THE ORDEAL OF RICHARD FEVEREL. (1859). George Meredith. ****.
I’ll say right off that I found this a difficult novel to read. It’s structure was dense, with an initial offering of a large cast of characters that ultimately disappears, but is resurrected again in subsequent parts of the story. I was surprised to learn that the novel was suppressed (though not banned in the usual sense of the word – simply not advertised by the lending libraries of the day) upon its publication. The reason was that it was considered not suitable for family consumption. Although it did contain some scenes of a sexual nature, these would seem almost innocent by today’s standards, but were enough back then to put the book on a back shelf. Times were different. A normal evening’s entertainment for a family might have been to read aloud from the latest book of interest. That meant that the book had to be suitable for all ages to hear and read from. Any deviation from this put the book in limbo. Aside from these few peccadillos, the author meant to provide insights into the then current opinions about the state of education. It turns out that the ‘ordeal’ referred to in the title was young Richard’s forced adherence to his father’s system to privately educate Richard at home – away from the influences of people his own age and of teachers who would instill in him modes of thinking contrary to a proper up-bringing. Richard’s father, Sir Austin Feverel, was a man of means and a baronet of his estate of Raynham Abbey. His wife had left him for another man, and he decided to raise Richard on his own. There were lots of hangers-on at the estate who came and went – all of them eccentric in some way, but all pivotal, with the approval of Sir Austin – to Richard’s education. Sir Austin constantly referred to his “bible,” a book of aphorisms that he wrote – and continued to update – that contained the essence of his beliefs. The book was titled, “The Pilgrim’s Scrip,” and was an on-going collection of Sir Austin’s observations on life and love, and any other topic that came up. The tale starts out on Richard’s seventh birthday, where he begins to show signs of rebellion, but has not yet reached the age where such rebellion could show any effectiveness. The next section describes the boy’s fourteenth birthday. It was then that he had acquired an outside friend of his own age, Master Ripton Thompson, with whom he managed to carry out his adventures. The big scene here was the setting on fire of a neighbor’s hay rick in response to an earlier confrontation. When I read this, I thought, “Aha – here’s his ‘ordeal.’” I was wrong. The ordeal was ongoing in his treatment by his parent. Subsequent adventures ensued that showed stages in his growing up, and the continued application of his father’s system in dealing with them. I was pleasantly surprised at the wit and humor displayed by the author in the writing of this novel. He managed to show the nature of class distinctions in England at the time and to reduce them to ridicule through the actions of their participants. Telling more of the book would spoil it for the reader, so I have to simply recommend that you try it. It was, I thought, an amazing first novel, and has continued to be read down through the years for its insights into the times and the philosophies of education that dominated people’s actions. Recommended.