''The Adventures of Harry Richmond'' (

1870 Events January–March * January 1 ** The first edition of ''The Northern Echo'' newspaper is published in Priestgate, Darlington, England. ** Plans for the Brooklyn Bridge are completed. * January 3 – Construction of the Br ...

– 71) is a romance by British author

George Meredith George Meredith (12 February 1828 – 18 May 1909) was an English novelist and poet of the Victorian era. At first his focus was poetry, influenced by John Keats among others, but he gradually established a reputation as a novelist. '' The Ord ...

, sometimes picaresque, sometimes melodramatic. It is believed to be strongly autobiographical in some sections. Meredith intended the book to be a popular success, but the roll-call of reprints shows it to have been so only during Meredith's late- Victorian and

Edwardian The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...

heyday, his highly-wrought style proving an obstacle for some readers.

Synopsis

At the beginning of the novel, Harry Richmond is a young boy, living under the care of his grandfather, Squire Beltham, in their home of Riversley, in Hampshire, England. The Squire, one of the wealthiest people in England, had two daughters, one of whom, Dorothy, still lives at Riversley. The other daughter married Roy Richmond, Harry's father, who drove the daughter permanently insane; she is also at Riversley. At the beginning of the book, Roy Richmond shows up at Riversley, and claiming parental rights, takes away Harry to be brought up by him. After some adventures in London, Harry is left in a boarding school by Roy, where he meets a number of friends who show up throughout the novel. While he is there his mother dies. Harry escapes from the school, and with help of the gypsy girl Kiomi, returns to Riversley. While there he misses his father, and overhearing that he may be in London, goes there with his friend Temple. Harry and Temple however end up falling asleep on a boat, the Priscilla, and are taken away against their will to Germany, where Harry rediscovers his father, and meets Princess Ottilia. When Harry comes of age, he inherits a large sum and is told that he will receive 20,000/year if marries his third-cousin Janet Ilchester, of whom the Squire is very fond. Instead Harry, with the considerable help of his father, pursues the Princess, despite the objections of the Prince her father, and after a while, receives her promise to be married, after he becomes a member of Parliament, which eventually occurs. Roy Richmond deceives the Princess into visiting Harry at the Isle of Man, claiming that he is near death. In the climax of the novel, the Squire is supposed to request from the Prince, with expectation of an acceptance, the hand of the Princess. At this point all of the plans of Roy Richmond for his son Harry seem to have come to fruition. However, the Squire discovers that his daughter, Dorothy, has given 25,000 to Roy Richmond to cover his debts, and refuses to carry out the scheme. The plan collapses and the Princess marries a German Prince. Harry Richmond realises that he loves Janet Ilchester, and after further adventures, they are finally married in Germany. After the marriage, they return to Riversley, only to find it engulfed in flames. In the fire Roy Richmond dies looking to the safety of Dorothy.

Writing and publication history

Meredith first began working on ''The Adventures of Harry Richmond'' as far back as 1863, and the following year he told his friend

Augustus Jessopp Augustus Jessopp (20 December 1823 – 12 February 1914) was an English cleric and writer. He spent periods of time as a schoolmaster and then later as a clergyman in Norfolk, England. He wrote regular articles for '' The Nineteenth Century'', ...

that he was writing a work to be called ''The Adventure of Richmond Roy and his Friend, Contrivance Jack: Being the History of Two Rising Men''. Since he was also working on the novels ''Rhoda Fleming'' and ''Vittoria'' in these years progress was slow, but ''Harry Richmond'' was completed by 1870. It first appeared in ''

Cornhill Magazine ''The Cornhill Magazine'' (1860–1975) was a monthly Victorian magazine and literary journal named after the street address of the founding publisher Smith, Elder & Co. at 65 Cornhill in London.Laurel Brake and Marysa Demoor, ''Dictiona ...

'' between September 1870 and November 1871, with illustrations by

George du Maurier George Louis Palmella Busson du Maurier (6 March 1834 – 8 October 1896) was a Franco-British cartoonist and writer known for work in ''Punch'' and a Gothic novel ''Trilby'', featuring the character Svengali. His son was the actor Sir Gerald ...

. The novel had been intended by Meredith as "a spanking bid for popularity", and at first the bid seemed successful. The magazine appearance was followed at the end of 1871 by a three-volume edition issued by Smith, Elder & Co., with a second edition only three months later. At that point the demand died away, and another edition was not needed for 15 years; but with the revival of interest in Meredith in the 1880s a string of reprints began, which lasted up to the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

Critical reception

As with many other of Meredith's novels, ''Harry Richmond'' has always divided critical opinion. From the start many were disconcerted by the spectacle of a studiedly witty and philosophical adventure story. An anonymous reviewer in '' The Examiner'' was damning: W. L. Courtney, writing in the '' Fortnightly Review'' in 1886, complained: On the other hand

Arthur Symons Arthur William Symons (28 February 186522 January 1945) was a British poet, critic and magazine editor. Life Born in Milford Haven, Wales, to Cornish parents, Symons was educated privately, spending much of his time in France and Italy. In 188 ...

found it "rousing, enthralling, exciting, full of poetry, and a serious and masterly study in character", and

Max Beerbohm Sir Henry Maximilian Beerbohm (24 August 1872 – 20 May 1956) was an English essayist, Parody, parodist and Caricature, caricaturist under the signature Max. He first became known in the 1890s as a dandy and a humorist. He was the drama critic ...

enthused: "What a book! What swiftness and beauty and strength! It is the flight of a young golden eagle high across seas and mountains."S. M. Ellis ''George Meredith: His Life and Friends in Relation to his Work'' (London: Grant Richards, 1920) p. 229; David Cecil ''Max: A Biography'' (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1965) p. 365. Gore Vidal claimed that

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has pr ...

enjoyed and "stole" the characters of the Duke and the Dauphin in ''

Huckleberry Finn Huckleberry "Huck" Finn is a fictional character created by Mark Twain who first appeared in the book ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876) and is the protagonist and narrator of its sequel, ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884). He is 12 ...

'' from ''Harry Richmond'', and noted:

Modern editions

* L. T. Hergenhan (ed.) ''The Adventures of Harry Richmond'' (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1970) * Sven-Johan Spånberg (ed.) ''The Adventures of Harry Richmond: The Unpublished Parts'' (Uppsala: Almqvist and Wiksell, 1990)

Notes

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Adventures of Harry Richmond, The 1870 British novels 1871 British novels Novels first published in serial form British romance novels British adventure novels Picaresque novels Works originally published in The Cornhill Magazine Novels by George Meredith