George Meredith

George Meredith was an English novelist and poet of the Victorian era. At first, his focus was poetry, influenced by John Keats among others, but Meredith gradually established a reputation as a novelist. The Ordeal of Richard Feverel (1859) briefly scandalised Victorian literary circles. Of his later novels, the most enduring is The Egoist (1879), though in his lifetime his greatest success was Diana of the Crossways (1885). His novels were innovative in their attention to characters' psychology, and also portrayed social change. His style, in both poetry and prose, was noted for its syntactic complexity; Oscar Wilde likened it to "chaos illumined by brilliant flashes of lightning". Meredith was an encourager of other novelists, as well as an influence on them; among those to benefit were Robert Louis Stevenson and George Gissing. Meredith was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature seven times.

12 February 1828

Born on the same birth day (12 February): Anne Osborn Krueger • Charles Mathiesen • Charles Pinot Duclos • Chet Lemon • Chynna Phillips • Darren Aronofsky • Dayananda Saraswati • Ehud Barak • Emil Lenz • Juan Carlos Ferrero • Naomi Uemura • Nicholas Soames • Nicolás Otamendi • Ray Manzarek • Simon MacCorkindale • William Wetmore Story

Born in the same month (February 1828): Edmond François Valentin About • Emmeline B. Wells • Jules Verne