''The House on the Beach: A Realistic Tale'' is a novella by

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

novelist

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 ...

. It first appeared in print in 1877.

Plot

A young woman is forced by conscience to become inappropriately engaged to a far older man, who threatens to reveal the secret that her father was previously a

deserter Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or post without permission (a pass, liberty or leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with unauthorized absence (UA) or absence without leave (AWOL ), which ...

Background

Although the novella wasn't written until the late 1870s, Meredith had started the story 15 years prior in Seaford. He appears to have been inspired to take up the story again after the 1876 Great Flood at Seaford, which forms the novella's dramatic denouement. ''The House on the Beach'' was first published in ''New Quarterly'' magazine in January 1877, a magazine in which Meredith also published ''The Case of General Ople and Lady Camper'' and ''The Tale of Chloe'', novellas often classified and published with ''The House on the Beach''.

Literary criticism

In assessing Meredith's approach to the comedic, the character of Tinman dressing himself in his court dress for his own admiration is an example of "when the control of reason is removed".

References

Novels by George Meredith 1877 British novels British novellas {{1870s-novel-stub