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A Mere Accident
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.
288 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1887
About the author
George Moore
569 books91 followersGeorge 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
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