. Other realist novels by Moore from this period include Esther Waters (1894), the story of an unmarried housemaid who becomes pregnant and is abandoned by her footman lover, and A Drama in Muslin (1886), a satiric story of the marriage trade in Anglo-Irish society. His 1887 novel A Mere Accident is an attempt to merge his symbolist and realist influences. He also published a collection of short stories: Celibates (1895). In 1913, he traveled to Jerusalem to research background for his novel The Brook Kerith: A Syrian Story (1916).

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1895

About the author

George Augustus Moore was an Irish novelist, short-story writer, poet, art critic, memoirist and dramatist. Moore came from a Roman Catholic landed family who lived at Moore Hall in Carra, County Mayo. He originally wanted to be a painter, and studied art in Paris during the 1870s. There, he befriended many of the leading French artists and writers of the day.

As a naturalistic writer, he was amongst the first English-language authors to absorb the lessons of the French realists, and was particularly influenced by the works of Émile Zola. His writings influenced James Joyce, according to the literary critic and biographer Richard Ellmann, and, although Moore's work is sometimes seen as outside the mainstream of both Irish and British literature, he is as often regarded as the first great modern Irish novelist.

Reviews

[Michael D · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this; three tales of lives gone awry that are both psychologically penetrating and narratively compelling. The first one, 'Mildred Lawson' is probably my favourite and the most complex, the others somewhat more prosaic in nature. Quite Russian in tone but still strikingly modern - each tale illustrates various examples of developmental trauma strikingly well.

[Abi Clarke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read John Norton novella in gm celibates

[Sketchbook · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eschewing tradition, Geo Moore posits that marriage is
the Unhappy Ending.