George Moore (novelist)
Encyclopedia
George Augustus Moore was an Irish novelist, short-story writer
, poet, art critic
, memoir
ist 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.
, County Mayo
for almost a century. The house was built by his paternal great-grandfather—also called George Moore—who had made his fortune as a wine merchant in Alicante
.
The novelist's grandfather was a friend of Maria Edgeworth
, and author of An Historical Memoir of the French Revolution. His great-uncle, John Moore
, was president of the short-lived Republic of Connaught
during the Irish Rebellion of 1798
.
The novelist's father, George Henry Moore
, sold his stable and hunting interests during the Great Irish Famine, and from 1847–1857, served as an Independent Member of Parliament
(MP) for Mayo
in the British House of Commons
. George Henry was renowned as a fair landlord, fought to uphold the rights of tenants, and was a founder of the Catholic Defence Association
. His estate consisted of 5000 ha (50 km²) in Mayo, with a further 40 ha in County Roscommon
.
, and also became friendly with the young Willie and Oscar Wilde
, who spent their summer holidays at nearby Moytura. Oscar was to later quip of Moore: "He conducts his education in public".
His father had again turned his attention to horse breeding and in 1861 brought his champion horse, Croagh Patrick, to England for a successful racing season, together with his wife and nine-year old son. For a while George was left at Cliff's stables until his father decided to send George to his alma mater
facilitated by his winnings. Moore's formal education started at St. Mary's College, Oscott, a Catholic boarding school near Birmingham
where he was the youngest of 150 boys. He spent all of 1864 at home, having contracted a lung infection brought about by a breakdown in his health. His academic performance was poor while he was hungry and unhappy. In January 1865, he returned to St. Mary's College with his brother Maurice, where he refused to study as instructed and spent time reading novels and poems. That December the principal, Spencer Northcote, wrote a report that: "he hardly knew what to say about George." By the summer of 1867 he was expelled, for (in his own words) 'idleness and general worthlessness', and returned to Mayo.
His father once remarked, about George and his brother Maurice: "I fear those two redheaded boys are stupid", an observation which proved untrue for all four boys.
where his achievements were no better. He was freed from any burden of education when his father died in 1870. Moore, though still a minor, inherited the family estate that was valued at £3,596. He handed it over to his brother Maurice to manage and in 1873, on attaining his majority, moved to Paris to study art. It took him several attempts to find an artist who would accept him as a pupil. Monsieur Jullian, who had previously been a shepherd and circus masked man, took him on for 40 francs a month. At Académie Jullian he met Lewis Weldon Hawkins who became Moore's flat-mate and whose trait, as a failed artist, show up in Moore's own characters. He met many of the key artists and writers of the time, including Pissarro, Degas, Renoir
, Monet, Daudet
, Mallarmé
, Turgenev and, above all, Zola, who was to prove an influential figure in Moore's subsequent development as a writer.
While still in Paris his first book, a collection of lyric poems called The Flowers of Passion, was self-published in 1877. The poems were derivative, maliciously reviewed by the critics who were offended by some of the depravities in store for moralistic readers and was withdrawn by Moore. He was forced to return to Ireland in 1880 to raise £3,000 to pay debts incurred on the family estate due to his tenants refusing to pay their rent and the drop in agricultural prices. During his time back in Mayo, he gained a reputation as a fair landlord, continuing the family tradition of not evicting tenants and refusing to carry firearms when travelling round the estate. While in Ireland, he decided to abandon art and move to London to become a professional writer. There he published his second poetry collection, Pagan Poems, in 1881. These early poems reflect his interest in French symbolism and are now almost entirely neglected. In 1886 Moore published Confessions of a Young Man
, a lively and energetic memoir about his 20s spent in Paris and London among bohemian artists. It contains a substantial amount of literary criticism for which it has received a fair amount of praise, for instance The Modern Library chose it in 1917 to be included in the series as "one of the most significant documents of the passionate revolt of English literature against the Victorian tradition."
During the 1880s, Moore began work on a series of novels in a realist
style. His first novel, A Modern Lover (1883) was a three-volume work, as preferred by the circulating libraries
, and deals with the art scene of the 1870s and 1880s in which many characters are identifiably real. The circulating libraries in England banned the book because of its explicit portrayal of the amorous pursuits of its hero. At this time the British circulating libraries, such as Mudie's Select Library
, controlled the market for fiction and the public, who paid fees to borrow their books, expected them to guarantee the morality of the novels available. His next book, a novel in the realist style, A Mummers Wife (1885) was also regarded as unsuitable by Mudie's and W H Smith
refused to stock it on their news-stalls. Despite this, during its first year of publication the book was in its fourteenth edition mainly due to the publicity garnered by its opponents. As with A Modern Lover, his two next novels, A Mummers Wife and A Drama in Muslin, were banned by Mudie's and Smith's. In response Moore declared war on the circulating libraries by publishing two provocative pamphlet
s; Literature at Nurse and Circulating Morals. In these, he complained that the libraries profit from salacious popular fiction while refusing to stock serious literary fiction.
Moore's publisher Henry Vizetelly
began to issue unabridged mass-market translations of French realist novels that endangered the moral and commercial influence of the circulating libraries around this time. In 1888, the circulating libraries fought back by encouraging the House of Commons to implement laws to stop 'the rapid spread of demoralising literature in this country'. However, Vizetelly was brought to court by the National Vigilance Association (NVA) for 'obscene libel'. The charge arose due to the publication of the English translation of Zola's La Terre
. A second case was brought the following year in order to force implementation of the original judgement and to remove all of Zola's works. This led to the 70-year-old publisher becoming a cause célèbre
for the literary cause. Throughout Moore stayed loyal to Zola's publisher, and on 22 September 1888, about a month before the trial, wrote a letter that appeared in the St. James Gazette. In it Moore suggested it was improper that Vizetelly's fate be determined by a jury of twelve tradesmen, explaining it would be preferable to be judged by three novelists. Moore pointed out that the NVA could make the same claims against such books as Madame Bovary
and Gautier's
Mademoiselle de Maupin, as their morals are equivalent to Zola's, though their literary merits might differ.
Because of his willingness to tackle such issues as prostitution, extramarital sex and lesbianism, Moore's novels were initially met with disapprobation. However, as the public's taste for realist fiction grew, this subsided. Moore began to find success as an art critic with the publication of books such as Impressions and Opinions (1891) and Modern Painting (1893)—which was the first significant attempt to introduce the Impressionists to an English audience. By this time Moore was first able to live from the proceeds of his literary work.
Other realist novels by Moore from this period include A Drama in Muslin (1886), a satiric story of the marriage trade in Anglo-Irish society that hints at same-sex relationships among the unmarried daughters of the gentry, and Esther Waters
(1894), the story of an unmarried housemaid who becomes pregnant and is abandoned by her footman lover. Both of these books have remained almost constantly in print since their first publication. 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).
. Martyn had been involved in Ireland's cultural and dramatic movements for some years, and was working with Lady Gregory and William Butler Yeats
to establish the Irish Literary Theatre
. Moore soon became deeply involved in this project and in the broader Irish Literary Revival
. He had already written a play, The Strike at Arlingford (1893), which was produced by the Independent Theatre
. The play was the result of a challenge between Moore and George Robert Sims
over Moore's criticism of all contemporary playwrights in Impressions and Opinions. Moore won the one hundred pound bet made by Sims for a stall to witness an "unconventional" play by Moore, though Moore insisted the word "unconventional" be excised.
The Irish Literary Theatre staged his satirical comedy The Bending of the Bough (1900), adapted from Martyn's The Tale of a Town, originally rejected by the theatre but unselfishly given to Moore for revision, and Martyn's Maeve. Staged by the company who would later become the Abbey Theatre
, The Bending of the Bough was a historically important play and introduced realism into Irish literature. Lady Gregory wrote that it: "hits impartially all round". The play was satire on Irish political life, and as it was unexpectedly nationalist, was considered the first to deal with a vital question that had appeared in Irish life. Diarmuid and Grania
, a poetic play in prose co-written with Yeats in 1901, was also staged by the theatre, with incidental music by Elgar. After this production Moore took up pamphleteer
ing on behalf of the Abbey, and parted company with the dramatic movement.
Moore published two books of prose fiction set in Ireland around this time; a second book of short stories, The Untilled Field (1903) and a novel, The Lake (1905). The Untilled Field deal with themes of clerical interference in the daily lives of the Irish peasantry, and of the issue of emigration. The stories were originally written for translation into Irish, in order to serve as models for other writers working in the language. Three of the translations were published in the New Ireland Review, but publication was then paused due to a perceived anti-clerical sentiment. In 1902 the entire collection was translated by Tadhg Ó Donnchadha
and Pádraig Ó Súilleabháin, and published in a parallel-text edition by the Gaelic League as An-tÚr-Ghort. Moore later revised the texts for the English edition. These stories were influenced by Turgenev's A Sportsman's Sketches, a book recommended to Moore by W.K. Magee. Magee was a sub-librarian of the National Library of Ireland
, and had earlier suggested that Moore "was best suited to become Ireland's Turgenev". The tales are recognised by some as representing the birth of the Irish short story as a literary genre. They can further be viewed as forerunners of Joyce's Dubliners
collection, which is concerned with similarly quotidian themes, although in an urban setting.
In 1903, following a disagreement with his brother Maurice over the religious upbringing of his nephews, Moore declared himself to be Protestant. His conversion was announced in a letter to the Irish Times newspaper. Moore remained in Dublin until 1911. In 1914, he published a gossipy, three-volume memoir of his time there under the collective title Hail and Farewell, which entertained its readers but infuriated former friends. Moore himself said of these memoirs, "Dublin is now divided into two sets; one half is afraid it will be in the book, and the other is afraid that it won't".
Partly due to Maurice Moore's pro-treaty
activity, Moore Hall was burnt by anti-treaty forces in 1923, during the final months of the Irish Civil War
. Moore eventually received compensation of £7,000 from the government of the Irish Free State
. By this time George and Maurice had become estranged, mainly because of an unflattering portrait of the latter which appeared in Hail and Farewell. Tension also arose as a result of Maurice's active support of the Roman Catholic Church, to which he frequently made donations from estate funds. Moore later sold a large part of the estate to the Irish Land Commission
for £25,000.
Moore was friendly with many members of the expatriate artistic communities in London and Paris, and had a long-lasting relationship with Maud, Lady Cunard
. Moore took a special interest in the education of Maud's daughter, the well-known publisher and art patron, Nancy Cunard
. It has been suggested that Moore, rather than Maud's husband, Sir Bache Cunard
, was Nancy's father, but this is not generally credited by historians, and it is not certain that Moore's relationship with Nancy's mother was ever more than platonic. Moore was believed by some to be impotent and was described as "one who told but didn't kiss". Gertrude Stein
mentions Moore in her The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas
(1933), describing him as 'a very prosperous Mellon's Food baby'.
Moore's last novel, Aphroditis in Aulis, was published in 1930. He contracted uraemia and died at his home at Ebury Street
in the London district of Pimlico
. When he died, he left a fortune of £80,000, none of which was left to his brother. He was cremated in London and an urn containing his ashes was interred on Castle Island in Lough Carra in view of the ruins of Moore Hall.
Letters
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
, poet, art critic
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
, memoir
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
ist and dramatist. Moore came from a Roman Catholic landed family who lived at Moore Hall in Carra, County Mayo
Carra, County Mayo
Carra is one of the nine baronies of County Mayo in Ireland, located in the mid-south area of the county. It is sometimes known as Burriscarra and on the map of Mayo baronies below it is the portion shown in grey in the south of the county....
. 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
Naturalism (literature)
Naturalism was a literary movement taking place from the 1880s to 1940s that used detailed realism to suggest that social conditions, heredity, and environment had inescapable force in shaping human character...
writer, he was amongst the first English-language authors to absorb the lessons of the French realists
Literary realism
Literary realism most often refers to the trend, beginning with certain works of nineteenth-century French literature and extending to late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century authors in various countries, towards depictions of contemporary life and society "as they were." In the spirit of...
, and was particularly influenced by the works of Émile Zola
Émile Zola
Émile François Zola was a French writer, the most important exemplar of the literary school of naturalism and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism...
. His writings influenced James Joyce
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
, according to the literary critic and biographer Richard Ellmann
Richard Ellmann
Richard David Ellmann was a prominent American literary critic and biographer of the Irish writers James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, and William Butler Yeats...
, 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.
Family origins
George Moore's family had lived in Moore Hall, near Lough CarraLough Carra
Lough Carra is a limestone lake of , located in the Barony of Carra, County Mayo, Ireland, approximate 8 miles south of Castlebar. It is approximately long and varies in width from to one mile . The average depth is , with a maximum of 60. Lough Carra was part of the estate of the well-known...
, County Mayo
County Mayo
County Mayo is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the village of Mayo, which is now generally known as Mayo Abbey. Mayo County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county is 130,552...
for almost a century. The house was built by his paternal great-grandfather—also called George Moore—who had made his fortune as a wine merchant in Alicante
Alicante
Alicante or Alacant is a city in Spain, the capital of the province of Alicante and of the comarca of Alacantí, in the south of the Valencian Community. It is also a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city of Alicante proper was 334,418, estimated , ranking as the second-largest...
.
The novelist's grandfather was a friend of Maria Edgeworth
Maria Edgeworth
Maria Edgeworth was a prolific Anglo-Irish writer of adults' and children's literature. She was one of the first realist writers in children's literature and was a significant figure in the evolution of the novel in Europe...
, and author of An Historical Memoir of the French Revolution. His great-uncle, John Moore
John Moore (Irish politician)
John Moore was an Irish statesman and rebel leader.-Early life:From Ashbrook, near Straide, Co. Mayo, John Moore was the son of a prosperous merchant, George Moore. He was educated at the Catholic school of Douai, and at the University of Paris under the assumed name of "Bellew"...
, was president of the short-lived Republic of Connaught
Republic of Connaught
The Irish Republic, more commonly referred to as the Republic of Connacht, was a short-lived Irish breakaway state established with French Directory military support for 13 days during the Irish Rebellion of 1798.-Proclamation:...
during the Irish Rebellion of 1798
Irish Rebellion of 1798
The Irish Rebellion of 1798 , also known as the United Irishmen Rebellion , was an uprising in 1798, lasting several months, against British rule in Ireland...
.
The novelist's father, George Henry Moore
George Henry Moore
George Henry Moore was an Irish politician who served as Member of Parliament for Mayo in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. He was one of the founders of the Catholic Defence Association and a leader of the Independent Irish Party. He was also father of the writer George A. Moore and the...
, sold his stable and hunting interests during the Great Irish Famine, and from 1847–1857, served as an Independent Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) for Mayo
Mayo (UK Parliament constituency)
Mayo was a parliamentary constituency in Ireland, which returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1885.-History :...
in the British House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
. George Henry was renowned as a fair landlord, fought to uphold the rights of tenants, and was a founder of the Catholic Defence Association
Catholic Defence Association
The Catholic Defence Association was an organisation founded in 1851 by William Keogh, John Sadleir and George Henry Moore to defend the rights of Irish Roman Catholics and tenant farmers.-Other uses:...
. His estate consisted of 5000 ha (50 km²) in Mayo, with a further 40 ha in County Roscommon
County Roscommon
County Roscommon is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the town of Roscommon. Roscommon County Council is the local authority for the county...
.
Early life
George Moore was born in Moore Hall in 1852. As a child, Moore enjoyed the novels of Walter Scott, which his father read to him. He spent a good deal of time outdoors with his brother, Maurice George MooreMaurice George Moore
Maurice George Moore was an Irish soldier, author and politician.Moore was the second of four sons born to George Henry Moore of Moore Hall, County Mayo, and Mary Blake of Ballinafad, County Galway. His elder brother was the writer, George A. Moore.Moore joined the British army in 1874 and saw...
, and also became friendly with the young Willie and Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
, who spent their summer holidays at nearby Moytura. Oscar was to later quip of Moore: "He conducts his education in public".
His father had again turned his attention to horse breeding and in 1861 brought his champion horse, Croagh Patrick, to England for a successful racing season, together with his wife and nine-year old son. For a while George was left at Cliff's stables until his father decided to send George to his alma mater
Alma mater
Alma mater , pronounced ), was used in ancient Rome as a title for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele, and in Christianity for the Virgin Mary.-General term:...
facilitated by his winnings. Moore's formal education started at St. Mary's College, Oscott, a Catholic boarding school near Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
where he was the youngest of 150 boys. He spent all of 1864 at home, having contracted a lung infection brought about by a breakdown in his health. His academic performance was poor while he was hungry and unhappy. In January 1865, he returned to St. Mary's College with his brother Maurice, where he refused to study as instructed and spent time reading novels and poems. That December the principal, Spencer Northcote, wrote a report that: "he hardly knew what to say about George." By the summer of 1867 he was expelled, for (in his own words) 'idleness and general worthlessness', and returned to Mayo.
His father once remarked, about George and his brother Maurice: "I fear those two redheaded boys are stupid", an observation which proved untrue for all four boys.
London and Paris
In 1868, Moore's father was again elected MP for Mayo and the family moved to London the following year. Here, Moore senior tried, unsuccessfully, to have his son follow a career in the military though, prior to this, he attended the School of Art in the South Kensington MuseumVictoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...
where his achievements were no better. He was freed from any burden of education when his father died in 1870. Moore, though still a minor, inherited the family estate that was valued at £3,596. He handed it over to his brother Maurice to manage and in 1873, on attaining his majority, moved to Paris to study art. It took him several attempts to find an artist who would accept him as a pupil. Monsieur Jullian, who had previously been a shepherd and circus masked man, took him on for 40 francs a month. At Académie Jullian he met Lewis Weldon Hawkins who became Moore's flat-mate and whose trait, as a failed artist, show up in Moore's own characters. He met many of the key artists and writers of the time, including Pissarro, Degas, Renoir
Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Pierre-Auguste Renoir was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty, and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that "Renoir is the final representative of a tradition which runs directly from Rubens to...
, Monet, Daudet
Alphonse Daudet
Alphonse Daudet was a French novelist. He was the father of Léon Daudet and Lucien Daudet.- Early life :Alphonse Daudet was born in Nîmes, France. His family, on both sides, belonged to the bourgeoisie. The father, Vincent Daudet, was a silk manufacturer — a man dogged through life by misfortune...
, Mallarmé
Stéphane Mallarmé
Stéphane Mallarmé , whose real name was Étienne Mallarmé, was a French poet and critic. He was a major French symbolist poet, and his work anticipated and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools of the early 20th century, such as Dadaism, Surrealism, and Futurism.-Biography:Stéphane...
, Turgenev and, above all, Zola, who was to prove an influential figure in Moore's subsequent development as a writer.
While still in Paris his first book, a collection of lyric poems called The Flowers of Passion, was self-published in 1877. The poems were derivative, maliciously reviewed by the critics who were offended by some of the depravities in store for moralistic readers and was withdrawn by Moore. He was forced to return to Ireland in 1880 to raise £3,000 to pay debts incurred on the family estate due to his tenants refusing to pay their rent and the drop in agricultural prices. During his time back in Mayo, he gained a reputation as a fair landlord, continuing the family tradition of not evicting tenants and refusing to carry firearms when travelling round the estate. While in Ireland, he decided to abandon art and move to London to become a professional writer. There he published his second poetry collection, Pagan Poems, in 1881. These early poems reflect his interest in French symbolism and are now almost entirely neglected. In 1886 Moore published Confessions of a Young Man
Confessions of a Young Man
Confessions of a Young Man is a memoir by Irish novelist George Moore who spent about 15 years in his teens and 20s in Paris and later London as a struggling artist...
, a lively and energetic memoir about his 20s spent in Paris and London among bohemian artists. It contains a substantial amount of literary criticism for which it has received a fair amount of praise, for instance The Modern Library chose it in 1917 to be included in the series as "one of the most significant documents of the passionate revolt of English literature against the Victorian tradition."
Controversy in England
Realism (arts)
Realism in the visual arts and literature refers to the general attempt to depict subjects "in accordance with secular, empirical rules", as they are considered to exist in third person objective reality, without embellishment or interpretation...
style. His first novel, A Modern Lover (1883) was a three-volume work, as preferred by the circulating libraries
Subscription library
A subscription library is a library that is financed by private funds either from membership fees or endowments...
, and deals with the art scene of the 1870s and 1880s in which many characters are identifiably real. The circulating libraries in England banned the book because of its explicit portrayal of the amorous pursuits of its hero. At this time the British circulating libraries, such as Mudie's Select Library
Charles Edward Mudie
Charles Edward Mudie , English publisher and founder of Mudie's Lending Library and Mudie’s Subscription Library, was the son of a second-hand bookseller and newsagent. In 1840 he established a stationery and book-selling business in Bloomsbury...
, controlled the market for fiction and the public, who paid fees to borrow their books, expected them to guarantee the morality of the novels available. His next book, a novel in the realist style, A Mummers Wife (1885) was also regarded as unsuitable by Mudie's and W H Smith
W H Smith
WHSmith plc is a British retailer, headquartered in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. It is best known for its chain of high street, railway station, airport, hospital and motorway service station shops selling books, stationery, magazines, newspapers, and entertainment products...
refused to stock it on their news-stalls. Despite this, during its first year of publication the book was in its fourteenth edition mainly due to the publicity garnered by its opponents. As with A Modern Lover, his two next novels, A Mummers Wife and A Drama in Muslin, were banned by Mudie's and Smith's. In response Moore declared war on the circulating libraries by publishing two provocative pamphlet
Pamphlet
A pamphlet is an unbound booklet . It may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths , or it may consist of a few pages that are folded in half and saddle stapled at the crease to make a simple book...
s; Literature at Nurse and Circulating Morals. In these, he complained that the libraries profit from salacious popular fiction while refusing to stock serious literary fiction.
Moore's publisher Henry Vizetelly
Henry Vizetelly
Henry Richard Vizetelly was an English publisher, the son of a printer. He was early apprenticed as a wood engraver, and one of his first blocks was a portrait of Old Parr....
began to issue unabridged mass-market translations of French realist novels that endangered the moral and commercial influence of the circulating libraries around this time. In 1888, the circulating libraries fought back by encouraging the House of Commons to implement laws to stop 'the rapid spread of demoralising literature in this country'. However, Vizetelly was brought to court by the National Vigilance Association (NVA) for 'obscene libel'. The charge arose due to the publication of the English translation of Zola's La Terre
La Terre
La Terre is a novel by Émile Zola, published in 1887. It is the fifteenth novel in Zola's Rougon-Macquart series. The action takes place in a rural community in La Beauce, an area of northern France...
. A second case was brought the following year in order to force implementation of the original judgement and to remove all of Zola's works. This led to the 70-year-old publisher becoming a cause célèbre
Cause célèbre
A is an issue or incident arousing widespread controversy, outside campaigning and heated public debate. The term is particularly used in connection with celebrated legal cases. It is a French phrase in common English use...
for the literary cause. Throughout Moore stayed loyal to Zola's publisher, and on 22 September 1888, about a month before the trial, wrote a letter that appeared in the St. James Gazette. In it Moore suggested it was improper that Vizetelly's fate be determined by a jury of twelve tradesmen, explaining it would be preferable to be judged by three novelists. Moore pointed out that the NVA could make the same claims against such books as Madame Bovary
Madame Bovary
Madame Bovary is Gustave Flaubert's first published novel and is considered his masterpiece. The story focuses on a doctor's wife, Emma Bovary, who has adulterous affairs and lives beyond her means in order to escape the banalities and emptiness of provincial life...
and Gautier's
Théophile Gautier
Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, art critic and literary critic....
Mademoiselle de Maupin, as their morals are equivalent to Zola's, though their literary merits might differ.
Because of his willingness to tackle such issues as prostitution, extramarital sex and lesbianism, Moore's novels were initially met with disapprobation. However, as the public's taste for realist fiction grew, this subsided. Moore began to find success as an art critic with the publication of books such as Impressions and Opinions (1891) and Modern Painting (1893)—which was the first significant attempt to introduce the Impressionists to an English audience. By this time Moore was first able to live from the proceeds of his literary work.
Other realist novels by Moore from this period include A Drama in Muslin (1886), a satiric story of the marriage trade in Anglo-Irish society that hints at same-sex relationships among the unmarried daughters of the gentry, and Esther Waters
Esther Waters
Esther Waters is a novel by George Moore first published in 1894.-Introduction:Set in England from the early 1870s onward, the novel is about a young, pious woman from a poor working class family who, while working as a kitchen maid, is seduced by another employee, becomes pregnant, is deserted by...
(1894), the story of an unmarried housemaid who becomes pregnant and is abandoned by her footman lover. Both of these books have remained almost constantly in print since their first publication. 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).
Dublin and the Celtic Revival
In 1901, Moore returned to Ireland to live in Dublin at the suggestion of his cousin and friend, Edward MartynEdward Martyn
Edward Martyn was an Irish political and cultural activist and playwright.-Early life:Martyn was the eldest son of John Martyn of Tullira and Annie Mary Josephine Smyth of Masonbrook, Loughrea, both in County Galway. He succeeded his father upon John's death in 1860...
. Martyn had been involved in Ireland's cultural and dramatic movements for some years, and was working with Lady Gregory and William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years he served as an Irish Senator for two terms...
to establish the Irish Literary Theatre
Abbey Theatre
The Abbey Theatre , also known as the National Theatre of Ireland , is a theatre located in Dublin, Ireland. The Abbey first opened its doors to the public on 27 December 1904. Despite losing its original building to a fire in 1951, it has remained active to the present day...
. Moore soon became deeply involved in this project and in the broader Irish Literary Revival
Celtic Revival
Celtic Revival covers a variety of movements and trends, mostly in the 19th and 20th centuries, which drew on the traditions of Celtic literature and Celtic art, or in fact more often what art historians call Insular art...
. He had already written a play, The Strike at Arlingford (1893), which was produced by the Independent Theatre
Independent Theatre
The Independent Theatre was a dramatic society founded in 1930 by Doris Fitton , and was also the name given to the building it occupied from 1938. It was named for London's Independent Theatre Society founded by J. T...
. The play was the result of a challenge between Moore and George Robert Sims
George Robert Sims
George Robert Sims was an English journalist, poet, dramatist, novelist and bon vivant.Sims began writing lively humour and satiric pieces for Fun magazine and The Referee, but he was soon concentrating on social reform, particularly the plight of the poor in London's slums...
over Moore's criticism of all contemporary playwrights in Impressions and Opinions. Moore won the one hundred pound bet made by Sims for a stall to witness an "unconventional" play by Moore, though Moore insisted the word "unconventional" be excised.
The Irish Literary Theatre staged his satirical comedy The Bending of the Bough (1900), adapted from Martyn's The Tale of a Town, originally rejected by the theatre but unselfishly given to Moore for revision, and Martyn's Maeve. Staged by the company who would later become the Abbey Theatre
Abbey Theatre
The Abbey Theatre , also known as the National Theatre of Ireland , is a theatre located in Dublin, Ireland. The Abbey first opened its doors to the public on 27 December 1904. Despite losing its original building to a fire in 1951, it has remained active to the present day...
, The Bending of the Bough was a historically important play and introduced realism into Irish literature. Lady Gregory wrote that it: "hits impartially all round". The play was satire on Irish political life, and as it was unexpectedly nationalist, was considered the first to deal with a vital question that had appeared in Irish life. Diarmuid and Grania
Diarmuid and Grania
Diarmuid and Grania is a play in poetic prose co-written by George Moore and W. B. Yeats in 1901, with incidental music by the English composer Edward Elgar.-Play:...
, a poetic play in prose co-written with Yeats in 1901, was also staged by the theatre, with incidental music by Elgar. After this production Moore took up pamphleteer
Pamphleteer
A pamphleteer is a historical term for someone who creates or distributes pamphlets. Pamphlets were used to broadcast the writer's opinions on an issue, for example, in order to get people to vote for their favorite politician or to articulate a particular political ideology.A famous pamphleteer...
ing on behalf of the Abbey, and parted company with the dramatic movement.
Moore published two books of prose fiction set in Ireland around this time; a second book of short stories, The Untilled Field (1903) and a novel, The Lake (1905). The Untilled Field deal with themes of clerical interference in the daily lives of the Irish peasantry, and of the issue of emigration. The stories were originally written for translation into Irish, in order to serve as models for other writers working in the language. Three of the translations were published in the New Ireland Review, but publication was then paused due to a perceived anti-clerical sentiment. In 1902 the entire collection was translated by Tadhg Ó Donnchadha
Tadhg Ó Donnchadha
Tadhg Ó Donnchadha was an Irish writer, poet, editor, translator and a prominent member of the Gaelic League and the Gaelic Athletic Association....
and Pádraig Ó Súilleabháin, and published in a parallel-text edition by the Gaelic League as An-tÚr-Ghort. Moore later revised the texts for the English edition. These stories were influenced by Turgenev's A Sportsman's Sketches, a book recommended to Moore by W.K. Magee. Magee was a sub-librarian of the National Library of Ireland
National Library of Ireland
The National Library of Ireland is Ireland's national library located in Dublin, in a building designed by Thomas Newenham Deane. The Minister for Arts, Sport & Tourism is the member of the Irish Government responsible for the library....
, and had earlier suggested that Moore "was best suited to become Ireland's Turgenev". The tales are recognised by some as representing the birth of the Irish short story as a literary genre. They can further be viewed as forerunners of Joyce's Dubliners
Dubliners
Dubliners is a collection of 15 short stories by James Joyce, first published in 1914. They were meant to be a naturalistic depiction of Irish middle class life in and around Dublin in the early years of the 20th century....
collection, which is concerned with similarly quotidian themes, although in an urban setting.
In 1903, following a disagreement with his brother Maurice over the religious upbringing of his nephews, Moore declared himself to be Protestant. His conversion was announced in a letter to the Irish Times newspaper. Moore remained in Dublin until 1911. In 1914, he published a gossipy, three-volume memoir of his time there under the collective title Hail and Farewell, which entertained its readers but infuriated former friends. Moore himself said of these memoirs, "Dublin is now divided into two sets; one half is afraid it will be in the book, and the other is afraid that it won't".
Later life
Moore returned to London, where, with the exception of frequent trips to France, he was to spend the rest of his life. In 1913, he travelled to Jerusalem to research for his next novel The Brook Kerith (1916). This book saw Moore once again embroiled in controversy, as it was based on the supposition that a non-divine Christ did not die on the cross but instead was nursed back to health. In The Brook Kerith, Jesus eventually travelled to India to find wisdom. Other books from this period include a further collection of short-stories called A Storyteller's Holiday (1918), a collection of essays called Conversations in Ebury Street (1924) and a play, The Making of an Immortal (1927). Moore also spent considerable time revising and preparing his earlier writings for a uniform edition.Partly due to Maurice Moore's pro-treaty
Anglo-Irish Treaty
The Anglo-Irish Treaty , officially called the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was a treaty between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and representatives of the secessionist Irish Republic that concluded the Irish War of...
activity, Moore Hall was burnt by anti-treaty forces in 1923, during the final months of the Irish Civil War
Irish Civil War
The Irish Civil War was a conflict that accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State as an entity independent from the United Kingdom within the British Empire....
. Moore eventually received compensation of £7,000 from the government of the Irish Free State
Irish Free State
The Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand...
. By this time George and Maurice had become estranged, mainly because of an unflattering portrait of the latter which appeared in Hail and Farewell. Tension also arose as a result of Maurice's active support of the Roman Catholic Church, to which he frequently made donations from estate funds. Moore later sold a large part of the estate to the Irish Land Commission
Irish Land Commission
The Irish Land Commission was created in 1881 as a rent fixing commission by the Land Law Act 1881, also known as the second Irish Land Act...
for £25,000.
Moore was friendly with many members of the expatriate artistic communities in London and Paris, and had a long-lasting relationship with Maud, Lady Cunard
Maud Cunard
Maud Alice Burke , later Lady Cunard, known as Emerald, was an American-born, London-based society hostess. She had long relationships with the novelist George Moore and the conductor Thomas Beecham, and was the muse of the former and a champion of and fund-raiser for the latter...
. Moore took a special interest in the education of Maud's daughter, the well-known publisher and art patron, Nancy Cunard
Nancy Cunard
Nancy Clara Cunard was a writer, heiress and political activist. She was born into the British upper class but strongly rejected her family's values, devoting much of her life to fighting racism and fascism...
. It has been suggested that Moore, rather than Maud's husband, Sir Bache Cunard
Cunard Baronets
The Cunard Baronetcy, of Bush Hill in Nova Scotia, was a title in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1859 for Samuel Cunard, the Canadian-born British shipping magnate...
, was Nancy's father, but this is not generally credited by historians, and it is not certain that Moore's relationship with Nancy's mother was ever more than platonic. Moore was believed by some to be impotent and was described as "one who told but didn't kiss". Gertrude Stein
Gertrude Stein
Gertrude Stein was an American writer, poet and art collector who spent most of her life in France.-Early life:...
mentions Moore in her The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas
The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas
The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas is a 1933 book by Gertrude Stein, written in the guise of an autobiography authored by Alice B. Toklas, who was her lover.-Summary:-Before I came to Paris:...
(1933), describing him as 'a very prosperous Mellon's Food baby'.
Moore's last novel, Aphroditis in Aulis, was published in 1930. He contracted uraemia and died at his home at Ebury Street
Ebury Street
Ebury Street is a street in Belgravia, City of Westminster, London. It runs from the Grosvenor Gardens junction south-westwards to Pimlico Road. The odd numbers run from 1 to 231 on the east side and even numbers 2 to 230 on the west side...
in the London district of Pimlico
Pimlico
Pimlico is a small area of central London in the City of Westminster. Like Belgravia, to which it was built as a southern extension, Pimlico is known for its grand garden squares and impressive Regency architecture....
. When he died, he left a fortune of £80,000, none of which was left to his brother. He was cremated in London and an urn containing his ashes was interred on Castle Island in Lough Carra in view of the ruins of Moore Hall.
Works
- Flowers of Passion London: Provost & Company, 1878
- Martin Luther: A Tragedy in Five Acts London: Remington & Company, 1879
- Pagan Poems London: Newman & Company, 1881
- A Modern Lover London: Tinsley BrothersWilliam TinsleyWilliam Tinsley was a British publisher. The son of a gamekeeper, he had little formal education; but together with his brother Edward he founded the firm of Tinsley Brothers, which published many of the leading novelists of the time.-Life:Tinsley was born in the village of South Mimms, north of...
, 1883 - A Mummer's Wife London: Vizetelly & Company, 1885
- Literature at Nurse London: Vizetelly & Company, 1885
- A Drama in Muslin London: Vizetelly & Company, 1886
- Confessions of a Young ManConfessions of a Young ManConfessions of a Young Man is a memoir by Irish novelist George Moore who spent about 15 years in his teens and 20s in Paris and later London as a struggling artist...
Swan Sonnenshein Lowrey & Company, 1886 - A Mere Accident London: Vizetelly & Company, 1887
- Parnell and His Island London; Swan Sonnenshein Lowrey & Company, 1887
- Spring Days London: Vizetelly & Company, 1888
- Mike Fletcher London: Ward & Downey, 1889
- Impressions and Opinions London; David Nutt, 1891
- Vain Fortune London: Henry & Company, 1891
- Modern Painting London: Walter Scott, 1893
- The Strike at Arlingford London: Walter Scott, 1893
- Esther WatersEsther WatersEsther Waters is a novel by George Moore first published in 1894.-Introduction:Set in England from the early 1870s onward, the novel is about a young, pious woman from a poor working class family who, while working as a kitchen maid, is seduced by another employee, becomes pregnant, is deserted by...
London: Walter Scott, 1894 - Celibates London: Walter Scott, 1895
- Evelyn Innes London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1898
- The Bending of the Bough London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1900
- Sister Theresa London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1901
- The Untilled Field London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1903
- The Lake London: William Heinemann, 1905
- Memoirs of My Dead Life London: William Heinemann, 1906
- The Apostle: A Drama in Three Acts Dublin: Maunsel & Company, 1911
- Hail and Farewell London: William Heinemann, 1911, 1912, 1914
- The Apostle: A Drama in Three Acts Dublin: Maunsel & Company, 1911
- Elizabeth Cooper Dublin: Maunsel & Company, 1913
- Muslin London: William Heinemann, 1915
- The Brook Kerith: A Syrian Story London: T. Warner Laurie, 1916
- Lewis Seymour and Some Women New York: Brentano's, 1917
- A Story-Teller's Holiday London: Cumann Sean-eolais na hEireann (privately printed), 1918
- Avowals London: Cumann Sean-eolais na hEireann (privately printed), 1919
- The Coming of Gabrielle London: Cumann Sean-eolais na hEireann (privately printed), 1920
- Heloise and Abelard London: Cumann Sean-eolais na hEireann (privately printed), 1921
- In Single Strictness London: William Heinemann, 1922
- Conversations in Ebury Street London: William Heinemann, 1924
- Pure Poetry: An Anthology London: Nonesuch Press, 1924
- The Pastoral Loves of Daphnis and Chloe London: William Heinemann, 1924
- Daphnis and Chloe, Peronnik the Fool New York: Boni & Liveright, 1924
- Ulick and Soracha London: Nonesuch Press, 1926
- Celibate Lives London: William Heinemann, 1927 (This collection includes the short story "The Singular Life of Albert Nobbs" which is being made into a movie with Glenn CloseAlbert NobbsAlbert Nobbs is a film starring Glenn Close and directed by Rodrigo García. The screenplay is based on a short story by Irish novelist George Moore.- Plot :Glenn Close plays a woman passing as a man in order to work and survive in 19th century Ireland...
.) - The Making of an Immortal New York: Bowling Green Press, 1927
- The Passing of the Essenes: A Drama in Three Acts London: William Heinemann, 1930
- Aphrodite in Aulis New York: Fountain Press, 1930
- A Communication to My Friends London: Nonesuch Press, 1933
- Diarmuid and Grania: A Play in Three Acts Co-written with W.B. YeatsWilliam Butler YeatsWilliam Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years he served as an Irish Senator for two terms...
, Edited by Anthony Farrow, Chicago: De Paul, 1974
Letters
- Moore Versus Harris Detroit: privately printed, 1921
- Letters to Dujardin New York: Crosby Gaige, 1929
- Letters of George Moore Bournemouth: Sydenham, 1942
- Letters to Lady Cunard Ed. Rupert Hart-Davis. London: Rupert Hart-Davis, 1957
- George Moore in Transition Ed. Helmut E. Gerber, Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1968
External links
- Works by or about George Moore at Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
(scanned books original editions color illustrated) (plain text and HTML) - The Brook Kerith by George Moore, 1916
- George Moore at the Princess Grace Irish Library