Moorings
A Bulletin of All Things George MooreNo 2 : Winter 2007
REVIEWS
The Collected Short Stories of George Moore: Gender and Genre
Edited by Ann Heilmann and Mark Llewellyn
London: Pickering & Chatto, 2007
ISBN-13: 9781851968411
UCC, Cork
Indubitably, this Pickering & Chatto set, The Collected Short Stories of George Moore: Gender and Genre, constitutes a magnum opus. For the first time, Moore’s published volumes of short stories have been united in a scholarly edition that furnishes a wealth of contextual material and intertextual linkage. To assemble such a collection from any prolific author requires scholarship and perseverance; to attempt that task in the case of a serial reviser, such as George Moore was, is to undertake a challenge of immense proportions. Professor Heilmann and Dr Llewellyn have tackled this project skilfully and, from the numerous Moore texts and their multiple and ongoing revisions and re-writings, they successfully present five volumes of Moore stories, together with documents of contemporary reception, and with invaluable introductions, bibliographic details and background notes. The organisation is impeccable and clear, and the combination of original texts with well-argued hypotheses on gender and genre provides numerous, welcome stimuli to further debate and research.
The editors’ criteria for inclusion and exclusion are set out: they have taken the first versions of stories that were not substantially altered later and these include Celibates in Volume 1, In Single Strictness in Volume 5, and uncollected stories from periodicals in Volume 2; in the cases where stories were considerably changed, the last versions are provided (The Untilled Field in Volume 3 and A Story-Teller’s Holiday in Volume 4) but so too are any significant alterations. To guide the reader through what is, in places, a maze of textual variation, the editors provide detailed bibliographical notes on editions and changes. The selected contemporary reviews of Moore’s writings supply ongoing reminders of autres temps, autres mœurs, prompts that are valuable when any judgment is to be made on the author’s courageous choices in subject matter or on the subtlety of his presentation. The entire collection is enriched by a comprehensive general introduction that outlines Moore’s life and work and presents the recurring themes of his œuvre. This is no formulaic overture in that, over and above the preliminary summaries that are suitably detailed and useful, it delivers a multiplicity of possible keys to interpretation of Moore’s short stories and their revisions and reincarnations. Heilmann and Llewellyn identify Irishness, Catholicism and art as the three principal themes in Moore’s writings, with art being his primary concern. The expansion of their thesis ranges authoritatively through connections and influences, including from Balzac to Shaw, from Manet to Wilde, from Turgenev to Stevenson and far beyond. Overall, they pinpoint Moore’s “determination to explore the singularity, even peculiarity of the individual human condition” and that analysis is repeatedly confirmed in the stories themselves and by the editors’ perceptive readings that are particularly strong on psychological contexts and interpretations. In addition to the general introduction, each volume has the benefit of an individual and detailed preamble that far exceeds the expectations of readers in scope. For example, the introduction to Celibates (in Volume 1) extends to forty pages, including endnotes wherein the nuggets of additional information and bibliographic references are legion.
With so many of Moore’s publications out of print, tracking down some individual texts has been a perennial headache for researchers. One of the many triumphs of this collection is the inclusion of essays that Moore published in periodicals and which have been all but impossible to locate until now. As the introduction to Volume 2 makes clear, the variety of these ‘Other Stories, 1882-1931’ displays the evolution in Moore’s style over almost half a century, and shows the progression from character sketch and experiments in genre fiction, through realism and naturalism, to psychological study. Apart from their interest for scholars, several of these stories would appeal to a much wider readership and that attraction is proof of their quality. From the group of periodical essays, the most powerful tales would include ‘A Flood’ and ‘A Strange Death’, the former as a disaster story that has many compelling resonances, the latter as a period thriller with its ever fresh depictions of community paranoia and media-generated suspicion.
If the stories from The Untilled Field (Volume 3) have generally been more easily available, having been reprinted several times, anyone in search of In Single Strictness (Volume 4) and A Story-Teller’s Holiday (Volume 5) would previously have had to resort to internet searches. Success in locating copies would still not provide the contemporary reviews and comments that are reproduced in these three volumes, nor the informative introductions – nor again the textual variations that can illustrate the effects of Moore’s judicious pruning, and indicate his absorption with narrative technique. For those unfamiliar with Moore’s œuvre, it may come as a surprise that he wrote two alternative endings for the story of ‘Hugh Monfert’, both of which appeared, within months of each other, in two different editions of In Single Strictness. The editor (in this case, Dr Llewellyn) traces the origins of this story and its multiple linkages to Moore’s preoccupation with the theme of celibacy, and he further interprets Moore’s understanding of that word as alienation, as a state of mind. ‘Hugh Monfert’ was omitted from the subsequent collection, Celibate Lives, and the substituted tale was ‘Albert Nobbs’, a short story that reflects just such alienation and loneliness in several spheres. This is but one of the many interesting lines of thought, explanation and association that emerge from the introduction to Volume 5.
What is omitted from this collection? As the editors say, they have not included ‘stories’ from Moore’s autobiographical volumes. In addition, there were probably several newspaper pieces that have not been collected – one would suspect his authorship of certain unattributed articles in publications such as the Daily Chronicle in the 1880s and 1890s. However, what is in these volumes represents a wide range of approaches over a long time period, and the editors present an extensive list of issues treated by Moore, ones “as diverse as fin-de-siècle aestheticism, Irish folklore, gender relations and conflicts, explorations of female and male hysteria, ‘new’ and ‘old’ sexualities, the bearing of the past on the present, and the art of story telling.” In his preface to the entire collection, consulting editor Adrian Frazier makes specific mention of Moore’s pioneering use of free indirect discourse in English fiction and he notes that Moore used short stories for, inter alia, autobiography, literary criticism, philosophising, and social commentary. Between style and theme and reception, the study of short stories could not have a richer list of ingredients than is available from George Moore. And, as Frazier also reminds us, those stories make up only a fraction of the Moore œuvre that also embraces novels, drama, poetry, operetta, art criticism and autobiography.
The strength of the psychological approach taken by the editors is new in Moore studies and very much to be welcomed. Their readings are persuasive and insightful and they contribute extra dimensions to consideration of exile, family relations, and the New Woman, to mention but a few areas of study. Yet, their authority is not defensive or restrictive and with their sure but gentle guidance, room is left for integration into, or combination with, further feminist and Marxist interpretations. This is a generous intellectual attitude that, one hopes, will be fruitful in inspiring a multiplicity of critical responses.
If there are faults in these volumes, they are few and piccolissimi. Irish readers will be a little taken-aback at use of the denigratory ‘Kitty’ for Katharine O’Shea and will raise eyebrows at the reduction of Robert Emmet’s history to expulsion from Trinity College for his part in the United Ireland movement, and at the misspelling of his surname, albeit in endnote and index. The Shelbourne Hotel (backdrop for part of A Drama in Muslin) is certainly not in the Shelbourne Road area of Dublin. One might argue that Mrs Woodville (in “Dried Fruit”) would probably not have viewed her ‘astrachan’ trim as anything other than fashionable dress and would be unlikely to have possessed today’s knowledge and sensitivity regarding the methods of its production. However, these are very minor quibbles and they, and the odd typographical errors, are truly insignificant on the grand scale of this production.
Let there be no doubt about it, this is a landmark collection, comprehensive in its scope, and contextualised with clarity and erudition by its indefatigable editors. While it is clear that Moore scholars stand to gain from the publication of his short stories, those with an interest in early modernism in English literature, or in Victorian and fin-de-siècle writing, will also appreciate the key material available in this new publication, complete with documentation of contemporary reception. The volumes provide much fascinating reading and even more food for thought. I shall not be alone in acknowledging considerable indebtedness to George Moore, to the editors who have served him so well - Professor Heilmann and Dr Llewellyn - and to the consulting editor, Professor Adrian Frazier, whose biography of Moore was the prime catalyst and inspiration for recent Moore studies.
The editors’ criteria for inclusion and exclusion are set out: they have taken the first versions of stories that were not substantially altered later and these include Celibates in Volume 1, In Single Strictness in Volume 5, and uncollected stories from periodicals in Volume 2; in the cases where stories were considerably changed, the last versions are provided (The Untilled Field in Volume 3 and A Story-Teller’s Holiday in Volume 4) but so too are any significant alterations. To guide the reader through what is, in places, a maze of textual variation, the editors provide detailed bibliographical notes on editions and changes. The selected contemporary reviews of Moore’s writings supply ongoing reminders of autres temps, autres mœurs, prompts that are valuable when any judgment is to be made on the author’s courageous choices in subject matter or on the subtlety of his presentation. The entire collection is enriched by a comprehensive general introduction that outlines Moore’s life and work and presents the recurring themes of his œuvre. This is no formulaic overture in that, over and above the preliminary summaries that are suitably detailed and useful, it delivers a multiplicity of possible keys to interpretation of Moore’s short stories and their revisions and reincarnations. Heilmann and Llewellyn identify Irishness, Catholicism and art as the three principal themes in Moore’s writings, with art being his primary concern. The expansion of their thesis ranges authoritatively through connections and influences, including from Balzac to Shaw, from Manet to Wilde, from Turgenev to Stevenson and far beyond. Overall, they pinpoint Moore’s “determination to explore the singularity, even peculiarity of the individual human condition” and that analysis is repeatedly confirmed in the stories themselves and by the editors’ perceptive readings that are particularly strong on psychological contexts and interpretations. In addition to the general introduction, each volume has the benefit of an individual and detailed preamble that far exceeds the expectations of readers in scope. For example, the introduction to Celibates (in Volume 1) extends to forty pages, including endnotes wherein the nuggets of additional information and bibliographic references are legion.
With so many of Moore’s publications out of print, tracking down some individual texts has been a perennial headache for researchers. One of the many triumphs of this collection is the inclusion of essays that Moore published in periodicals and which have been all but impossible to locate until now. As the introduction to Volume 2 makes clear, the variety of these ‘Other Stories, 1882-1931’ displays the evolution in Moore’s style over almost half a century, and shows the progression from character sketch and experiments in genre fiction, through realism and naturalism, to psychological study. Apart from their interest for scholars, several of these stories would appeal to a much wider readership and that attraction is proof of their quality. From the group of periodical essays, the most powerful tales would include ‘A Flood’ and ‘A Strange Death’, the former as a disaster story that has many compelling resonances, the latter as a period thriller with its ever fresh depictions of community paranoia and media-generated suspicion.
If the stories from The Untilled Field (Volume 3) have generally been more easily available, having been reprinted several times, anyone in search of In Single Strictness (Volume 4) and A Story-Teller’s Holiday (Volume 5) would previously have had to resort to internet searches. Success in locating copies would still not provide the contemporary reviews and comments that are reproduced in these three volumes, nor the informative introductions – nor again the textual variations that can illustrate the effects of Moore’s judicious pruning, and indicate his absorption with narrative technique. For those unfamiliar with Moore’s œuvre, it may come as a surprise that he wrote two alternative endings for the story of ‘Hugh Monfert’, both of which appeared, within months of each other, in two different editions of In Single Strictness. The editor (in this case, Dr Llewellyn) traces the origins of this story and its multiple linkages to Moore’s preoccupation with the theme of celibacy, and he further interprets Moore’s understanding of that word as alienation, as a state of mind. ‘Hugh Monfert’ was omitted from the subsequent collection, Celibate Lives, and the substituted tale was ‘Albert Nobbs’, a short story that reflects just such alienation and loneliness in several spheres. This is but one of the many interesting lines of thought, explanation and association that emerge from the introduction to Volume 5.
What is omitted from this collection? As the editors say, they have not included ‘stories’ from Moore’s autobiographical volumes. In addition, there were probably several newspaper pieces that have not been collected – one would suspect his authorship of certain unattributed articles in publications such as the Daily Chronicle in the 1880s and 1890s. However, what is in these volumes represents a wide range of approaches over a long time period, and the editors present an extensive list of issues treated by Moore, ones “as diverse as fin-de-siècle aestheticism, Irish folklore, gender relations and conflicts, explorations of female and male hysteria, ‘new’ and ‘old’ sexualities, the bearing of the past on the present, and the art of story telling.” In his preface to the entire collection, consulting editor Adrian Frazier makes specific mention of Moore’s pioneering use of free indirect discourse in English fiction and he notes that Moore used short stories for, inter alia, autobiography, literary criticism, philosophising, and social commentary. Between style and theme and reception, the study of short stories could not have a richer list of ingredients than is available from George Moore. And, as Frazier also reminds us, those stories make up only a fraction of the Moore œuvre that also embraces novels, drama, poetry, operetta, art criticism and autobiography.
The strength of the psychological approach taken by the editors is new in Moore studies and very much to be welcomed. Their readings are persuasive and insightful and they contribute extra dimensions to consideration of exile, family relations, and the New Woman, to mention but a few areas of study. Yet, their authority is not defensive or restrictive and with their sure but gentle guidance, room is left for integration into, or combination with, further feminist and Marxist interpretations. This is a generous intellectual attitude that, one hopes, will be fruitful in inspiring a multiplicity of critical responses.
If there are faults in these volumes, they are few and piccolissimi. Irish readers will be a little taken-aback at use of the denigratory ‘Kitty’ for Katharine O’Shea and will raise eyebrows at the reduction of Robert Emmet’s history to expulsion from Trinity College for his part in the United Ireland movement, and at the misspelling of his surname, albeit in endnote and index. The Shelbourne Hotel (backdrop for part of A Drama in Muslin) is certainly not in the Shelbourne Road area of Dublin. One might argue that Mrs Woodville (in “Dried Fruit”) would probably not have viewed her ‘astrachan’ trim as anything other than fashionable dress and would be unlikely to have possessed today’s knowledge and sensitivity regarding the methods of its production. However, these are very minor quibbles and they, and the odd typographical errors, are truly insignificant on the grand scale of this production.
Let there be no doubt about it, this is a landmark collection, comprehensive in its scope, and contextualised with clarity and erudition by its indefatigable editors. While it is clear that Moore scholars stand to gain from the publication of his short stories, those with an interest in early modernism in English literature, or in Victorian and fin-de-siècle writing, will also appreciate the key material available in this new publication, complete with documentation of contemporary reception. The volumes provide much fascinating reading and even more food for thought. I shall not be alone in acknowledging considerable indebtedness to George Moore, to the editors who have served him so well - Professor Heilmann and Dr Llewellyn - and to the consulting editor, Professor Adrian Frazier, whose biography of Moore was the prime catalyst and inspiration for recent Moore studies.
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