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What kinds of work did George Meredith do to support himself after The Ordeal of Richard Feverel was published?
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George Meredith
George Meredith, detail of an oil painting by G.F. Watts, 1893; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.
After the publication of The Ordeal of Richard Feverel in 1859, George Meredith faced financial hardship because the novel was banned by influential lending libraries, which hindered his hopes for affluence.1
To support himself, he took on the following roles:
- Publisher’s Reader: He accepted employment reading manuscripts for a publisher.1
- Journalist: He worked as a writer of editorials and news items for a provincial newspaper. In 1866, he was also sent by The Morning Post to report on the Italian campaign during the Austro-Prussian War.1
- Private Reader: Between 1865 and 1885, he supplemented his income by providing weekly readings to an elderly, wealthy widow.2
Throughout this period, Meredith continued to write his own novels and poetry in his spare time.1