'I am feminine, morbid, perverse. But above all perverse, almost everything perverse interests, fascinates me.'
Confessions of a Young Man (1888) by the Irish novelist George Moore traces the narrator's experiences of artistic and literary circles in Paris and London during the latter part of the nineteenth century. Equal parts novel, memoir, critical study, and philosophical exploration, Confessions is rich and versatile in both content and form.
As well as presenting the story of an artistic awakening and providing a meditation upon influence in the tradition of the Bildungsroman, the novel offers a gossip-filled insider's account of contemporary art and literature. Moore's descriptions of artistic life in Paris provide fascinating commentary upon social and sexual mores in Britain and France during this period. His account of Impressionist, Realist, and Decadent art and literature makes this novel an important document in fin-de-siècle aesthetics and art history. At the same time, Moore's experiments with narrative style and his play with character anticipate the methods of modernism.
This volume offers the first critical edition of Moore's book in fifty years. The text is accompanied by an introduction and detailed explanatory notes. Appendices supply Moore's prefaces to reprints of his book, excerpts from different versions of Confessions, and selections from his literary journalism, much of which has not been published since the nineteenth century.
Matthew Creasy is a Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Glasgow.
