Show MEREDITH THE MASTER CELE BRATES EIGHTIETH BIRTHDAY his long and hard struggle alc for recognition tion now regarded as first in ranks of english novelists Novell sta london george meredith whose eightieth birthday was celebrated fit the other day b by y the pouring forth of gow glo W ing tributes to his genius by the entire british press has been hailed na its tile th master for many years by the english critics and by english writers the king icing of us its oil all lie ho was termed by robert louis Steven stevenson sori who was one of tile tho most enthusiastic admirers of 0 merediths meredithe hs genius it was ste van son bon too who used to speak of rhoda 1 I N GEORGE MEREDITH fleming as the strongest thing in english literature since shake shakespeare speare adding quaintly that 41 if shakespeare could have read th ohp 0 work ho be wo would uld have jumped and cried heres here Is a fellow despite all tho the acclaim both from a large part of the public and from virtually the entire literary world with which he Is now greeted it has haa been only during the last 23 years years that meredith has come into his own not until 1885 when diana of the crossways appeared and when the novelist wits was 57 years old did meredith obtain general recognition no man ono one of balzack Dalza Balz acs cs biographers has written ever battered more furiously at the gates of fame with masterpiece after masterpiece and no man ever saw those gates yield more slowly inch by inch it those words were true of balzac they are infinitely more true of meredith the english novelist did not begin to attain tame fame in the general sense until he was almost na as old as balzac was when he died famous for years george eliot and drowning browning and tennyson might write and speak in praise of meredith during those long years of obscurity but they could not force the public to take meredith to its heart even today to day A meredith Is not a popular novelist dut but his genius is recognized misplace hla his place Is assured and he be stands in the very forefront of men of letters who write in the english language I 1 and meredith in the opinion of tho the critics has both what he Is because he remained true to himself no literary drudgery for bread no writing out of his bis heart in book after book which failed to bring him fame no repetition of disappointment ever ever made meredith weaken one jot in holding to ideas and ideals which his genius told him were the true onto ons by sheer strength and persistence little less perhaps than by his brains he has made the world crown him with the laurel As long ago as 1862 |