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The Lake: novel
The Lake is George Moore’s most poetic and perfectly crafted novel. It tells of a priest’s loss not of faith, but of commitment to the principles fostered in him during his training and his discovery of a more fulfilling religion that celebrates instinct as being, if rightly understood, man’s true mode of communion with his soul. Father Gogarty’s parish is in a remote district of Mayo beside Lough Carra and his new philosophy is worked out during his long walks and rides round the lake where he learns how the changing quality of his perceptions of the landscape about him can reveal the fluctuating moods of that ‘underlife’ of his psyche that shapes his being. The Lake is a novel about self-discovery through guilt (Gogarty fears he has brought about the death of a parishioner through vigorously denouncing her way of life from the altar) and atonement in renouncing a creed which demands that a man continually repress his capacity for joy. But it is also a novel about the satisfactions of living close to nature in Ireland; the atmosphere of the Mayo countryside, the play of light on mountain, wood and lake, the rich historical associations in every church, castle or abbey ruin and farmstead are evoked with a rare skill, subtly illuminating the relationship that Moore takes as his theme between place and the Irish personality. If in studying the motives that compel his priest to the decision, ‘Non Serviam’, Moore is establishing a pattern in Irish fiction that Joyce will elaborate with his Portrait of an Artist, then in his poetic rendering of consciousness as the sum of a character’s perceptions, Moore is anticipating the technique of Virginia Woolf and Elizabeth Bowen.
274 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1905
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About the author
George Moore
528 books89 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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September 22, 2025In James Joyce's Ulysses, set in 1904, fictional Stephen Dedalus wanders around the streets of Dublin, in and out of newspaper offices and hostelries, all the while puzzling out the meaning of existence.
At that same time, another fictional character of a similar age wanders the shores of a lake in the West of Ireland, in and out of the adjacent woodlands, all the while trying to figure out his own place in the world.
Like Stephen Dedalus, George Moore's main character, Oliver Gogarty, had been intellectually gifted at school and had been encouraged to join the priesthood. Stephen Dedalus managed to duck out of that calling in spite of being as strongly drawn to asceticism as Oliver, but Oliver carried through and became a priest, and in the summer of 1904, he is stationed in a poor and remote parish close to a still and silent lake.
That might well be the end of any possible connection between George Moore's relatively unknown character and James Joyce's very famous one. Though there is the extra coincidence of the name Moore chose for his main character: Oliver Gogarty.
Both Moore and Joyce were friendly with a writer and poet called Oliver St John Gogarty, a contemporary of Joyce, and although a few decades younger than Moore, they lived across the road from each other in Dublin for a while and moved in the same circles. Joyce didn't quite use Gogarty's name in his writing but he used his personality traits for the character of the irreverent and prank-loving Buck Mulligan in Ulysses. And Buck Mulligan's full name has the same rhythms as Gogarty's: Malachy St John Mulligan. A prank on the part of Joyce, no doubt.
George Moore set his novel about the young priest called Oliver Gogarty far from Dublin and far from the irreverence and jesting of the big city. The lake that he describes frequently in the novel is the lake beside his family's home, Moorehall in County Mayo. The descriptions of the lake shore and the woodlands surrounding it are very fine indeed. It's clear that George Moore knew and loved every inch of the ground and every inlet and island in the lake. His young priest character spends many hours of his quiet days ruminating over the dilemmas of his life while walking along the lake shore. His thoughts are rendered in a kind of third-person interior monologue that is very well done.
Lake waters are sometimes associated with baptism, and the lake in the story can be seen as a kind of baptismal font—although George Moore doesn't mention that. But if the reader were to see it as one, it would be a reverse type of baptismal font, because one moonlit night in the middle of summer, Fr Oliver enters the lake waters as a priest and emerges from them as a layman, prepared to leave his calling and his country and go out into the world to find experiences beyond what he has known.
It's a very fine scene and reminded me of the closing lines of Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Stephen Dedalus leaves Ireland at the end of that book and says, "I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race."
As well as that extra connection with Joyce, there is an extra connection with Oliver St John Gogarty. One of the causes for the crisis of faith that spurs Fr Oliver to leave Ireland is the inhuman treatment of women by the Church at that time, particularly of unmarried mothers. There's a famous statement by Oliver St John Gogarty from several decades after this book was published: "I think it is high time the men of this country found some other way of loving God than by hating women."
Fr Oliver Gogarty had had that thought before him.
Incidentally, George Moore also left Ireland as a young man—in the 1880s—as if he too felt the need to 'forge his conscience' elsewhere. He went to Paris to try his hand as an artist, and knew Manet, and through him some of the writers and poets of that time including Zola, Mallarmé, and Édouard Dujardin. He roomed with Édouard Dujardin for quite a while which encourages me to read a book by him, one I've had for a long time: Les Lauriers sont coupés. When I pulled out my edition, I found a quote from James Joyce on the back cover. Speaking to Valery Larbaud in 1920, Joyce advised him to read Les lauriers sont coupés because he believed that the book, originally published in 1887, contained the first ever interior monologue.
I think George Moore must have learned a thing or two from Édouard Dujardin.
At that same time, another fictional character of a similar age wanders the shores of a lake in the West of Ireland, in and out of the adjacent woodlands, all the while trying to figure out his own place in the world.
Like Stephen Dedalus, George Moore's main character, Oliver Gogarty, had been intellectually gifted at school and had been encouraged to join the priesthood. Stephen Dedalus managed to duck out of that calling in spite of being as strongly drawn to asceticism as Oliver, but Oliver carried through and became a priest, and in the summer of 1904, he is stationed in a poor and remote parish close to a still and silent lake.
That might well be the end of any possible connection between George Moore's relatively unknown character and James Joyce's very famous one. Though there is the extra coincidence of the name Moore chose for his main character: Oliver Gogarty.
Both Moore and Joyce were friendly with a writer and poet called Oliver St John Gogarty, a contemporary of Joyce, and although a few decades younger than Moore, they lived across the road from each other in Dublin for a while and moved in the same circles. Joyce didn't quite use Gogarty's name in his writing but he used his personality traits for the character of the irreverent and prank-loving Buck Mulligan in Ulysses. And Buck Mulligan's full name has the same rhythms as Gogarty's: Malachy St John Mulligan. A prank on the part of Joyce, no doubt.
George Moore set his novel about the young priest called Oliver Gogarty far from Dublin and far from the irreverence and jesting of the big city. The lake that he describes frequently in the novel is the lake beside his family's home, Moorehall in County Mayo. The descriptions of the lake shore and the woodlands surrounding it are very fine indeed. It's clear that George Moore knew and loved every inch of the ground and every inlet and island in the lake. His young priest character spends many hours of his quiet days ruminating over the dilemmas of his life while walking along the lake shore. His thoughts are rendered in a kind of third-person interior monologue that is very well done.
Lake waters are sometimes associated with baptism, and the lake in the story can be seen as a kind of baptismal font—although George Moore doesn't mention that. But if the reader were to see it as one, it would be a reverse type of baptismal font, because one moonlit night in the middle of summer, Fr Oliver enters the lake waters as a priest and emerges from them as a layman, prepared to leave his calling and his country and go out into the world to find experiences beyond what he has known.
It's a very fine scene and reminded me of the closing lines of Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Stephen Dedalus leaves Ireland at the end of that book and says, "I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race."
As well as that extra connection with Joyce, there is an extra connection with Oliver St John Gogarty. One of the causes for the crisis of faith that spurs Fr Oliver to leave Ireland is the inhuman treatment of women by the Church at that time, particularly of unmarried mothers. There's a famous statement by Oliver St John Gogarty from several decades after this book was published: "I think it is high time the men of this country found some other way of loving God than by hating women."
Fr Oliver Gogarty had had that thought before him.
Incidentally, George Moore also left Ireland as a young man—in the 1880s—as if he too felt the need to 'forge his conscience' elsewhere. He went to Paris to try his hand as an artist, and knew Manet, and through him some of the writers and poets of that time including Zola, Mallarmé, and Édouard Dujardin. He roomed with Édouard Dujardin for quite a while which encourages me to read a book by him, one I've had for a long time: Les Lauriers sont coupés. When I pulled out my edition, I found a quote from James Joyce on the back cover. Speaking to Valery Larbaud in 1920, Joyce advised him to read Les lauriers sont coupés because he believed that the book, originally published in 1887, contained the first ever interior monologue.
I think George Moore must have learned a thing or two from Édouard Dujardin.
August 26, 2012
First published in 1905, The Lake is a naturalist novel written by George Augustus Moore, who is often regarded as the first great modern Irish novelist, and whose work influenced the like of James Joyce, or specifically, James Joyce. --Thus says Wiki. I read the novel in that context, so as not to expect modern American literary or social explorations that I've come to love after reading, say, David Foster Wallace or Thomas Pynchon.
The joke was on me. Today, in the Magazine section of NYT I read an article titled, From Bible-Belt Pastor to Atheist Leader, by Robert Worth about a preacher named Jerry DeWitt, who, at the end of the article is quoted: "In the end, I couldn’t help feeling that all religion, even the most loving kind, is just a speed bump in the progress of the human race." The article and The Lake recount the journey of a minister/priest through a struggle and loss of faith. I hate that phrase--loss of faith--because their stories are more a rending of blindfolds exposing a different facet of truth. Deeply moving, honest, and brave, those tales. The subject is as current now as it was in 1905. Fear and social pressure are huge factors in what we believe, as are the comfort beliefs and community can give. As for Truth, no matter what you believe, one has to admire the courage of men and women who dare to search for it.
The joke was on me. Today, in the Magazine section of NYT I read an article titled, From Bible-Belt Pastor to Atheist Leader, by Robert Worth about a preacher named Jerry DeWitt, who, at the end of the article is quoted: "In the end, I couldn’t help feeling that all religion, even the most loving kind, is just a speed bump in the progress of the human race." The article and The Lake recount the journey of a minister/priest through a struggle and loss of faith. I hate that phrase--loss of faith--because their stories are more a rending of blindfolds exposing a different facet of truth. Deeply moving, honest, and brave, those tales. The subject is as current now as it was in 1905. Fear and social pressure are huge factors in what we believe, as are the comfort beliefs and community can give. As for Truth, no matter what you believe, one has to admire the courage of men and women who dare to search for it.
December 6, 2020
George Moore takes on the Irish church, and uses a priest to help him.
Father Oliver Gogarty, the parish priest of a remote area of County Mayo, becomes agitated after a condemnatory sermon of his forces the local music teacher to leave. Listening to a gossip, Gogarty learns that Rose Leicester had been having an affair. He confronts her about, she admits the truth of the allegation, he makes the emotionally charged decision to punish her from the pulpit and lngs to atone:
'Very wonderful is life's coming and going, but however rapidly life passes, there is always time for wrongdoing; and only time for repentance is short. Atonement may be withheld. We always atone sooner or later; the question is in what world do we atone for the sin. But he had committed no sin, only an error of judgment. However this might be, there had been no peace of mind for him ever since.'
Could Moore possibly have selected two more representative Irish figures than a priest and a "fallen" woman? Half epistolary, half narrative in construction, The Lake is not quite a renunciation of faith, but it's certainly a renunciation of the oppressive influence of the Catholic church on Irish society.
Father Oliver immediately regrets driving Rose away, fearing that she may have drowned herself n the lake of the title. However, he soon learns that she has gone to England, had the child which resulted from her affair, and is getting on with her life. They begin a correspondence.
Gogarty questions the motives for his treatment and Rose, which n turn leads him to re-examine his reasons for becoming a priest. In the former instance he comes to realise that he may not have been stimulated by spiritual concerns; in the latter instance his vocation is revealed to be based on a combination of timidity, romanticism and abasement.
Rose becomes personal secretary to an English writer and goes on a tour of Europe. Leaving Ireland has clearly allowed her to blossom In a letter to Father Oliver she says the wrong he did her 'was more sentimental than material.' Eventually he can't deny the truth of this.
This is a superb novel. The themes include other of Moore's usual preoccupations, such as Irish history (particularly Marban, the poet hermit), European art and the higher power of Nature ('belief in books rather than in Nature is he f humanity's most curious characteristics, and a very irreligious one, it seems to me').
p.s. I read this book on the wonderful Open Library website. When I decided to include that longish quote about atonement I decided I would copy and paste it rather than type it out, so I downloaded the version on the (equally wonderful) Project Gutenberg website.
It was completely different! I had trouble finding the quote because it wasn't there. Rose Leicester's name had been changed to the more prosaic Nora Glynn. Entire chunks of randomly compared narrative had obviously been entirely rewritten.
Now I'm left wondering whether or not I read the best version?
Father Oliver Gogarty, the parish priest of a remote area of County Mayo, becomes agitated after a condemnatory sermon of his forces the local music teacher to leave. Listening to a gossip, Gogarty learns that Rose Leicester had been having an affair. He confronts her about, she admits the truth of the allegation, he makes the emotionally charged decision to punish her from the pulpit and lngs to atone:
'Very wonderful is life's coming and going, but however rapidly life passes, there is always time for wrongdoing; and only time for repentance is short. Atonement may be withheld. We always atone sooner or later; the question is in what world do we atone for the sin. But he had committed no sin, only an error of judgment. However this might be, there had been no peace of mind for him ever since.'
Could Moore possibly have selected two more representative Irish figures than a priest and a "fallen" woman? Half epistolary, half narrative in construction, The Lake is not quite a renunciation of faith, but it's certainly a renunciation of the oppressive influence of the Catholic church on Irish society.
Father Oliver immediately regrets driving Rose away, fearing that she may have drowned herself n the lake of the title. However, he soon learns that she has gone to England, had the child which resulted from her affair, and is getting on with her life. They begin a correspondence.
Gogarty questions the motives for his treatment and Rose, which n turn leads him to re-examine his reasons for becoming a priest. In the former instance he comes to realise that he may not have been stimulated by spiritual concerns; in the latter instance his vocation is revealed to be based on a combination of timidity, romanticism and abasement.
Rose becomes personal secretary to an English writer and goes on a tour of Europe. Leaving Ireland has clearly allowed her to blossom In a letter to Father Oliver she says the wrong he did her 'was more sentimental than material.' Eventually he can't deny the truth of this.
This is a superb novel. The themes include other of Moore's usual preoccupations, such as Irish history (particularly Marban, the poet hermit), European art and the higher power of Nature ('belief in books rather than in Nature is he f humanity's most curious characteristics, and a very irreligious one, it seems to me').
p.s. I read this book on the wonderful Open Library website. When I decided to include that longish quote about atonement I decided I would copy and paste it rather than type it out, so I downloaded the version on the (equally wonderful) Project Gutenberg website.
It was completely different! I had trouble finding the quote because it wasn't there. Rose Leicester's name had been changed to the more prosaic Nora Glynn. Entire chunks of randomly compared narrative had obviously been entirely rewritten.
Now I'm left wondering whether or not I read the best version?
September 24, 2018
This story about an Irish priest's struggle with faith is wordy and occasionally rambling. I read the original version, but learned a later version is better done. Moments of insight and interest, but overall a slowly moving epistolary novel.
March 23, 2019
I enjoyed the writing style and the overall story, however I felt the main character was incredibly self-important and had an air of superiority that made reading difficult.
March 6, 2011
I am surprised that there are hardly any reviews of this book. I stumbled on this book from an article on Huffington Post recently about neglected classics. This was the first one on the list and, much to my surprise, I discovered that I could download it for free from the Kindle Store to read it on my free Kindle for PC application. I am so glad I did it.
This book is about a priest who is trapped between his religious belief and duty and his true love for a schoolmistress whom he ran out of a town for committing adultery.
The two main characters are Father Oliver and the schoolmistress, Nora Glynn. Upon hearing a scurrilous rumor from a parishioner about Nora carrying on a relationship with a man (who Nora never reveals), Father Oliver confronts Nora who confesses her relationship and also divulges that she is pregnant.
Father Oliver, who took over from Father Peter, likes Nora and as we find out, really loves her. Without giving much thought on how to help Nora, but more interested on protecting the the parish from a scandal, Father Oliver gives a scathing sermon on chastity that makes it clear to Nora that a stone has been cast on her for sinning. Upon hearing the sermon, Nora leaves the small town and goes to London where she ends up working as an organist in a parish run by an elderly priest named Father O'Grady.
Meanwhile, Father Oliver thinks that Nora has probably committed suicide by jumping in the lake, and just can't get her out of his mind. He is torn in that he feels guilty for the unthinkable and at the same time obsessed with her.
Then one day he receives a letter from Father O'Grady about Nora and her confession to Father O'Grady about what led her to leave Ireland and come to London.
Father Oliver is happy to read that Nora is alive for two reasons: one, he is relieved that he didn't drive her to commit suicide, and second, that he may eventually meet up with her.
In order to get closer to her, he comes up with all sorts of ways to get Nora to come back, but she has no interest in going back to a place from which she has escaped. She is very happy with her new life and tells Father Oliver to move on with his life. Perhaps, he should consider also leaving the small town and start a new life.
The lake is a metaphor for lot of things in this novel. I think the lake may be a metaphor for Catholicism, in that it is old, steady, perpetual and uncompromising. Either he accepts the lake for all its calmness and beauty or cross it for an turbulent and uncertain future. What is he going to do? Nora escaped the lake and has moved on with her life, and, through her letters, is asking Father Oliver to look deeply within himself and encouraging him to take the plunge.
This is at the heart of this novel and is a question that we all ask ourselves whether we can ever escape from what we feel has trapped us in our life, though the plunge is filled with danger and uncertainty.
This is a very good short book, and I really enjoyed it.
This book is about a priest who is trapped between his religious belief and duty and his true love for a schoolmistress whom he ran out of a town for committing adultery.
The two main characters are Father Oliver and the schoolmistress, Nora Glynn. Upon hearing a scurrilous rumor from a parishioner about Nora carrying on a relationship with a man (who Nora never reveals), Father Oliver confronts Nora who confesses her relationship and also divulges that she is pregnant.
Father Oliver, who took over from Father Peter, likes Nora and as we find out, really loves her. Without giving much thought on how to help Nora, but more interested on protecting the the parish from a scandal, Father Oliver gives a scathing sermon on chastity that makes it clear to Nora that a stone has been cast on her for sinning. Upon hearing the sermon, Nora leaves the small town and goes to London where she ends up working as an organist in a parish run by an elderly priest named Father O'Grady.
Meanwhile, Father Oliver thinks that Nora has probably committed suicide by jumping in the lake, and just can't get her out of his mind. He is torn in that he feels guilty for the unthinkable and at the same time obsessed with her.
Then one day he receives a letter from Father O'Grady about Nora and her confession to Father O'Grady about what led her to leave Ireland and come to London.
Father Oliver is happy to read that Nora is alive for two reasons: one, he is relieved that he didn't drive her to commit suicide, and second, that he may eventually meet up with her.
In order to get closer to her, he comes up with all sorts of ways to get Nora to come back, but she has no interest in going back to a place from which she has escaped. She is very happy with her new life and tells Father Oliver to move on with his life. Perhaps, he should consider also leaving the small town and start a new life.
The lake is a metaphor for lot of things in this novel. I think the lake may be a metaphor for Catholicism, in that it is old, steady, perpetual and uncompromising. Either he accepts the lake for all its calmness and beauty or cross it for an turbulent and uncertain future. What is he going to do? Nora escaped the lake and has moved on with her life, and, through her letters, is asking Father Oliver to look deeply within himself and encouraging him to take the plunge.
This is at the heart of this novel and is a question that we all ask ourselves whether we can ever escape from what we feel has trapped us in our life, though the plunge is filled with danger and uncertainty.
This is a very good short book, and I really enjoyed it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 20, 2016
When I was an undergraduate, I read Esther Waters and thought the book was astonishing, if a bit silly at one point. Years later I come to The Lake. It took me some time to get into the book, but once I did, I enjoyed it. Once again, this is an astonishing book to have appeared in 1905. And it shows remarkable sensitivity to gender issues.The story is about a priest who falls in love with a woman of much charm and no little disrepute. But what impresses are the flowers and trees of west Ireland. This is a story about the heart and its natural flowering amid a nature lush and redolent of passion held close. The plot moves slowly, much of it furthered by epistolary means, but it is worth the wait for the magnificent baptism scene near the end. This scene reminded me of the local flavour excitedly presented in John Ford's The Quiet Man. All in all, this book offers lightweight James crossed with perhaps a touch of Gully Jimson (if I have this correct).
July 14, 2016
If your edition of this book has "Rose" as Father Gogarty's correspondent, put it away and get the wonderful revision of 1921, in which the woman's name is "Nora." The early book is okay, but rather chatty and digressive. The 1921 version is gorgeous, a completely different and so much better book. Instead of conversations about topical matters, we get a masterful rendering of a man's inner life, a man who knows himself so little that we, the reader, understand him far more than he understands himself. We watch him grow in self-understanding and, finally, self-acceptance, as if from the inside-out. Instead of hearing his thoughts, we see and sense the world through his body and his eyes. If you think of Joyce and Woolf, you'll know what I mean here.
October 28, 2016
Story of a priest, Father Oliver, set in rural Ireland early in the last century. He becomes friendly with a young woman in the parish. She becomes pregnant by a man outside of the parish, and after the priest berates her for her behavior, moves to London. As time goes by, Father Oliver realizes that his feelings for her are personal, and he tries to establish a new relationship with her outside of her parish. She is not interest and Father Oliver us forced to confront whether to try and get back on course so to speak or move on into the larger world and establish a new life.
July 9, 2015
A change of heart
A beautiful story, though slow moving, about an Irish Catholic priest who has an epiphany about life and love. While I found myself yelling "get on with it" from time to time, it was still worthwhile. Great descriptions of rural life and nature.
A beautiful story, though slow moving, about an Irish Catholic priest who has an epiphany about life and love. While I found myself yelling "get on with it" from time to time, it was still worthwhile. Great descriptions of rural life and nature.
February 19, 2011
no plot. lots of description. some interesting inner monologue of the priest.
November 3, 2014
A priest falls in live, but doesn't realize it. A parable of Moore's hopes for Ireland.
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