The Tragic Comedians: A Study in a well-known Story - George Meredith

“A Faust-like legend might spring from him: he had a devil. He was the leader of a host, the hope of a party, venerated by his followers, well hated by his enemies, respected by the intellectual chiefs of his time, in the pride of his manhood and his labours when he fell. And why this man should have come to his end through love, and the woman who loved him have laid her hand in the hand of the slayer, is the problem we have to study, nothing inventing, in the spirit and flesh of both.” (from the Introduction, p.2) This offering from the Victorian writer George Meredith novelizes the love story between the German social democrat leader, Ferdinand Lasalle, and the young aristocrat Helene von Dönniges, which famously ended in the young firebrand’s death in a duel with the lady’s betrothed. The story was made famous by the publication of the Helene’s autobiography. Meredith naturally changes names and details of the story, but the bones remain the same. This single volume edition begins w