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A Mere Accident
George Moore was an Irish novelist, short-story writer, poet, art critic, memoirist and dramatist. He came from a Roman Catholic landed family and originally wanted to be a painter studying in Paris in the 1870's. As a naturalistic writer, he was among the first English-language authors to study the French realists, and was particularly influenced by the works of mile Zola. Because of his willingness to tackle such issues as prostitution, extramarital sex and lesbianism, his novels were met with disapproval but eventually as public taste changed they became accepted. A Mere Accident is a tragic story culminating with the heroine Kitty Hare being outraged by a tramp and throwing herself out a window.
130 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1887
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May 30, 2017
3.5 stars. My first experience reading George Moore was a bit of a rollercoaster. The opening chapter was beautifully written, bordering on the very edge of purple prose -- a pattern that would come-and-go throughout the novel.
Moore seems to have collected a menagerie of influences, and his novel perhaps suffers from a lack of cohesive arrangement. We get sections that seem based on Pater, Zola, English bucolic writing, and even a swirling, proto-Expressionist dream sequence. Each section is interesting in its own right, but the combination of styles (and quick jumps among them) made for an uneven read, especially when we transition to the perspective of Kitty in the last third of the novel for a shocking, totally out-of-the-blue event that sends the protagonist (and the novel) spiraling into darkness. I actually found that final third of the novel to be a page-turner, and I imagine it must have caused quite a stir when published in 1887. It also felt a bit gratuitous in a pulp fiction kind of way -- but I think I loved it just for that reason.
Despite the obvious flaws and unevenness of the novel, Moore's writing is engaging and, at times, downright dazzling, but almost to the point where he needs to rein himself in. I look forward to exploring more of his work in the near future.
Moore seems to have collected a menagerie of influences, and his novel perhaps suffers from a lack of cohesive arrangement. We get sections that seem based on Pater, Zola, English bucolic writing, and even a swirling, proto-Expressionist dream sequence. Each section is interesting in its own right, but the combination of styles (and quick jumps among them) made for an uneven read, especially when we transition to the perspective of Kitty in the last third of the novel for a shocking, totally out-of-the-blue event that sends the protagonist (and the novel) spiraling into darkness. I actually found that final third of the novel to be a page-turner, and I imagine it must have caused quite a stir when published in 1887. It also felt a bit gratuitous in a pulp fiction kind of way -- but I think I loved it just for that reason.
Despite the obvious flaws and unevenness of the novel, Moore's writing is engaging and, at times, downright dazzling, but almost to the point where he needs to rein himself in. I look forward to exploring more of his work in the near future.
Displaying 1 of 1 review