The Egoist

George Meredith's comic masterpiece describes the repeated and disastrous courtships of Sir Willoughby, the egoist of the title. George Meredith writes in the Prelude to this novel, '""Comedy"" is a game played to throw reflections upon social life,' and through Sir Willoughby Patterne's relationships with three women, the novel shows the absurdity of Victorian class and gender expectations. Each woman becomes engaged to Sir Willoughby, but, despite his aristocratic arrogance and the manipulative power of his wealth, each is finally able to see him more clearly than he sees himself. In the Darwinian metaphors of the novel, the women are able to adapt to the process of mate selection, while Sir Willoughby fails to evolve. The introduction to this edition provides context for the novel from Meredith's own life, his theory of comedy, and his understanding of Darwinian thought. The appendices include reviews, other writings on comedy, and historical documents on women and wives and on the theory of evolution.