One of Our Conquerors - Complete

In One of Our Conquerors, George Meredith dissects the triumphs and evasions of Victor Radnor, a brilliant man of business whose worldly success cannot protect him, Nataly Dreighton, and their daughter Nesta from the moral penalties of an irregular union. The novel's plot turns less on melodramatic incident than on the pressure exerted by Victorian society, marriage law, money, and reputation. Meredith's late style-elliptical, aphoristic, intellectually comic-places the book within the high Victorian tradition of the social novel while anticipating modern psychological fiction in its probing of motive and self-deception. Meredith, poet, novelist, and one of the most demanding prose stylists of the nineteenth century, repeatedly returned to the conflict between social convention and vital human feeling. His own unhappy first marriage and long observation of literary and fashionable society sharpened his suspicion of respectable hypocrisy. By the time he wrote this novel, he had become a celebrated analyst of gender, egoism, and moral intelligence. This complete edition is recommended to readers who value intricate characterization, moral satire, and prose that rewards close attention. It is a challenging but richly illuminating work for anyone interested in Victorian fiction's most searching critiques of success, legitimacy, and social judgment.